ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Alternate lighting of surfaces

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a disco ball? It's covered in little mirrors that reflect light all over the place, right? Well, imagine if those mirrors only reflected light in one direction at a time, like they took turns pointing the light in different directions. That's kind of what alternate lighting of surfaces is all about.

So, imagine you have a room that you want to light up. Instead of putting one big light in the center that shines light everywhere at once, you might put a bunch of smaller lights all around the room that take turns shining light in different directions. That way, you can create different moods and vibes in the room by changing which lights are on and which ones are off.

If you ever go to a concert or a stage show, you might notice that sometimes the lights go up and sometimes they go down. That's because the people running the lights are using alternate lighting of surfaces to create different effects and draw your attention to different parts of the stage.

In short, alternate lighting of surfaces is a way of using multiple lights to create different moods and emphasize different parts of a room or stage. It's like a fancy way of playing with shadows and light.