|
Also see:
Composing a Photo,
Elements of Composition,
Photographing Cats
Rather
than simply take a colour photo, your pics can be improved by following a few
simple rules regarding colour.
1) Complimentary Colour
Each
primary colour has a complementary opposite on the colour wheel. When used
together, these colour combinations always look good. Red/green, blue/orange,
yellow/purple. The colours can be used as the only palette in the photo or
combined with more neutral colours.
Pic 17
shows an example of red/green with the red tulips highlighted by the green
leaves with an orange/red background of soil.
Pic 18 has
a blue/orange colour combo with a more neutral silver grey which serves to break
up the complementary colours and therefore make them stronger in the frame.
The
yellow/purple colour combo is probably the hardest one to find but it doesn’t
need to be used in abundance to be effective. Pic 19 shows only about a third of
the photo filled with the complementary colours and yet it dominates the frame.
PS. For
anyone who’s interested in how I did that photo…..hiding small pieces of tasty
cold meat amongst the petals is a surefire way to get puss to poke her nose in
there.
2) Dominant Colour
Warm
colours dominate, cool colours recede. Using a lesser amount of a warm colour
(red, yellow, orange, pink) against a cool background (blue, green, grey) can
give a lot of impact to your photos. The eye is immediately drawn to the warm
dominant colour which stands out against its receding background.
Going back
to Pic 18, the warm orange is only a small portion of the photo and yet your eye
is immediately drawn to it.
In Pic 20,
the small splashes of yellow and red immediately dominate over the cooler green
and grey background.
3)
A Single Colour
Using
simply one colour combined with texture can make for an interesting and
eyecatching photo. Shades of one colour also works very effectively. When
seeking out scenes to photograph, narrow your vision down to isolate the colours
and you may be surprised at what you find that is worthy of pointing your camera
at!
In Pic 21,
I found a little scene by the edge of a lake. Shades of brown with texture
provided by the dried mud, the water and the broken bottle.
With Pic
22, the tiny undeveloped green grapes make an interesting picture against a
backdrop of green vine leaves.
Pic 23 is
a frame of gold, with the texture and interest provided by the patterns in the
water.
By
thinking about the colours you see through your viewfinder and using them
effectively, your photography will improve and your photos will be a pleasure to
look at. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of taking a few steps forward or zooming
in a little to isolate your colour palette and remove unwanted, more distracting
colours from the scene.
The photos used to illustrate this tutorial remain the property
of Gayle Knowles and may not be used, published or distributed without the
permission of the photographer. |
