Here’s an awesome trick for value

musicmacd

The Createx Bandit
I’ve found a lot of people struggle to “see” the value (Light/dark) a colour is.
Now, grab your phone and open the camera up, set your phone camera to mono or black and white, then use the phone to check the value, it’s amazing how easy this is and how well it works :)

A red Gel (like used for stage lighting) works too but no where near as good :)

happy days
 
Nice one MacD, I've tried the red film before and it was ok, also used a black n white reference printed out as well as the colour one. I will try the phone way next time I pick up the airbrush to actually paint something.

Lee
 
And you’ve been holding out on the forum -
How dare youlollollol
Only cos i thought it was the wrong way to do it :cry:

so full disclosure then:
I also print out 3 copies of my reference (4 if its colour.
One mono,
Two adjusted copies: one so i can see where the darker parts go and one to cut up for ‘landmarks’

i cant work with over complicated markings on the substrate, i end up trying to follow the lines exactly and colouring it in, my end result is disappointing.

landmarks and very light guidelines work for me :confused:
 
Only cos i thought it was the wrong way to do it :cry:

so full disclosure then:
I also print out 3 copies of my reference (4 if its colour.
One mono,
Two adjusted copies: one so i can see where the darker parts go and one to cut up for ‘landmarks’

i cant work with over complicated markings on the substrate, i end up trying to follow the lines exactly and colouring it in, my end result is disappointing.

landmarks and very light guidelines work for me :confused:
Maybe I haven’t been very clearlollollol this is for colour matching so you spray your paint and hold up against the reference, sometimes (especially in the beginning) it’s hard to see the value, but with your camera set to Mono mode you have a live “value” checker! I’ve shown a few people and they usually excrement themselves with happiness
 
Maybe I haven’t been very clearlollollol this is for colour matching so you spray your paint and hold up against the reference, sometimes (especially in the beginning) it’s hard to see the value, but with your camera set to Mono mode you have a live “value” checker! I’ve shown a few people and they usually excrement themselves with happiness
Yes, i know what you’re explaining. I do exactly the same. I didnt share because i thought it the ‘wrong’ to do it and i was being lazy :(
 
And I was only joking as I can’t run classes at the momentlollollol
That's understood in these days of Covid lockdowns, etc. I mean you'd have to have people outfitted with masks and wearing gloves, just they'd normally be when painting and... Ok, aside there being no appreciable difference in the classroom, I suppose there's the challenge of actually being able to travel then lodgings. :D:whistling:
It would be quite some time down the road, so no worries:thumbsup:
 
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The problem with a red (or any other color) gel/film is that it will bias the values you see proportional to how warm or cold the colors you're looking at are. Think of how red/blue 3D glasses work: through a red filter, blue looks dark and contrasty, while red looks light and faded, and vise-versa. Depending on the colors present, you may see VERY inaccurate values.

Black and white photographers used to exploit this deliberately. Like, say you're taking a photo of a mountainside, and you want to make the trees look darker relative to the stone- putting a red or orange filter in front of the lens cuts down the green light, making the trees render in the B&W image like they were a darker green than they were in reality. Or if you're taking a portrait photo, and you want to give a model's blue or green eyes that werewolf/vampire "pop"- you use a blue or green filter similar to the model's eye color, brightening the irises while making the surrounding skin (which is a warm hue) look more contrasty.
 
All relevant points, thank you.
Red removes colour perception, (same for night sky observers using red light torches) but like you say, distorts the red spectrum too :(
Green removes contrast perception but again, will distort the green spectrum. This is why I like my iPhone set to black and white!
 
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