The Art of Value

Value is the scale from dark to light, and how one goes about using it, with textures and patterns etc.  We are going to, and have used this by taking a still life image and drawing it using chalk and pencils with different scales of color and different textured prints.  For example, with the pencil we did some cross-hatched or striped textures and with the chalk we did a more smooth, lesser texture.  We are just trying to receive the full value of the image we are looking at, with the different views of light, natural and industrial.  This is less of a lines project, and more of a texture vs shading project.  Because the lines cant define the different light source given to your object, it just defines the outline.

In my four different photos, presented above, the one which is most evocative is the top one, where my four rings are equally presented in a row.  This is evocative because the contrast of black on the bottom and white on the top draws your eye to all the different places in the photo.  Also, lining up the rings equally spread out makes your eye not go crazy because it evens out your view.

The picture with the most value on my object of the rings, is the bottom one.  This is because the shadow on the top left, and the sun coming in from the right makes the value scale a lot longer.  Although, the rings do not stand out too much because of the pattern on it, verse the background of the wood behind it.  But the light coming onto the object makes the object a range of scale.

In the future, I will do a few things differently.  I will start by going to take pictures during a certain time of day.  This will help create  a larger range of value on my final product.  If I go take pictures in the morning, this will reduce my value scale, and make things more dark.  This is because the sun won't be out yet fully, so the rays of light won't be hitting my object in the correct area.  Also, I will take more time to focus on different areas.  I will stay in one spot and try to capture the image in different ways.  By moving the camera up a little to the left, or down and sideways, just trying to capture the same image in a different way.