Uniform shadow, and shade sharper far from the light
Fine branches merge into one shadow; the proportion of light-cone to body, and a long thrown shade.
The note states that a body lit by rays passing between the fine branchings of plants casts, at a long distance, no more than a single shadow. One figure gives the proportion, for two spheres, between the base of the luminous cone and its body and the base of the shadow cone and its opaque body; another shows an opaque body near a wall and far from the light. Leonardo concludes that a shadow is darker and more sharply bounded the farther the wall lies from the light and the nearer to the shadow's origin.
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Fine branches merge into a single shadow at distance
A body receiving the sun's rays through the fine branchings of plants will, over a long distance, cast only one shadow. Unlike the many shadows of thick branches, the slender occluders blend into a single shade.
Proportion of the luminous and shadow cones
For two spherical bodies, the base of the luminous pyramid bears the same proportion to its body as the base of the shadow pyramid bears to its opaque body. This governs the uniform shadow cast when the light exceeds the body.
Shadow darker and sharper the farther the wall from the light
The impact of a shadow upon the wall opposite it grows darker and of more distinct outline the more distant that wall is from the luminous body and the nearer it is to the shadow's derivation. The lower figure draws this as a long, thin thrown shade.
