Color has both emotive and physiological properties
A feature of any photographic structure that is regularly disregarded is color. A lot of energy and time is spent thinking about the depth of field, framing, selecting between horizontal and vertical compositions, and the rule of thirds. But the blends of colors used in an image are just as significant as drawing to the viewer.
For years now, it is being observed that color has both emotive and physiological properties. For instance, red has always indicated an increase in heart rate, and blue is connected with comfort. Understanding how our brains see color and the basic theory behind it is helpful in making better images with exceptional color choices. Color can be used to produce harmony, make a subject stand out from a context, or suggest battle or disorder. Training yourself to get better with color theory basics as a photographer can take your image output to the next level.
1. Primary Colors
Primary colors form the base of any color wheel. They are also colors that can be created by mixing two other hues together. While an average artist color wheel makes use of blue, red, and yellow as primary colors, several photographers prefer the use of RGB color spectrum, since their medium is light. The RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) colors are called Additive Primaries since they all add up to produce white light.
2. Secondary Colors
These colors are the outcome of combining two primary colors. Secondary colors on the basic color wheel, are purple, orange, and green.
3. Tertiary Colors
Tertiary colors are made from the combination of secondary and primary colors. For instance, when you use the traditional blue, red, yellow color wheel, mixing with blue and orange would yield tertiary colors. Irrespective of the color you pick, the vital part of a color theory depends on the connection between such colors.
Hue, Luminosity & Saturation
Nowadays, color can be worked on by using photo-editing software like Lightroom and Photoshop. These software packages make use of menus and sliders to adjust tones, and from time to time, other parameters. In rudimentary terms, the hue is the name given to a color, i.e. green, blue, etc. on the other hand, luminosity regulates how bright or dark the color would be, while Saturation represents the color intensity.
Types of Colour Harmonies
The essential part of the color theory is the process of placing color into harmonies. There are numerous types of Harmonies and the most common ones include:
Analogous | Complementary | Diadic | Monochromatic | Split Complementary | Triadic | Quadratic.
The most useful, when it comes to general photography, is analogous, complementary, monochromatic, and split complementary. These Harmonies tend to be more flexible and handy than quadratic or triadic. Now let’s explain each harmony in turn.
Analogous: Is a group of colors that lie directly next to one another on the color wheel. The Analogous colors are restricted to two colors, or can further spread a little more than half of the whole color wheel. At this point, it will begin to lose its uniqueness. Analogous colors are used to create lower contrast, harmonious color outline.
Complementary: It is amongst the most recognized relationships in colors. The complementary color is composed of two colors that lie directly diagonally from one another on the color wheel. The color spread on both sides can be amplified to contain more color on both ends too. A similar scheme can be seen in nature as a warm-cool blend of blueish and warm orange tones mixed together. Complementary color also produces high contrast and draw.
Diadic: Color consists of merging two colors that are disconnected by two hues of color sideways on the color wheel. This harmony features some flexibility since it is hard to measure what is precisely contained in a single-color hue.
Split complementary: Harmony is achieved by taking two colors lying directly next to one of the colors in complementary color harmony. It is a more demanding harmony to exploit but can be beneficial in certain conditions.
Monochromatic: Comprise of color with variable values. It implies variable brightness levels or variable saturation levels. Characteristically, Monochromatic harmony is what a black and white image should be. Monochrome is valuable for images that do not need any element sticking out.
Triadic: Involves the combination of any three equally spaced colors from one another on the color wheel. The Triadic harmony is more comparable to a split complementary where a solitary color can span regularly over more ranges. Occasionally, the color harmony identity can be blurred.
Quadratic: Is the combination of 4 colors having a rectangular spatial connection on the color wheel. It is often called “Double Complementary” due to its mixture of 2 complementary color harmonies.
Handling Brightness & Color Saturation
A single color can be varied using two major approaches, Brightness and Saturation. Changing the level of brightness and saturation will produce different varieties of a single color existing between black and white. Normally anything getting direct light becomes visibly brighter, and can also absorb more saturation. When adding variations in intensity and saturation, always take note of the RGB histogram to make sure you do not blow out a color channel. You can allow a small amount of a particular color blow out for better effect, but avoid a big area blow out as this would not yield better results. When working with color brightness, harmonies, and saturation of any scene, you should also put ample consideration to the main colors you wish to work on. They will be the key colors that encompass harmony and generate the primary focus of the image. It works well when you focus your energy on increasing brightness and saturation to these colors as that is where the main focus of your observation will go to.
Conclusion
Colors are powerful. They make every image glow and stand out. But if not properly handled, can also ruin an image. Developing a keen eye for colors takes time and continuous training. Colors Theory is a complex topic, with even more to discuss. Colors with complete brightness and variable levels of saturation will feel airy, colorful, and light but colors with reduced brightness and saturation will feel dark, and sooner or later more discolored or unclear as they become less saturated. I hope you have learned a thing or two on color theory, and you plan on taking the necessary steps to develop a keen eye for colors. It is quite simple if you wish to learn more, as better colors imply better images!!
