OPINIONS - Is my Water too dark?

There are black water lakes/ponds in nature, born mostly from the reflections they display, but not the usual in our modeling.  I agree it might look nicer in traditional blue/green tints.  Especially in your layout scenario.  It might tone down some if you were to put in wind ripples, instead of the glass smooth finish you have achieved.

I like it and you do show the edges and the sand by the island.

The reflection are very nice, reminds me of early morning.

It is just looks deep

Great job.

I like it too !

Go with what makes you really happy. If you are unsure enough to ask about it here, then my impression is you are not going to get more enamored of it as time goes forward; rather, you are going to like it less.

BTW, the pictures TEDW provided give a valuable perspective and were helpful in my letting myself voice an opinion here, because I have never seen such black-looking water in real-life. So, perhaps the redo you suggest might be the best route to take, for you.

These photos show water I have modeled, more as effluence than standing water, the color(s) of which might be more along the lines of what you indicated you intended to have modeled.

Also, this scene with the transients by a pond is the darkest I have ever let myself model, more to indicate a mood or atmosphere, than any particular depth.

I hope this is helpful.

FrankM

Leave it alone.... It's perfect.    I know it's hard to do but don't change anything.

Looks great.

I don't know if you have little kids around but I like to see what they say.  If they point something out (without prompting) that I'm on the fence about, I'll make a note to change it.  That said, I like your dark water.

My opinion

To dark for the environment around it

You are not going to be happy until you change it.

Donald:

Your layout looks great! Amazing attention to detail!

In my opinion your water is too dark. But if that's the effect you want then it is entirely up to you. That's the beauty of what we do with our layouts.

I like to use the description: "Three Dimensional Art In Motion With Sound ©" for what we do with our train layouts.

Here's what I did with a small water effect on my layout:

I like it a lot. Very striking. If it were me, I would stand pat with the water color and add a bunch of conifers around it to approximate the pics posted by @TEDW.

it really depends on the context! trying shining a light on the white ceiling directly above that part of your layout. You might get more reflections than what you've got right now and I bet if you painted your ceiling blue in that area it would reflect that as well. could work as a stop gap for now and if you decide to re-do the whole thing thats always an option.

you can see on this image its already doing this a little where it reflects the blue backdrop.

BTW: The island needs a tree, too:

Water is all colors in nature as it reflects its surroundings.   Any of the nature color hues will work.  The canal across the street from our house is swamp green.

Dennis

The water looks great as is.    It needs to contrast the light scenery around it.   You don't want it to "disappear"  by being too similar to the light tans/beiges  in the vicinity.   I would not change it.  John A

Do what makes you comfortable. It looks very deep like it drops off very close to shore - nothing wrong with that if you like it. Otherwise re-do with just a slight bluish-green tint. Slight because most of the water I've seen on this site is way too blue! Water is generally black as you move away from the shore. I happen to live in a county with 44 lakes and innumerable creeks and streams. In the final analysis do what makes you comfortable.

Hello----NO OFFENSE---but it kinda resembles a Wyoming oil sump!  Sighhh--if the rest of the scenery wasn't so well crafted, the water would pass.  Water  appearing that dark might occur at dusk, but the rest of the scenery looks like its a sunny day.

Redo it! You have to live with it!  Brighten it up.  Good crafting often involves REcrafting!  Sometimes over and over!  -Salty Rails-

Looks great to me

Water DOES appear that dark on a sunny day, but only if it is very deep and shaded.

It sounds like the jury is split. But it doesn’t matter what we think. I think you did an amazing job and I love how it’s as smooth as glass! Soak on it (pun intended) for a few weeks. If you decide to change it I’m sure it will look great with your skills. Thanks for sharing. I’d love to do something like that.

I think it's great.

Peter

Gentlemen.

Thank you all for your time to respond. I appreciate your comments. You gave me a lot to think about.

FrankM was right, I asked the question because I really did not care for the final result. However, I will try some of the suggestions, like ATANZ suggested with lighting, etc.

For now, it is only 2 days old. I will stare at it for awhile, maybe add some more vegetation and see if it grows on me. After all, I have another 700 square feet of scenery to complete so I have other projects to do!

I can always revisit this area. The biggest disadvantage of waiting too long is that I need to install that Atlas "high bridge" across the upper level to run some trains. That is out in the shop for assembly and paint. Once that is installed, it becomes a lot tougher to work in that space under the long 40" span.

Thanks again.

Donald

I like and your land scape looks great but i agree if it bothers you now it will bother you until you change it. Nice job though

Looks good in and of itself BUT, since there's no shadow reflection of anything dark around the perimeter, you do have to wonder why it's so dark since, as mentioned above, water color is a reflection of surrounding scenery and/or sky. One suggestion might be to do a sample of the same color off the layout (e.g. in a shallow pan) and then try some coloring to lighten it and see what the comparison looks like. It might give you some practice regarding what color you'd like it to be before you do the real thing. Or, you might just decide to leave it as is. 

I think as you add more scenery materials in that area it will blend in better.  Maybe add more contrasting green and yellow foliage and some more evergreens.  Populate the area.  

You do wonderful modeling, but yea .... IMHO, its way too dark, and doesn't look right. 

Been there, done that.

Jim

You have to be pretty far out to see blue water at sea. A lot more ponds are dark than cobalt blue. 

I think it looks great. In my opinion, the water on most layouts is too blue. 

Just came across this picture and it reminded me of your post and water effect. Look familiar? It's real, too.