Making Visual Choices

Use Value Change 
To Create Depth

When the background is light, light values tend to fade into the background and darks stand out.

When the background is dark, darks fade into the background and light values stand out.

When the background is medium grey, the darks and the lights stand out and become the foreground.

You've seen this effect used many times in pictures like this to create depth.

In real life there is dust in the air that filters the light from distant objects. Things far away are muted. Things close up are in sharp contrast.







If you reverse the values you get a night scene.

This works because at night things close up are well lit and distant things are in the dark.








You can use these effects to create depth in your quilts and you don't have to do the traditional mountain scene. Just remember that things that contrast strongly with the background move into the foreground; things the are close in value to the background move back.

How far something moves forwards or backwards depends on how much it contrasts in value with the background.