5 Color Photography Tips You Need to Know

Color photography is an obvious, but not necessarily understood subject. More often than not, what differentiates a good photo from a great photo are the details. It’s the nuances in composition paired with a touch of unexpectedness. When such minutiae come together, there is a clash of elements that create an ever sought-after harmony. The result? A viewer captivated by the raw beauty of a frozen moment.

Truth be told, color plays a key role in this pursuit of harmony (at least when considering color in photography) since they are a primary factor to consider for achieving a balanced photo layout. So, it goes without saying that having a basic grasp of the relationship between colors is an essential step to improve your skills as a photographer and create impactful images.

In order for this to happen, you should:

1. Know how to optimize a scene in order to convey your message while also creating more visually attractive photos.
2. Do NOT rely solely on your equipment or instinct
3. Obtain a good understanding of some fundamental principles and techniques are equally crucial.

The Nature of Colors

Bearing in mind some concepts from the “natural behavior” of colors and how they influence the human eye can add great creative potential to an image. After all, it’s these influences that will alter the composition of your shots drastically.

One concept to understand is the role of primary colors in photography. There are three primary colors (red, blue, and green) that serve as a foundation to all other tones out there. To elaborate, it’s these three colors that have the ability to create any other color you can imagine. (Example, when mixing red with blue we get magenta, while green and blue produce cyan.)

In addition, there are 3 main properties to observe in each color:

• Hue: the main attribute of a color associated with its wavelength; one of the properties that allow you to distinguish and classify one color from another.
• Saturation: refers to the “purity” of the color, the intensity of its hue. For instance, hues closer to the primary colors are more saturated than pastel colors.
• Lightness: often called “tone” or “value” denotes how close that particular hue is to the black or white end of a color scale. In other words, it is the clarity of the color or the absence of it.

Alternatively, colors are also classified according to their temperature:

• Warm: where yellow and red predominate. In photography, these are often used to reflect stronger and more intense emotions.
• Cool: possess dominant tones such as green and blue and are associated with a sense of calm and tranquillity.

When you start paying more attention to the properties of colors and how they can influence a given image, you may actively use these attributes as techniques to compose higher-quality photos.

As previously mentioned, in order to achieve a powerful yet pleasant look in your photographs, it’s best to combine colors in a harmonious way. And while there are no strict rules as to what tone to use, some combinations are more efficient than others.

Once you have studied a bit of the theory and have an idea of which aspects you would like to apply to your own images, it is time to get out there and put it to practice!

Use strong color combinations

Keep the composition simple when using strong colors. Merging a bunch of tones will pin them against each other and lessen the image’s impact. Truth be told, if composed correctly, an image with deep, saturated colors has the potential to create lasting impact

To gain a clearer understanding, try focusing either on the contrast or similarities between tones, breaking or combining it with another tone just as strong. For example, a bright blue and cloudless sky in the background with a plain green hill on the foreground.

Tip: Try using a polarizing filter if you have the chance, especially when shooting outdoors. They are designed to block/suppress reflected light from non-metallic surfaces, resulting in deeper and “purer” colors, especially the sky.

Play with soothing colors (like pastel tones)

It is important not to invariably associate color photography with strong, saturated colors. Color photography can be softer, almost monochromatic, and leave a powerful impression.

That being said, if you are attracted to pastel colors and would like to experiment with shooting less saturated images, you’ll most likely succeed on a cloudy day. Why? Because this is when the sunlight is not enhancing a particular hue’s saturation or lightness.

Alternatively, you can always adjust the color saturation in post-production. However, the magic of photography lies in observing and capturing the interactions of the present moment.

Note: Pastel colors have almost no shadows which makes them ideal for pictures such as portraits, flowers, or any other thing where lots of contrast could “dissolve” the details of your image.

Apply the concept of figure-to-ground

In a nutshell, the concept of figure-to-ground is this: the understanding of the relationship between your subject and its background in order to add harmony to the composition.

Similar to the idea of using strong color combinations, applying the concept of figure-to-ground in your color photography means forming an interaction between the colors on the image’s background and foreground.

A good way of implementing this is to place a strong color against a neutral background. This will emphasize the subject on the foreground since there are no competing hues to “fight for attention”. If you are wondering, “how do I find a neutral background?”, keep an eye out for anything that is gray, black or deeply shaded.

Choose one color

In a way, this technique can be seen as a combination of “using strong colors” and “applying the concept of figure-to-ground”. The only difference being that your focus lies on choosing a single color to dominate the entire picture.

Instinctively, this is more effective when you pick a saturated tone – preferably one of the primary colors (Red, Blue or Green) and really try to center the shot around making the subject (the color) the main component of the image. Do this regardless of the background, textures, or other tones that may be sharing the frame.

Find the balance between colors

If you google “color wheel”, you will find a number of diagrams that aim to explain the existing relationships between different colors.

On this wheel, you’ll find the colors close to each other tend to complement one another, making them “complementary”. These are useful when you want to create smooth images that transmit a sensation of tranquility. A good example of this can be found in a blue sky above a blue-green sea, or within a forest landscape in autumn composed of red, yellow, and brown tones.

Conversely, you should use colors that are on opposite sides of the wheel in order to achieve high color contrast images (Example: red flowers on a green field).

At the same time, finding this balance between colors may drive you to think about their temperature. And when considering the role of color in photography, that’s exactly what you want. Just remember: Red, yellow, and orange call forth associations to things like the sun or fire, making these warm colors. Blue, green, and violet tend to remind us of things like water or grass, making these cool colors.

Note: In pictures, warm colors seem to spring forward and cool colors often appear to retreat. Hence, if you place a warm subject against a cooler colored background, the foreground will stand out.

One Final Note

Although each situation will call for its specific approach and techniques, understanding and implementing the aforementioned concepts will give you a wider range of knowledge. This newfound information paired with a few additional tips will help you land on your feet, as well as provide you with the necessary tools to take ever more powerful photographs.