the light family

This focus of this quick-study was to examine just how difficult it can be to see the correct values in areas bleached out by sunlight. The white pillow on the right side of the bench should be the lightest light, but as you can see in the top photo (blurred to reduce shapes and see values easier) the model's dress on the left, and both hats appear very bleached out too, almost as light as the white of the pillow. So the artist must continually compare everything to the lightest light (white pillow) and keep the other lights toned down. To test if the values work, I desaturated the color to B&W on the computer for the bottom image, making it is easier to see.

"Color is an inborn gift, but appreciation of value is merely training of the eye, which everyone ought to be able to acquire"...John Singer Sargeant