Color Exercise C&C

[Esterlin]

Well it's not a background, although it could work as a general background scene with a foreground addition. It's a color exercise and my second attemp with a sunset. All critics appreciated

[MashPotato]

I think it's very pretty ^_^
Something about the reflections strikes me as a bit odd, though... the smaller trees on the right seem to be smaller because they are further away, not because they are actually shorter then the tree in the middle.  If I'm correct in assuming this, I don't think they would be casting a shadow on the water (or at least, the shadow wouldn't extend that far).  I think the shadows should also be at an angle relative to the sun.
The tree in the front looks a bit too blurry to me.  The ones in the back look sharper.  If anything, I think it should be the other way round to help with the perspective.
Hope that helps, keep up the good work ^_^

[Fizzii]

The colour choice is good, though I'd have made the silouhettes even darker. Wouldn't the hills also reflect in the water as well?

It's a nice scene, just watch that you don't overuse the same custom brush too much, which is most apparent on the big tree.

[Esterlin]

Thanx for the crits
I think that the tree reflections are positioned correctly given that the sun is in quite some distance from the water body and the reflections should be almost vertical to the ground.

About the hills reflection, you are correct on the leftmost outcrop since it IS supposed to be a hill, I'll correct that as soon as possible.

As for the custom brush for the large tree, I noticed it looks bad and corrected it right after posting the image, I'll post the correct version sometime tomorrow.

All in all, it is a color exercise and I skipped alot of prespective/general feeling touches to focus on the colors matching.

Thanx for the comments once more

[Khris]

I think that the tree reflections are positioned correctly given that the sun is in quite some distance from the water body and the reflections should be almost vertical to the ground.

The reflections _are_ positioned correctly, but even if there were 200 suns all over the place, they'd still be exactly vertical to the ground.

It's a very nice and moody pic.
But the sun's reflection is vertically distorted due to the water's ripples, (which is correct,) so that should be the case with the trees' reflections, too.

[Andail]

There has been confusion regarding shadows and reflections. Shadows are not parallel, as they are affected by the perspective. The reflection in the water is however perfectly identical to the scenery above the water, save from distortion due to the surface of the water.
The only real error in this picture is that the hills are not reflected, only the trees (just as the reflection of the sun begins too high up in the water surface).
Apart from that issue, I have a few more points:
* The trees look like some sort of custom brush (they are in any case very similar). Please, spend some time drawing your own trees, and make them individual! The scene is too small to allow for identical shapes.
* The body of water extends a bit too long, into a very uninteresting area of greyish brown closer to the viewer.
* In return, the image is cropped too tightly over the top tree. A thumbrule is to either give plenty of space above the top object in the image, or crop it a good bit into the object.
* The gradient of the sky is not entirely realistic. The sky should logically be brighter just around the sun, and gradually darker the higher up you get.
* Try giving the trees and hills facing the sun a little "silver lining"; just a tiny yellow/reddish highlight.

Good luck!

[Snarky]

There has been confusion regarding shadows and reflections. Shadows are not parallel, as they are affected by the perspective. The reflection in the water is however perfectly identical to the scenery above the water, save from distortion due to the surface of the water.
The only real error in this picture is that the hills are not reflected, only the trees (just as the reflection of the sun begins too high up in the water surface).

Well, the reflection isn't merely a flipped version of what you see above the water, because you're looking at it from a different angle. You see the reflection as if you were looking at the scenery from below (as far below the surface of the water as you are above it). Therefore, you see less of things that are further away. (Alternatively you could say that it is as if there's an upside down copy of the scenery below ground, which you can see through the water. Obviously you have a different point of view with respect to this copy than with respect to the real scenery.)

For instance, look at this photo and notice how you don't see the crane reflected in the water, and that you see less of the tower (the clock face isn't visible).

It's a pretty subtle effect, and if you're close to the surface it doesn't make much difference. In this picture it would just result in the more distant trees looking a bit shorter, I think.

[MashPotato]

It's a pretty subtle effect, and if you're close to the surface it doesn't make much difference. In this picture it would just result in the more distant trees looking a bit shorter, I think.

This was also what I was trying to say, but Snarky put it more clearly.
As for the rest of what I said: that is why I shouldn't try to give shading advice... so confusing...