Understand Colour Theory in Photography to create visually appealing pictures

A widely ignored factor, the colours in a picture play a major role in building up the theme and the overall feel of the photograph. This concept can be better understood by learning more about Colour Theory.

Each colour signifies a different feeling, culture or thinking. Colour theory is a way to use colours so that they look harmonious together.

Apart from the colour having a major impact on any given scene, colour has its own luminosity values, hues, and saturation, making it something vital to pay close attention to before your next shoot.

Colours Theory & Emotions

Colour Theory is the best practice method for combining them to evoke certain moods or emotions. It is proven by Science and Psychology that some color combinations attract you eyes while some are repelled.

It is of utmost importance to choose the colours in your picture so as to produce a colour harmony and a visually pleasing photograph.

Adobe Color CC is a free colour wheel, check it out here! The colours extending from yellow, orange, and red, to red magenta, are considered as warm colours.

The colours extending from magenta blue, blue, cyan, and green, to yellow-green, are considered cool colours.

The colour wheel shows a 2D view of the Saturation and Hue Axis, while the Brightness Axis is accessed using sliders on Adobe’s website.

Also Read: 6 Examples Of Color Theory In Film. Red Is The Color Of Power, Lust And Love

A Color transition moves your eyes through a photo by drawing them from warm
to cool colours or other colour harmonies.

This is accomplished using colour contrast. Colours can also add mood or emotion to your photos. Red and orange provide feelings of energy or happiness, while certain colours of green and blue create calm or relaxed moods.

Types of Colour Harmonies

There are 5 different types of colour harmonies covered below which provide a nearly infinite number of colour combinations.

A Key Color is the main colour which is selected for use in a work of art or photograph. It is the most important color in a picture and dominates other colors.

1. Direct or Complementary Color Harmony
2. Analogous Color Harmony
3. Triadic Color Harmony
4. Split-Complementary Color Harmony
5. Square Color Harmonies

Direct / Complementary Colour Harmony

A direct colour harmony includes one more colour that is directly opposite to the key colour in the color wheel.

Using a directly opposite color produces a high color contrast which creates a sense of depth. Photographers can remove attention from unwanted objects by darkening them in post-processing. This causes the viewer to look at the brighter & more vivid colors first.

Analogous Colour Harmony

Analogous colors lie directly next to each other on the color wheel. The key color is clearly orange in the above picture.

Analogous color harmonies are often found in nature and work very well for pictures with high tonal contrast. Our eyes easily move around the picture due to the large numbers of different shades showing transitions from light to dark.

Triadic Colour Harmony

The Triadic Color harmony uses 3 or more colors from the color wheel, whose points create a triangle. Triadic color harmonies are vibrant due to the spacing of the colors.

The Key Color is dominant while the other colors are more subdued. In the above picture, key color is Green.

Split-Complementary Colour Harmony

The split complementary colour harmony is found in sunrise and sunsets. After selecting the Key Color, find the complementary colour that lies directly across from it in the colour wheel.

The split complementary colours are found on each side of the complementary colour, excluding the complementary colour.

Also Read: How To Make The Background Black & White in Snapseed

Square Colour Harmonies

By selecting a dominant key colour and 3 subdued colours, spaced evenly around the
colour wheel, the square colour harmony is formed.

This can be transformed to a Rectangular Color Harmony by slightly moving each colour point in the colour wheel.  The square colour harmony is perfect for displaying the single most important object in a scene.

All other subdued colours in the square are used to complement the key colour and make the subject of the work stand.

This can be transformed to a Rectangular Color Harmony by slightly moving each colour point in the colour wheel.  

The square color harmony is perfect for displaying the single most important object in a scene. All other subdued colors in the square are used to complement the key color and make the subject of the work stand.

Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Subscribe to never miss a post!