Colour Themes (9)

Requirement

3 photographs

Purpose                      

To explore various relationships between natural colours in landscapes

Technical learning

• Colour is always there in landscapes
• Analysing any subject into the main parts of form and colour is an important ingredient in producing balanced images
•  3 choices with colour (a) treat it as incidental, (b) work in black and white or (c) make it central
• If you want to emphasise shapes, brightness, contrast or tones, then treat colour as incidental or, probably even more effective, work in monochrome 
• If you want colour to create a strong physical and emotional response, make it central to your composition
• 4 colour relationships to consider, each of which can yield an endless permutations

Monochromatic

• Colours have the same hue but vary from dark (shade), medium to light (tint) values of brightness. 
• Adds contrast

Analogous 

• Colours lie next to each other in the colour wheel (e.g. yellow and red of similar tones). 
• Pleasing, low contrast harmony

 Complementary 

• Colours lie opposite to each other in the colour wheel (e.g. green with red, blue with orange, violet with yellow). 
• Often, most effective to use a smaller amount of one of the colours as an accent. 
• However, these colours have different brightness, from the darkest (violet) to the lightest (yellow). 
• The relative brightness levels of these 6 colours are: yellow 9, orange 8, red 6, green 6, blue 4, violet 3. 
• Consequently, perfect balance requires the following proportions of complementary colours (Red: Green – 1:1, Orange: Blue – 1:2; Yellow: Violet – 1:3)
• Strong contrast - conveys energy, vigour, excitement. 

Split complementary

• Consist of 3 colours, 2 one step either side of the complement’s analogous colours (e.g. red with blue-green with yellow-green). 
• Low contrast beauty with contrast of the opposite colour, especially if this is used as an accent

Exercise instructions

Produce one good example of each of:

• the largest range of greens in one view
• the largest range of colour contrast
• one isolated colour against a contrasting background.

How you frame the shot is important to the success of the image. All colours should be natural. The challenge is to find locations that fit the requirements of the project.

Images and Review

Evaluate the effectiveness of each shot.


Farm at Hirzel, Switzerland

Greens
Colour combination creates a pleasing harmony
between the various shades of green. The image also has 
contrasts between the textures of the farmland and lines
that engage the eye.

Egetswil, Switzerland

Colour contrast
Yellow of spring rapeseed blossom contrasts
with the blue of the sky and the green of the
background forest. 

Poppy in field, Wiltshire (near A303)

Isolated colour against contrasting background
Poppy gives a complementary colour accent to
the surrounding grasses. Cropped 2:1 to increase
the tension in the frame, forcing the eye to move
more energetically in the space