Value

Value is the topic of the third chapter that I’m studying in Landscape Painting by Mitchell Albala (it’s not the third chapter in the book; I’m studying them out of order to fit my own process).

Value before color.

That phrase should be carved on my easel in big letters as a reminder. Albala goes on to say, “Value can perform without color, but color always has value as one of its attributes.” A black and white photograph is enough to understand the subject. I’m old enough to remember black and white television, and it seemed quite normal. Colour is a bonus.

A few years ago I took an introductory colour class at a nearby art school. The instructor was excellent; she used so many historical examples to explain and demonstrate each concept. The one that has stuck most strongly in my mind is the story of Superman. You know, the guy in the blue and red costume? Except that his original costume was grey and brown. Why? Because he was originally filmed in black and white, and the values of red and blue are too similar. The grayscale photo of the modern Superman below conveys the meaning, but it’s the value contrast in the old photo that makes it interesting. Value before colour.

I took the photo I’ve been using to study site selection and format and converted it to grayscale up there at the top of the post. It has a pretty good range of values, although it could perhaps use a few more darks on the left.

I also experimented with another photo, over there to the right. Albala had said in the chapter on site selection that a “wall of trees” is usually a bad choice of site because it doesn’t have enough value contrast, so I looked at a crop that is mostly the trees on the far shore. I think he’s right, it is less interesting. “Where a plane changes, there is a corresponding change in value.” This whole scene is essentially one big plane of trees, although there are of course smaller changes within it. So the whole scene tends to be of similar value.

Then there’s John F Carlson’s idea that a plane’s value varies according to its angle. This may not be the best photo to use because of the reflections in the water, but it seems to hold true. I took samples from the sky, water, angled foliage and vertical foliage, and the values get darker for each:

As a final experiment, I converted both photos into just two values, black and white. The “wall of trees” is a rather confusing jumble, but the other makes a much better picture, with fewer major value shapes.