Light Science and Magic, 3rd Edition

4

Surface Appearances

All surfaces produce diffuse, direct, and polarized reflection in varying degrees. We see all of these reflections, but we are not always conscious of all of them.

Years of programming enable our brains to edit the image of the scene. This editing minimizes reflection that is distracting or trivial to the subject. At the same time, it maximizes the importance of whatever light is essential to our comprehension of the scene. The psychological image in the brain may be quite different from the photochemical one the eye actually ...