Hello there! These are great practices! I’ve actually been thinking about getting back into value composition studies these days too And well, this might sound simple, but adding depth really comes down to how you group your values. In other words, keep in mind that the values in your background won’t be the same as those in your midground or foreground. Remember that the farther things are, the lighter they tend to be, and of course, they’ll have less detail (as a general rule, not always purely light). Even in your midground, like with the mountain, the shadows shouldn’t be completely black; that tends to kill depth. Instead, keep them within a slightly higher value range, which helps suggest atmospheric perspective. Another important point is repetition. Adding more elements in the background with higher values will create more depth than having a single isolated element in the middle of the composition. The same goes for the tree, having additional elements in the background at different scales helps reinforce depth. So again, it all comes down to separating values across planes, almost like playing with them haha. If your focal point has very light values, then try to keep the background darker in comparison (like with the tower, the tower has a higher value than the background trees, but those trees aren’t completely dark either, as some elements in the foreground). I highly recommend you to do master studies and learn how other artists add depth to their compositions :D Hope this helps!
