Diffuse & Specular

Reflection Demo



A mirror is taped to a white background, and both are illuminated with a projector. The mirror looks black, but the surrounding background looks white.

The mirror is a specular reflector. It appears dark since all the light striking it is reflected in a particular direction (which is not toward the camera). The background appears white since it is a diffuse reflector, and the incident light is reflected in all directions.


last update October 13, 1999 by JL Stanbrough