[WWI] Air, was: Scale black

[Andy Bannister]

Iban,
I think we've done this to death and it's getting beyond pedantic. Air is
not blue. "Air", being predominantly nitrogen & oxygen, is a colourless gas.
It is the light refracting off the impurities and particles in the air that
give it a blue colour on cloudless, smogless, pollenless, clear day. I'm not
interested in trying to emulate an effect that is so subtle it isn't
consciously noticeable on my models. For those that are, knock yerselves out
and enjoy. That's really the bottom line anyway. And who's to say what's
more real - reality is in the eye of the beholder.
Andy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: wwi-bounces at wwi-models.org 
> [mailto:wwi-bounces at wwi-models.org] On Behalf Of iban
> Sent: 22 November 2006 17:33
> To: World War I Modeling Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [WWI] Scale black
> 
> 
> Andy Bannister wrote:
> > Without getting into meterology and the science of 
> atmospherics (which 
> > I have only a layman's knowledge of anyway), the colour of our 
> > atmosphere is due to, amongst other things, the particles 
> in it, not the air itself.
> >   
> both.  two different effects.  not to be confused. 
> 
> the colour of the air itself is always a factor for our 
> subjects (would 
> be different if we were star tr*kkie modelers) and is pretty much a 
> constant--blue.  this is why the sky is blue. 
> 
> the colour of other particles in the atmosphere (if and when they're 
> present) adds another layer of complexity to the whole painting 
> process.  if you've got smog in the sky giving you a los angeles type 
> sunset, that reddish ambient background glow will have to be treated 
> pretty much the same *if* you want your model dio to look like it's 
> really in context in l.a..  but that reddish tint will still be 
> modifying the blue of the air it's floating in.
> > Therefore to say that things always fade to blue isn't necessarily 
> > true. If there is haze or smog present things may fade with 
> a gray or brown hue. On an overcast day your mountains would 
> have a gray tint rather than blue. On a bright blue winter 
> day (which is pretty rare in the UK!) you may get a fade to 
> blue but a hot summer day would often have an increased level of haze.
> >   
> very true, but all separate effects in addition to the 
> underlying state 
> of affairs: you are looking at something thru blue air.  the 
> bright blue 
> winter day has you looking thru more air, because cold air is 
> denser.  
> the hazy summer day has you looking thru less air, for the opposite 
> reason.  but any other particle effect, be it smog, pollen, or 
> what-have-you, is in addition to that underlying blue.
> > And as you say, it takes a lot of distance to create a noticeable 
> > effect anyway. Andy
> >   
> 
> well, er, very subtle is a bit different than not noticeable, 
> perhaps.  
> try this.  if there is a building around with an interesting 
> (preferably 
> darker--it's easier to see) colour, take a pic of a section 
> of wall from 
> a foot away.  take another of the same section with your zoom from 48 
> feet away, and another from 72 feet.  try and get all three 
> pics taken 
> within moments of each other so you've got the same lighting in all 
> three.  the effect is immediately noticeable the moment you put your 
> three pix side-by-side--but only if you cut the borders off so the 
> colour in each pic bumps right up against the colour in the 
> next.  your 
> brain didn't notice before, because it just labeled the wall 
> colour as 
> "that's purple" and didn't want to be bothered to think any 
> more about it. 
> 
> (not your brain personally.  that's what all human brains do. 
>  mine is 
> worse than most.)
> 
> as soon as your brain sees a straight vertical line where 
> each block of 
> colour changes to the next, tho, it wakes up and says "well that's 
> bloody obvious, init?".
> 
> and that's part of the point with many artistic effects.  you don't 
> notice them consciously.  some are hard to see unless you 
> specifically 
> know what you're looking for.  but they make the whole thing 
> feel more 
> right, and therefore more real, when that's the effect you're after.
> 
> iban.
>