Light shades are just that, they are shades meant to mask the light coming from a light source so that it does not glare your eyes. Shades are not meant only for lights, you also have sun shades otherwise called blinds and eye shades also called dark glasses or coolers. Even the cap or a hat has a shade but is usually referred to as a peak.
The eyes are a remarkable organ. They are better than the best camera and have the ability to focus from closer than a foot distance to the horizon and beyond. All this with just one lens; if you wanted a camera with similar ability you will have a long wait because there isn’t such a thing and likely never will be.. Of course you have cameras on board satellites that can take less than a meter resolution from kilometers up in the sky, but it will not be able to focus close up. It is the versatility of the eye that is not able to be copied, not its ability.
The only problem with the eye is that because it is so sensitive, more than a certain amount of light will damage it. Of course the body has an instinctive protective mechanism which is screwing them shut, but if you need to be able to see at the same time you’ve got a problem on your hands. This was no great problem and all you had to do was mask your eyes either by keeping something over your eyes, like when you are looking up at the sun or by covering the source of light, like a light shade.
Light shades were especially important in those days when there was no electricity and no high power lamps. In fact even until the 1930s and 40s you did not have very bright lights at home and had to have a shaded desk lamp when you were working at night. The shade effectively did two things, cut out the light coming to your eyes while focusing it on to what you want to see. This is the reason why the outside of the shade is usually of a darker color than the inside; the outside has to absorb light while the inside will have to reflect it out.
These days you can keep your light at a great distance and still have sufficient lighting for you to do your work and most commercial establishments do this. However when you are at home you are not as interested in having bright light and most likely want to mask your bulb so that the light that comes out is dimmer. Of course you could say that if you use a lower wattage bulb it is equally effective, but this is not so. A lower wattage bulb will give off very low light which may not be sufficient while a good shade will cut out light that comes upwards so that your eyes are in comfortable semi-lit glow while still focusing light downwards so that you can clearly see the room.
In these days of unlimited choices the only reason shades are still being used is because there is no other effective replacement for them. Shades however do not always have to come in the traditional inverted cone over the light shape. You get so many different designs along with so many different degrees of transparency in them that you are spoiled for choice. You get the traditional paper shades that are probably the cheapest while at the same time being very pretty and you get the normal glass shades that are either plain or colored. A variation of this would be the tiffany or slag glass shades that are more expensive but are equally beautiful. You also get the prism glass or crystal shades that provide diffused lighting not so much by reducing the amount of light that comes out but by refracting the light in so many different directions that you can look directly at a really high powered lamp and still not feel uncomfortable. Your choice is limited only by your imagination and of course the size of your wallet.
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