It has been almost 80 years since that first groundbreaking color negative that revolutionized the way of capturing and interpreting images in photography. Most of us have been born into the color age. Color televisions, color reels, color digital cameras. Everyone is in color. This should make things easy for us when it comes to meeting him, right? The truth is that it is like our mother tongue; knowing it and speaking it does not necessarily mean knowing how to write it, right? How many years have human beings communicated orally and how many years have they known how to write in a generalized way?
Exactly the same thing happens with color. Knowing how to “speak in color” does not necessarily mean knowing how to “write it”, for that you have to know a little about the “color alphabet” which luckily is much shorter than that of our mother tongue 😉
So we will start with a few basic notions about color that will help you learn to play with it, but first, I recommend that you delve into the Photographic composition and know all the essential tricks and tips you do through this mega guide that we have prepared for you.
Basic color theory
- Tone: It is the color itself; the color essence (green, yellow…) except that we usually use the word “color” instead of tone, but the meaning is the same.
- Brightness or luminosity: Relates to the light or dark of a tone The more brightness, the lighter it will appear, and the less brightness, the darker it will appear.
- Saturation: It is the degree of color purity. The higher the saturation, the more purity of color, and the lower the saturation, the more “dull” colors until reaching the minimum that is considered neutral gray.
- color wheel: It is used for the classification of colors based on the combination of the three primary colors (red, yellow and blue), and the secondary colors (green, orange and violet). Beware, the colors red, yellow and blue are “primary” in painting, but in photography the primary colors are red, green and blue.
- Complementary colors: They are those that are located “face to face” on the chromatic circle; the opposites. The combination of these produces a strong contrast between them.
- warm colors: Oranges, yellows, browns, golds, reds… All of them are “warm” colors because they are usually associated with a subjective sensation related to warmth.
- Cold colors: Greens, blues, and violets. As their name suggests, they cause a subjective sensation associated with cold.
- Harmonic colors: Colors that work well together, that accompany each other without opposing or contrasting each other. A combination of different warm colors would create a harmonic image based on warmth, for example.
And now that we’ve gotten a bit into the basics of color, let’s take a look at 20 tricks for you to get wonderful color images:
20 Tricks To Play With Color In Your Next Photographs
1. Color space
Regardless of the result you want to achieve, when shooting in color, it is recommended that you set the color space to AdobeRGB. Most digital cameras come with sRGB by default since this format takes up less space, but with Adobe RGB, the amount of color stored is greater, and therefore greater is its detail, approximation, and accuracy.
2. White balance
Another adjustment that you should make before considering taking color images is the white balance, especially if you do not shoot in RAW. White balance is nothing more than color temperature. There are warm orange, yellowish lights, cold bluish or greenish lights. You can correct them until you get a neutral tone in your image or you can play with those same tones, to obtain different images.
3. Control exposure
As a photographer, one of the things that is sure to drive you crazy is learning how to control exposure. It could be a small mistake or a big mistake, but the truth is that any adjustment you make to modify the exposure in your image will alter the original colors of the image, so if you don’t want that to happen, if you want to be as faithful as possible possible to the image you have before you, try to expose it as precisely as possible.
4. High key color
High-key images are those in which light, white and clarity dominate. Those that inspire us positive feelings or purity. That is why it is easy to see this technique associated with images of children or babies, but the truth is that you can use it in any context; you just need a white background and a lot of light.
5. Low key color
Low key color conveys the opposite of high key. This is based on darkness, mystery, strength or elegance.
6. Negative space
Negative space is one more element of the composition of your images. It is based on distributing the image through a main element or center of interestand a more or less wide “empty” space or with little information, so that this “negative” space enhances the main element or “positive space” within the composition.
7. Macro photography
Surely on more than one occasion, macro photography has caught your attention. The possibility of portraying giant ants, petals, snails on such a scale is fascinating, right? Surely you will also find fascinating the “blur” so sharp that it causes and that gives us images of a beautiful painterly effect as in the following image. If you like the effect that soft background colors create, try open the diaphragm to the maximum to reduce the depth of field and you will get an effect that is not as pronounced as the macro, but more affordable if you do not practice this type of photography.
8. Monochrome and color? How?
As a photographer and viewer at the same time, you probably agree with me that in general we all like images that surprise us in some way. It is not necessary for this image to be even strange, many times it only needs an element that stand out above the rest to activate our interest. There are many cameras that allow you to choose a color of the image to keep it and the rest of the image is transformed into black and white. You can also do it quite easily in Photoshop and other image retouching programs. And if you don’t have any of the above options or you don’t feel like using them, you can look for a handful of gray stones and a cherry, it’s all a matter of imagination.
9. Contrast and complementary colors
In the introduction to color we talked about complementary colors such as those oppose on the color wheel. These colors combined with each other, have the highest degree of visual contrast that you can get in a color image. For example, yellow and blue are complementary. If you combine them in an image you will have a high contrast image where both elements will be enhanced by the combination with their opposite color.
10. Mix of warm and cool colors
Visually speaking, cool colors “recede” and warm colors “advance” in the image, did you know? Curious, right? Surely you will find a way to exploit it in your color images 🙂
11. Create your own color compositions
Many times the best images are the most simple; those that anyone with some desire, imagination and photographic eye can build in a short time and anywhere. Look at the following image and you will see what I mean 😉
12. Light and shadow
Color is one more element of the composition, and as such, you should not forget to combine it with other elements that add interest to your image. The games of light and shadow can provide you with magnificent images worthy of the best impressionist painting 😉
13. Bokeh Effect
Yes:
a) You have a lens with a good diaphragm opening
b) You like to try new things
c) You have a tripod
d) You like the image you see below
Then you have to try the bokeh effect, you’re going to love it, and the color results are incredible. If possible. Amazing things can be done without Photoshop! 🙂
14. Filters
To increase contrast, remove glare, bring out warm or cool colors in a scene, for infrared photography, or for artistic effects. If you enjoy color photography, at some point you will have to reach for one of the filters recommended in this article.
15. At all hours?
If you like color photography you cannot miss the wonderful light of a sunrise or sunset. The colors, the textures, the light that is breathed in those hours is unique, do not waste it. Photography can be practiced at all hours, but not every hour will give you the same images.
16. Reflections
By now you will have discovered the benefits of elements such as shadows or reflections to improve your compositions and to make them more interesting, am I right? 🙂
17. Tell a story in color
The best images are always those that explain to us some concept that comes to us or that we can understand. We always say it and I don’t think we ever get tired of doing it. Your images must speak, they must explain something to us, they must move us, make us smile or provoke us aversion, but we must feel something when we look at them. And you are the one in charge of transmitting that emotion to us. How about? Hard? Nothing of that, let yourself go and you will see that it is simpler than it seems 😉
18. Color and emotion
Colors each have many emotions associated with them. A red does not transmit the same as a green or a yellow as a blue. Let’s see above how each color entails or provokes particular feelings.
- Red: Passion, heat, danger, prohibition, risk and strength.
- Blue: calm, cold, responsible, sky and sea.
- Yellow: Cheerful, bright (it is the brightest color of all), aggressive, vigorous.
- Green: The color of nature par excellence, purity, growth, progress.
If you were going to photograph your newborn nephew on a red background, maybe you are rethinking it, right? 😉
19. Rainbow
Nature always gives us wonderful images to lovers of color photography. Its trees of infinite shades in autumn, the birth of its flowers in spring, its colorful insects and impossible designs… but also its atmospheric phenomena full of colors like the rainbow. If you have no luck hunting this beautiful phenomenon, why not take a bath? Or do you prepare it with you outside? soap bubbles are capable of reflecting the same colors as the best rainbow you have ever seen. (If the one who doesn’t practice all the time is because he doesn’t want to…)
20. Practice (you)
This trick is the best of all, the one that will help you the most, teach, motivate and inspire you. Without it we are nothing. Without it, the camera would return to its original box in less time than it takes to change shoes. To be better, to understand light, to free yourself from rules and regulations and tutorials and infinite questions… you have to practice. And a lot. Until you get fed up… and come back…