Asquascaping 101: Perspective part 2: Contrast

Aquascaping generally requires conveying a large amount of visual information within a confined space. When I teach I often rely on artistic principles, because I believe scapes are a form of art, and high art attempts to create 

perspective through the illusion of depth. There are three key elements when it comes to perspective: color/light, contrast, and shape. Each element is dependent on the other and can be used to varying degrees. With practice, your scape can become more complex or simple and subtle thanks to these elements. In my previous article I discussed using the color of hardscape and plants to create depth. Now we’re going to take this concept further, focusing on contrast. 

 How we see and process depth dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece, and China. Many observers of depth began by studying the moon. As the moon travels across the sky, its size and brightness changes. This is an illusion. What actually changes are the reference points or pictorial cues, and various points of contrast around the moon. This is best seen in time lapse of the moon. The naked eye perceives a change in size and brightness, but the visual shows us it does not. 

 The brain’s size-distance function uses reference cues in space to determine how big, bright, and far away objects are. If you look at the moon through the trees, the dark branches contrast with the moon to make it appear brighter and the branches darker. By controlling contrast in a scape, we can use this concept to create the illusion of depth. Like color, objects that appear closer feel as if they have weight or are heavier; conversely, objects that appear further away appear to have less mass, and are lighter in color and weight. Carefully planning the contrast within a tank will allow any aquascaper to establish a strong foundation for a beautiful hardscape and planting plan. Let’s discuss the basic elements needed for that foundation: 

 Weight

As discussed in the previous article, weight is the calcium of your scape’s structural skeleton. Objects are heavy in the foreground and light in the background. Weight partners with a combination of visual cues defined by color, intricacy, edge, texture, and shadow, sometimes referred to as CIETS. 

Weight will always be defined by CIETS. The combination of these visual cues are the beginning and end of depth in your aquascape. The more pronounced your CIETS are in the foreground, the heavier it will be. The more your CIETS in the foreground contrast with the background, the stronger your depth will be.

 Shadow

When critiquing a scape, often I will take the photograph sent to me and remove all the color. Using greyscale, it’s easy to see that color may add detail, but shadow is king. Shadow, or lack thereof, defines many of the visual cues 

below. Shadows in the foreground will be deep and dark, while the background will have a scarcity of shadow. 

Shadows become lighter and softer as objects go further afield, and a successful background will have little to no shadow. Although shadow can often be confused with edge (below), they are not the same. The cracks in stone, texture of a leaf, or the grain of wood are all defined and controlled by shadow and light. By controlling the severity or softness of shadow, we take the first step in defining depth by using contrast. In figure 1 we can see how shadow can control a shape’s form and depth. 

Texture

Objects in the background of an artwork or scape have less texture than objects in the foreground. The contrast between the texture of objects in the foreground and relative smoothness of of objects in the background helps give a sense of distance. Sudden or smooth transitions are determined by the composition. But texture can be complicated by shadows. In the foreground, where texture should be the strongest, deep shadows require little to no texture. Texture in shadow will dilute the effect of “edge”, lessening the contrast (see below). When searching for your hardscape, look for pieces that are heavily textured on one side and smooth on the other for the foreground. 

 Intricacy

Intricacy is the action, or motion, in a layout. When the foreground is filled with as much ‘motion’ as possible, the eye will focus on the motion, then drift through the midground to the background. The mass and level of intricacy in the foreground is determined by depth by overlapping, which is explained below. Intricacy can include extreme differences of light, shadow, shape, and color. It is a primary engine of the foreground for all scapes (except the landscape style iwagumi and it’s kin).

 Orientation

Stand in front of a forest, and immediately your eyes and brain will note the verticality of the tree trunks. If we could look through the forest into the distance the trunks blend together and you’ll see only canopy, and lines that our brain knows to be tree trunks, even though we can no longer see the actual trunks. Orientation contrast is the flattening of objects by distance. (Fig. 2) Objects in the foreground are stronger and have more weight if they are vertical. By using objects in the background that are horizontal to contrast the vertical foreground we increase the weight of the foreground. The greater the flattening, the deeper the scape will appear. This is key for framing and staging your layout (which we’ll cover in more detail in the next article). In figure 3, the layout exhibits weight, texture, shadow and orientation to show depth.

Edge

The edge of an object as it moves in space or across distances has been one of the most important observations in historical art movements. Objects closer to the viewer have sharp edges, and almost cuboid form, while objects in the distance are flat and rounded. Leonardo da Vinci noted when observing a figure in the distance that “he will seem a very small round dark body. He will appear round because distance diminishes the various parts so much as to leave nothing visible except the greater mass”. The contrast between these base shapes provides visual cues that create depth or distance. Sharp angled hardscape and plants with texture is ideal in the foreground, and rounded, smooth, stone for the background. Thinking about it in abstract terms, depth can be achieved by triangles, pyramids, squares, and cubes in the foreground, disks and circles in the background. This is one of the tricks used by the masters of Trompe-l’œil. Sharp edges of shadow in the foreground force the feeling of closeness, and soft edges create the feeling of distance. In figure 4, by adding a sharp angled stone with a crisp shadow, we increase the edge, and 

increase the contrast with the foreground and background, enhancing depth.

Isolation

Going back to the forest analogy. Staring at a forest, your eyes and brain will only register large, vertical trees at first. As your eyes take in more information, the flattening 

begins. When composing a scape, singular vertical, isolated objects, have more weight. Combine these objects with 

CIETS, contrasting heavily with all other objects behind it, and it will force a deeper depth and mood. This particular 

visual cue is useful because the eye will focus on the 

isolated object, then move into the soft edged, round, background. This action tricks the eye into believing there is great depth in your composition. Don’t be afraid to place your isolation objects close to the front pane of the 

aquarium (just leave yourself enough room for maintenance). Strong, isolated objects or subjects are common in sculpture, painting, and staged photography. The 

looming, isolated object can add power, mood, or purpose to your work of art. This concept is most common within the aquascaping world in valley or forest scapes, but 

overall, it is an underutilized approach. 

Scale 

Scale is the most obvious of the contrasting elements. Big stuff in front, little stuff in back. With hardscape this is often straightforward. This advice is found everywhere on the internet, and many find it intuitively. With plants, this is where many of my students have had difficulty, and why it is so important to plan the hardscape and plants in tandem when creating an aquascape. Too often I hear competitive aquascapers tearing up plants last minute and rearranging, trying to get the depth right. The truly great background plants take time to grow in and look natural. Plan ahead to avoid headaches later on. 

When shopping for plants, often you will see plants divided into fore, mid, and background plants. These definitions are probably left over from the bygone days when the Dutch Style ruled the earth. To add depth to your scape, most foreground plants should be background and vice versa. If I were to scape a 60P (60x30x36cm) I could add blyxa 

aulbertii and windelov fern in the foreground, and 

Hemianthus Callitrichoides in the background. The size, shape, and orientation of the blyxa dwarfs and contrasts the size and roundness of the HC. The blyxa partnered with windelov adds a degree of CIETS. It’s large, angular, leaves (comparatively), will also contrast and dwarf the HC and its small round, disk-like shape. Add some angular, red, Ludwigia Peruensis trimmed at almost substrate level, and your foreground will be very heavy in comparison to the light, round, and small Hemianthus Callitrichoides 

background. Leaf size, shape, and color are defining visual cues for depth and will make or break any hardscape.

Depth by Overlapping

So far, I haven’t discussed the midground very much. The midground is where you shorten or elongate the depth of a composition, depending on your subject matter and composition, and what end result you wish to achieve. The bridge between contrast and shape (composition) is depth by overlapping,which mostly happens in the midground. Overlapping is dependent on Gestalt psychology and it’s offspring (which could be an entire article itself). In graphic design, a basic example would be two lines that reflect each other in size, orientation, and shape. We don’t see two individual objects, we see two objects on a plane, in a group. Our brain automatically finds associations with objects, and places them into a grouping, even when there is no information to tell us so. Another example is the phenomenon of the dotted line.

Although a dotted line is just a group of objects, we perceive it as a line. Our brain determines each dash has an association with its neighbor, making a complete object, instead of a dozen individual objects. In the drawing below, we see a square in front of another square, but in reality, it’s a one square touching an incomplete square. Your brain is making the assumption that there is depth on this page to fit an object behind it. By overlapping elements of your layout, mainly using CIETS in varying degrees, you can create depth with very limited space. If done well, the brain will jump to the conclusion of increased depth. 

Philburn Ratoosh said “Interposition can provide a cue only at points where outlines of two objects meet,” ”What happens at one point of intersection is independent of what happens at the other.”. The midground should have overlapping layers, like stairs. The further the ‘stairs’ go into space, the less dense the CIETS, the lighter the objects become. These stairs, or layers grow closer together the further in space they travel.

How do we utilize these concepts?

I was recently commissioned to design a forest style 

aquascape. The scape is for a Mr. Aqua “Passion” 32.1 gallon (121.5L), 23.625 x 17.75 x 17.75” (60x45x45cm) aquarium. 

 The background consists of small spiderwood, sanded down to be as smooth as possible. The wood leans towards the back panel to catch as much light as possible. The spider wood placement is as dense as possible while allowing water to flow between. I chose Hemianthus Callitrichoides for its small shape and round form.

The midground wood is also spiderwood, medium sized, placed perpendicular to the bottom panel. I use a wax file and dental picks to increase any interesting grains or features, but gently. I don’t want to compete with the intricacy of the foreground. If the light is placed directly above, there will be a layering of shadows. I chose Eleocharis acicularis ‘Mini’ for its duel growth. The leaves grow vertical and then curve, creating a horizontal effect when long.

In the foreground, I chose Tom Barr manzanita for its dark color and deep grains. I use dental picks to deepen the grains, and 60 grit sandpaper to smooth and flatten the sides facing the side panels of the aquarium. I place the wood as close to the front panel as possible, leaning it towards the fronts corners of the aquarium to increase the shadows. I use heavily angled, cuboid stones, placed to increase their shadow and edge potential. Plants include low growing eriocaulon for its stiff vertical growth and Bolbitis Heteroclita Difformis (Mini Bolbitis) for its texture and dark growth. This scape uses the visual cues of CEITS, weight, and depth by overlapping to create perspective in a natural way that is easily read by the eye.

Inspiration

Comic art, to me, is the closest art form to competitive aquascaping. Both use these techniques above to create depth, and do so within strictly confined space. Burne Hogarth founded The School of Visual Arts in New York City and wrote some of the best books on drawing light, shadow, and anatomy. Dusting off and looking over his Tarzan comics, I saw page after page of potential aquascape layouts. Hogarth is a master of using contrasting layers to show depth. This method is similar to Josh Sim’s approach in his presentation at Green Aqua. I strongly recommend any serious scaper to look over some of Hogarth’s work. Although color is important when composing a layout, without contrast your aquascape will still seem flat. By using the elements presented in this article (and the previous), great depth in your aquascape can be achieved, both in a photograph or in person. In the next article, Aquascaping 101: Perspective Part 3, we’ll discuss the use of shapes to further enhance your aquascape and bring all these elements together.