Analysing the Lighting in Two Paintings.

 Thomas Eakins - The Gross Clinic 

Source:

http://www.newyorkartworld.com/images-reviews/aeakins/TheGrossClinic-329x400.jpg

This is a painting titled The Gross Clinic by the artist Thomas Eakins, he uses light to successfully create a very intense atmosphere, by placing the surgeons in a spotlight and having very little light around the rest of the room, the light seems to be coming from multiple directions but all directed at the surgeons, this seems to be the case because the standing man has a highlight on his forehead, meaning there is definitely some light coming from the top left of the composition, but the man on man on the right's jacket is also fairly well lit from the back, which would indicate multiple light sources.

The audience seem to be unaffected by the multiple spot lights that light the surgeons, I say this because the entire crowd are being lit from the viewers left and the light diffuses the further to the right of the painting, I would say that this is caused by a window letting in a very small amount of light or dim light on the wall to the left.

Hsin-Yao Tseng - San Francisco

Source:

http://funstuffcafe.com/img/creative-art/hsin/hsin02.jpg  

This painting is a painting named San Francisco by Hsin-Yao Tseng. In this painting while it is still quite a dark scene, there is clear natural sun but the light is a lot more diffused. the ground however, because it is wet, is highly reflective and is reflecting light clearly and almost mirror-like, there is quite a bit of atmospheric diffusion in the sky caused by fog, the buildings in the distance are very unclear, because the light is being diffused and scattered by the fog, as a result, by the time the light reaches the 'lens' it looks very blurry and desaturated.

The buildings are fairly well lit most likely by bounded sun light affected by dynamic occlusion, this is most clearly evident on the building closest on the right of the image, it get a lot darker towards the bottom of the wall, and the lighting on the street, the car lights and street lights for example. Since the surface of the road isn't completely flat, the reflection of the lights in the water seems stretched out [1]. The buildings don't reflect a lot of light, so despite the wet road's reflective properties, they still create a dark shadow.

[1] Diagram of the reflection of the car lights on the roads uneven surface.