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Subject: Need help with boat reflection in water

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Chalk Dust Studio

Posts:20

08/05/2008 7:47 AM	Alert
It’s been a while since I have worked on a new painting, but when I came across a photograph taken by a friend of mine and I really wanted to try to do it in pastel. I have never done a water reflection successfully in the past. If anyone has any suggestions or examples please feel free to pass them on. I don’t know why but when I seen this image I just had to do it. Here is the image taken by Photographer Brian D. Smith (www.bdsmithphotography.com) Here is a link to the larger image... http://bdsmithphotography.com/galleries/coastal-images/ci-031.html

sboyko
Posts:55

08/09/2008 10:33 AM	Alert
Chalk, I can pass along some things that Albert Handell has told me about painting water and reflections. The reflection will be somewhat duller than the object, and the edges in a reflection are also softer than the object's. The darks of the object will be slightly lighter in the reflection, and the lights will be slightly darker. It helps to mark your brightest bright, which in this case would probably be the white part of the boat facing the viewer, then don't make anything in the reflection brighter than that, even if something in the photograph appears brighter. The ripples are sort of standing up planes, so they will be darker than the flat part of the water. Sometimes there is a slight crest in a ripple, and that crest is brighter than the body of the ripple. The flat water facing the sky will be brighter than the ripples because the flat part is reflecting light, while the stand up plane is sort of perpendicular to the light. Avoid making the ripples blue - they are not reflecting the sky, but will have the object's colors in them. I hope this was helpful - these are just general observations. Susie

BarryKeller

Posts:54

09/10/2008 1:55 PM	Alert
Great advice and very helpful observations. -Keller

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