How can i use custom brushes to add depth in digital landscapes?

[Logan_R]

I’ve been trying to get better at creating a sense of depth in my digital landscapes, but my background elements always feel flat and static. I’m curious how others approach atmospheric perspective in their work, especially when using custom brushes for things like distant foliage or haze.

[BrandonAM]

I kept the distant stuff flat until I treated haze as its own layer of color and value. I built a custom brush that mostly scatters tiny blobs and soft edges, then used it at around 40 to 60 percent opacity for far trees and hills. I stacked a few of those layers, with more blur as things receded.

[Kyle23]

I read about atmospheric perspective, and it clicked when I stopped chasing realism and started reducing contrast in the distance. I kept saturation down and shifted colors cool-warm to push depth. The brushes helped, but the real shift was the value scale and soft feathering at the far edge.

[LaylaAT]

One time I added a haze pass with a big soft brush and slammed it across the top of the frame, then called it done. In practice it dulled the foreground and I had to undo, which was annoying. Still, it taught me to test on a real monitor and not just tablet previews.

[DavidS]

Do you think the problem is the brush or the scene's lighting more than the distance cues?