Dhevix

Tried your suggestion and it worked, the shadows intersect as would be expected, so that would indeed tell us it's to do with the texture (of the surface off which the light is being reflected Thank you so very much for your help, anyone who has contributed or tried to help in some way couldn't have been more lovely.

Certainly. Lighting fixtures aren't a usual subject of photographs for me, but I'll give it a go Hopefully this will better demonstrate what I'm talking about than my (limited) explanation. I'm referring to this part of the images: Directly from one side of the light: Move a little to the left... Halfway between the two shots, it's possible to see both shadows nearest you, but not the far one. Here's what becomes visible standing beneath the light fixture; in case it's a little unclear on your monitor (it's fairly difficult to make out on mine) you can see all three shadows overlapping each-other and nowhere near as dark as when you can only see one of them. I apologise for being so much trouble with this one! The photos are larger than I thought I'd resized them to, I'm happy to shirk them if they're a little big for the forum.

Alright, that method is a good way to put it So how come this only seems to happen to those particular shadows which occur in the middle of the three lights, but the larger ones which extend out across the ceiling don't appear to 'change' based on where you stand at all?

I'm not sure I understand; could you possibly clarify?

I considered that, but then surely where you stand to look at the shadow would have no effect? Given there's three shadows and darkest shadow always appears to be the one being cast towards you, depending on which side of the room you so happen to be. Unless, of course, you are to stand directly underneath the three lights in which case all three to be appear the same. I am only assume it's got something to do with the way the light rays reflect but... I just don't see how even that works at all. I can't believe this is actually bugging me so much aha, but what I'm seeing just seems totally impossible to me.

This might sound absolutely redundant and obscure to you, but I've been trawling the internet over and I just can't find anything at all! I get really hung up over these kinds of things and it has been bugging me for days. Hopefully someone's actually got an answer and I'm just looking in the wrong places. Or at very least you'll understand my perhaps poorly-explained question "If there are three lights casting separate shadows from a pole in the very centre of them, then why does the shadow which is closest to you at the time appear the darkest?" I'm actually referring to a typical ceiling light here, with three bulbs set around a central pole coming down from a circular fixture on the ceiling. I've noticed that whilst the long shadows extending out across the ceiling of course look the same no matter where you stand, the ones in the very centre of the three bulbs being cast onto the fixture seem to change. Basically, the one closest to you appears darkest whilst the other two seem to disappear/fade based on which side of the room you so happen to be at the time. (Edit: If you stand underneath it however, all three shadows are visible) It's so silly when I consider it but I can't figure it out! Is this an optical illusion or something to do with the way the light is reflecting off that particular material/surface? Thanks so very much if anyone can offer an answer. Edit: I'm also a little unsure of whether this is in the right place now. Oh dear.