Sometimes I like to think about different words and describe with images what I think they mean.
This week Leya has noticed that shade and shadow have different meanings in English, whereas in Swedish there is only one word for the both.
Shadow.
To me a shadow is a dark shape that reflects the original in an interesting way. Shadows are playful. I love photographing shadows, I have dozens of photos of shadows!
A distinct shadow cast by a brilliant sculpture.
A shadowy staircase.
A small black cat and his shadow tread softly across the sun-lit plaza of Valvanera, an 11th century monastery in Spain. 
An electric shadow cast by flashing lights at night in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 
The Museum of Asian Civilization in Singapore used shadows and lighting with an amazing effect, much more than most museums. I thought that perhaps these ‘shadow’ puppets from Indonesia were perhaps the inspiration. 
Shade.
None of the shadows above provide much in the way of shade. Shade is more of a concept – something desperately needed when outside is boiling hot and inside is stuffy and airless.
Although shadows can provide shade, they have to be bigger to provide relief from the heat, such as this shadow of a temple in Mandalay, Myanmar. 
Napping in the shade of the U Bien Bridge in a small fishing boat (Myanmar). 
Another from Myanmar, where the entire population shuts down in the heat of the day, and only mad dogs and Englishmen (and tourists) are out and about in the mid-day sun. 
The concept of shade on a Costa Rican beach. 
A shade garden sign at the Washington State University Discovery Gardens near Mt. Verson, Washington. Only the sign is in the sun!
More of the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Shadows and Shade.
Albatz Travel Adventures 
Some good examples of shadows and shade
Almost too easy to find photos of shadows; quite the opposite with shade!
Brilliant examples! That cat is the queen of this post. 🙂
Yes, while Al was photographing the monastery I was ‘shadowing’ the little cat all over the place – I have lots of pictures of that cat…
I really like that one of the boys resting in the temple – with the smile and just the entire mood
and all photos are really great for the theme 🙂
The boys in the temple were all smiles – taking photos of extreme shade and light are always problematic, probably why I don’t have many of shade…
🙂 challenging and problematic for sure 🙂
Excellent choices.
Good choices to show the difference between shadow & shade. I especially liked your shade photo under the U Bien bridge. Normally that kind of shade is a killer for photographs but you’ve incorporated it here well.
Yes, shade is a lot trickier to photograph than shadows. I think all of my ‘shade’ photos used the ‘shadows/highlights’ adjustment to a certain degree…
These are all excellent and diverse choices – I love every one of them! If I have to have facourite, it might be the cat …and the napping. But the lone tree is great too…and…
Shadows have to be one of my favourite things to take photos of; shade is a lot trickier. I was talking to a friend that I’m working with on the word (or words) for shade and shadow in Spanish and she noted that Spanish uses only one word ‘sombra’ as well. On the other hand, she noted that English also uses the word ‘shades’ for levels of light and darkness in colours whereas in Spanish it’s a totally different word…
Ah, interesting. I also was waiting for an example of shades on a horse – but not so far seen one!
Beautiful set. I love that photo of the sculpture and its shadow, and also the one of the isolated tree in Costa Rica.
The tree in Costa Rica was always special to me – the sense of ‘shade’ so strong it is almost cooling even in this very warm June…
Excellent selections.
A-plus this week Elizabeth! Especially loved your shadows, which are a perfect example of the concept of discerning an object by its shadow. Well done!
I wasn’t sure what you meant by ‘discerning an object by its shadow’ and that led to some interesting explorations on the nature of light and shadow – the most interesting was https://www.theater-der-schatten.de/en/shadow/characteristics/ , a theatre of light and shadow in Bamberg, Germany…
Very interesting Elizabeth. Loved the link,especially the light show