Top-left lighting (original) (raw)

Top-left lighting is an artistic convention in which illustrations are produced so that the light appears to come from the top left of the picture. The vertical element of the convention comes from the human intuition that sunlight comes from above. Most people prefer lighting from the left when resolving a convex–concave ambiguity, and this preference may be stronger for right-handed people. This is reflected in Roman mosaics and in Renaissance, baroque and impressionist art. Viewing images that do not conform to this convention may show a form of convex–concave ambiguity.