An Unlikely Shadow

Update 3: I have removed the author’s name and link due to his request.

Update 2: Unfortunately, original author asked us if we can remove his photo of the site, which we are obligated to do, so instead I’ve added this magnificent installation by Fred Eerdekens.

Lydia Roe found this peculiar photo of some band I never had the opportunity to learn of. The illusion is more fun orientated than being puzzling. Still, it turned out fine. What you see here is a singer and guitarist Laura Marling casting an unlikely shadow. Any clue how this happened? More similar fine illusions can be found via #shadow tag!

55 Replies to “An Unlikely Shadow”

  1. Looking over her shoulders, you can see the mic, horn, and head of the horn-player behind her. The shadow on the wall is not of her, but of the horn-player.

    Where her shadow is, I’m uncertain

    1. light focus is behind her (on the ceiling), as the singer is a step near to the audience than the horn-player there is no shadow for her

  2. You can see the horn over the guitarist’s right shoulder so it’s not too tricky to figure out. The bend in the wall means the guitarist’s shadow is probably along the floor instead of up the wall.

    1. yes the hrn player is behind her. but the light you can see is coming from the right side of the frame. so her shadow would be casted out of veiw to the left on the wall.

  3. are you kidding me? there is a guy behindp him i can even see his hair on the back of her’s which means he is right behind her

    1. Lucy is right! Look closely at the top of the guitar player’s shoulder and you will see the end of the horn!! Great image though!

  4. The “cyborg cello player” … Another optical illusion isn’t it? It’s another microphone. But, ja, first glance makes me think Star Trek:-)

  5. The shadow behind the bass player does not match the bass player either… look at the arm on the bass player extended down, but the shadow is cut off at the elbow indicating possibly holding something up… perhaps that shadow is the one which belongs to the singer with the guitar, and judging by the angle in relation to the singer, maybe the horn player is off-picture to the left and the light is off-picture to the left casting the shadow onto the picture alone. Whatever/however, it’s a great illusion!

  6. Anybody who has worked with stage lighting will see this kind of thing a lot. The horn player is lit by the second row of lights. You don’t see the shadow of the gutarist be cause the light is almost on top of her. Her shadow is on the floor. You can know this by where the shadow of her left(stage right) arm goes.

  7. easy ,guitar shadow set by front lights and horn player in “contrejour” (backlight) right place for the photo,and good lights
    is the musique as good?

  8. they are all right!!…it’s the Horn players shadow behind the guitarist. Her shadow is on the floor, you can tell by the shadow of her left arm and coat..

  9. i guess, even if there wud be a guy behind her, then the shadow must face towards the right direction and not to the left…so there must be some other reason for that shadow

  10. On the far right you can see the bottom of the microphone, the horn player is out of the pic on the very right and the light casting the shadow must be behind him yet..I am not seeing a person behind the guitarist.

  11. there is a horn-playing dude standing directly behide her, it’s his shadow that is cast on the wall.
    her shadow is the one in the right-hand corner, left of the bass-playing man. and his shadow is on the right of him, you can only see a bit of it though

  12. I guess her shadow is the one to the right, next to the guy with the big bass. The shadow left to her is the shadow from the guy behind her. As both are lighted by different spotlights, the shadows are not at the same place.

  13. Any one who has been in a band knows there is more than one flood light on a band. You don’t see the singers shadow because of the lighting. In the band I was in I was always under a blue flood Light and know one else’s shadow came of the light I was under Only mine

  14. clearly the guy is behind her. but no one realises, where the fuck her shadow is!

    i think its two lights from two sides
    idk its retarded

  15. Well as stated previously the horn player is standing behind her…
    And if you follow the mikestand’s shadow down you’ll see the headstock of a guitar. Though I like the singing shadow beside the cello player.

  16. C’mon, the light is horizontal. That’s the key to this illusion. You are used to mostly front & down lighting. So you interpret the shadows incorrectly.

    The guitar players shadow is out of the frame past the cellist.

  17. What are you guys talking about with the lady and the trumpet and everything… All i see is a bunch of clouds, a gray room behind them, and “NEO DEO” spelt out in the clouds.

    1. You’ll have to troll through the comments to understand what happened, along with reading the UPDATES at the top of the article. Was a nice picture, though. : )

    2. there used to be a picture of a woman playing guitar and her shadow looked like a person playing trumpet.

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