Careful observation of what you really see - instead of what you think you see - will show you how to:
- Accurately draw shapes reflected in water
- Mix the colors of the reflections correctly
- Reproduce the appearance of brightness of intense highlights such as the reflected sun
Reflections in the Water Are Seen As If from Below the Surface
Many painters paint the reflected image as an exact, upside-down version of direct image. This may be fine for sylized paintings, but realistic painting requires a more accurate representation of what your eyes actually see.
When viewing a scene of reflections in water, you are seeing the actual objects in the scene and their reflected images from two different viewing angles. Of course, the reflected image you see in the water bounces off the surface of the water. However, you see the reflected scene from an angle of view as far below the surface of the water as your eyes are above the water.
For example, if your eyes are 5 1/2 feet above the soles of your shoes, and you are standing exactly at water level, then you are seeing the reflected scene as if you were viewing it from a point of view 5 1/2 feet below the surface of the water.
The practical result of this is that you are seeing the reflected object from a significantly lower angle than when you look at the object directly. This means you see more of the undersides of reflected objects and may even see reflected objects that you cannot see at all when you look directly at the objects.
It takes time to observe and record these differences, but the final painting will be much more convincing if you draw or paint the direct and reflected images as they really appear from their two different points of view.
Accurately Seeing Reflected Highlights in Water
Many painters have difficulties when they try to paint very bright "specular" highlights such as reflections of the sun on water. Here again, they are painting what they think they see instead of what they really see. They slap on pure white paint and expect the painting to look realistic, but this seldom works.
If you simply try to see what your eyes are seeing, you will probably find that very bright highlights actually seem to have a fuzzy rim of bright, light yellow surrounding them. Also, images of reflected highlights in all but completely still water will always be visibly distorted by the rippled surface of the water.
It is very satisfying for the realistic painter who has carefully copied both of the above realities in his painting to see people shade their eyes with their hand when viewing the finished painting in ordinary room lighting. If observed and painted accurately, the painted image of the reflected sun can eeriely appear as uncomfortably bright as the original reflection of the actual sun.
Water Becomes Less Reflective the Closer the Viewer Is
A third subtle but important phenomenon is that water is an imperfect reflector. Overall, reflections of objects will be somewhat darker and dimmer than objects seen directly. Also, the closer the water is to the viewer, the more poorly it reflects an image of the earth and sky. Water directly below the viewer reflects only faint images while distant water reflects almost, but not quite as well as a mirror.
In murky water close to you, you tend to see the overall color of the water itself. In clear water, you see either an image of the lake bottom or of suspended objects or both. Overall, water in the foreground is usually darker than more distant water. For example, objects reflected in water are often a medium-to-dark olive green due to silt and algae suspended in it.
Simply by grading the reflected image from bright, cool and clear in the distant water to darker and more olive in the foreground, even in the highlights, the painting will become much more realistic looking. Also, the reflected sky in water close to you tends to look darker, grayer and more violet than in distant water.
A Final Note: On Painting Ripples
Ripples mix colors from light and dark areas. Paint them simply by using quick, side to side strokes of a thin brush. Drag paint from dark reflected objects quickly into the light areas, clean the brush, then drag the paint from the light areas back into the dark. Also note how seemingly random bits of bright highlight gleam from ripples in dark areas and small dark streaks appear in light areas.
Using These Principles Together
Observing any one of these principles will greatly improve your painting of reflections in water. Observing them all can produce an almost spookily realistic you-are-there image even when painting soft-focus realism.
George Stephen Murray - Stephen Murray can best be described as an intellectual wanderer with particular penchants for what is called in colleges and universities ...
