still life value study

I selected one of the views of the still life:

This is a view of 4 objects with the background erased. Think of the composition as suggesting the relationship of the statue & the wine. The center of focus is the area between the bottle & glass. Unfortunately the grapes are darker than the the other objects. This may be OK for aerial perspective, but unnecessary in a shallow depth of field.











Lets look at a value study (grayscale). Here are the gray values of the objects. The top of the liquid in the glass is the brightest. The top of the bottle the darkest. The statue, leaves & upper part of bottle (below neck) are about 50% gray. The grapes & tablecloth are approximately 70% gray. If you intend a "low-key" painting, lower brightness of glass and lighten tablecloth (drapery) & grapes. If you intend a "high-key" painting, lighten grapes & drapery. Glass may not need as much darkening because it has more blue.

Lets look at the color levels. This is the red value. For additive colors (RGB) lighter indicates more red. Notice the bottle has the hightest red level.

Now lets look at  the green values. The leaves have the lightest green. The statue also has a similar light green component. You can build on this color harmony.

Lets look at the blue values. The glass has the most blue, the bottle the least. A more interesting composition could be achieved by moving the glass closer to the bottle for high contrast OR strengthening the blue saturation of the grapes.

Now, for printing purposes, here are the CYM values of the picture. First CYAN (light blue). Note that CYM colors are subtractive. The lighter shade of gray indicates lower levels of the color. The bottle has the lowest amount of cyan.

Now for yellow.  The bottle has the most amount of yellow, the glass the least. Ideal for strong color contrast if you place the items together and increase the yellow & blue saturation.

Now for magenta (similar to alizarin crimson). The leaves & statue have the least magenta, the other objects (including drapery) have a similar amount of magenta. The placement of the objects with respect to this color suggest a weak composition.

Simplify, simplify! Here is an example of a simplification of the objects in the picture. Notice how the objects, although rendered into simple shapes, can be recognized. The overall composition is a collection of colored shapes. The bottle reads as the strongest element, the statue the weakest. We need to adjust the VALUES of the objects according to our strategy (low-key or high key).

Here is my first attempt to adjust the picture for a high-key composition without rearranging the objects. The leaves contrast with the bottle (almost a complementary color). The statue & glass contrast with the grapes (also almost as a complementary color).

I purposely left out the background. Select a color which will harmonize our red-blue pairs; usually a color that has both primaries. Then select a color that will make these objects "pop" (the triad) . This is not an easy choice. For harmonizing color, I suggest a value that is lower (middle tone). For a "pop" efect, I suggest a higher value for the color that is used.

For chiaoscuro, lower values of bottle, grapes & statue and select an even darker background color. Place a brights on the reflection of the glass & fluid.