Value study from a photo
Light, middle and dark: the picture before the colour.
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Example
Example: a hazy farm photo turned into a three-value study before painting
A watercolour painter plans a red barn on a hill from her reference photo, barn.jpg, 1600 × 1200 pixels, taken on a hazy morning. On a brightness scale of 0–255, 1 % of its pixels are darker than 40 and 1 % lighter than 210. Settings: 3 — light, middle, dark; Simplify: A little; Save as: the same format.
- The photo is turned to brightness and blurred a little first, a 2-pixel radius at this size (5 with “A lot”), so grass and leaves do not break into specks.
- Its own range, 40 to 210, is cut into three equal bands: 40–96 becomes black, 97–153 middle grey (128), 154–210 white. The 1 % beyond each end joins the black or the white.
- The pale sky turns white; the sunlit field and the barn’s sunlit red wall turn middle grey; the barn’s shaded end wall and the dark oak beside it turn black.
- Try 2 — notan to check the big design: everything up to 124 goes black, 125 and lighter white.
| Values | Brightness bands in this photo | Painted as |
|---|---|---|
| 2 — notan | 40–124 · 125–210 | black, white |
| 3 — light, middle, dark | 40–96 · 97–153 · 154–210 | black, grey 128, white |
| 5 | 40–73 · 74–107 · 108–141 · 142–175 · 176–210 | greys 0, 64, 128, 191, 255 |
barn-3-values.jpg, still 1600 × 1200, in three flat greys: the barn reads as one grey shape with a black end, against a white sky. A hazy photo still gets full black and white because its own range is stretched, which is what a plan for a painting needs.
How it works
- Add your reference photo.
- Start with three values; try two to see the big design.
- Simplify a lot to see shapes rather than details.
- Make the study and keep it beside your painting.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do painters make value studies?
- Because values carry a picture: if the lights and darks are right, the colour can be almost anything and it still reads. A small study in three values shows whether the composition works before any paint is mixed.
- What is notan?
- A study in two values, light and dark only, from Japanese design. It shows the big pattern of a picture at a glance.
- Why does my dull photo still get black and white?
- The values are taken from the photo's own range, from its darkest to its lightest, so a grey, hazy picture is spread out to full contrast. That is what you want for planning.
- How is this different from a black-and-white photo?
- A grayscale photo keeps 256 greys; a value study keeps two to eight. Every pixel is snapped to one of them: with three values to black, middle grey (128) or white, the bands being equal thirds of the photo’s own range from its darkest 1 % to its lightest 1 %, so one glint or one black speck does not decide them.
- Can I keep the colours?
- Not on this page, which is for value studies in grey. For flat colours use Posterize an image, which cuts each colour channel into 2 to 8 levels.