Since last Wednesday was “Holi”, many Fotoflock members must have enjoyed themselves celebrating the festival of colours.

Braver photographers perhaps even brought along their cameras to capture the visual delights on display (heavily protected, of course!). However, how many of us base the choice of colours in our shots on something more than mere intuition? For those who want to get the most out of their colour photographs, an understanding of colour theory is invaluable. Here is an introduction…

The first step to understanding colour theory is understanding the definition of ‘primary colours’.
Red, yellow and blue were traditionally called ‘primary colours’ as it was believed that, from mixing these colours, it was possible to produce all other colours. This was later discovered not to be true; in fact, when mixed, these colours produce a relatively small range of colours known as a ‘gamut’. For this reason, the primary colours as used in modern three- or four-colour printing processes and colour photography are magenta, yellow and cyan. The term ‘subtractive’, on the other hand, refers to how the colours are mixed: subtractive colour mixing is the kind of mixing you get if you illuminate coloured filters with white light from behind. By mixing the three subtractive primary colours in this way, you get black.

(Additive colour mixing, on the other hand, is the kind of mixing you get if you overlap coloured spotlights in a dark room. In contrast to the subtractive primary colours, the additive primary colours are red, green and blue. Mixing red, green and blue in this way produces white light.)

Having understood the definition of primary colours, the next step is understanding the colour wheel. The colour wheel is a device which is used by photographers and artists alike, to understand the relationships between different colours. In the colour wheel, the colours are laid out clockwise in rainbow order, with the three subtractive primary colours, magenta, yellow and cyan, spaced equally apart. Between the primary colours, magenta, yellow and cyan, are the secondary colours, red, green and blue (made by mixing the primaries together) and the tertiary colours (made by mixing adjacent primary and secondary colours).

Complementary colours

So far so good. The next step is to understand how the colour wheel can be used to create impressive colour photographs. If you want to shoot a photo using bold colours, but without them clashing, the best colours to choose are those that are opposite each other on the colour wheel. For example, green goes well with magenta, blue with yellow and red with cyan. These colours are known as “complementary colours” as, when they are placed next to each other, they seem brighter. Interestingly, these colours combine to create white light. In the following photographs, Fotoflock members have used complementary colours to stunning effect.

Photo by Kostas                                                               Photo by Manish Mehta  

Red and blue are also a powerful combination as, although they are not complementary colours, red tends to jump out of a picture while blue tends to recede.

 Photo by Spaces

How intense the colours are will also depend on the lighting and the chosen background. Artificial light and/or a dark background can make colours seem more intense.

In the following photograph, the fact that the yellow colour is in artificial light (making it more intense) and the red colour is in shadow (making it less intense), helps to balance the inherent differences between the colours to create a more subtle shot.

 Photo by Sameer Tuladhar

If you want to use more than two colours to create a dynamic photograph, the same rule applies: try to use colours that are as far apart as possible on the colour wheel.

Whether the photograph ‘works’ or not is also a matter of personal taste. In the following photograph, the photographer has used a combination of blue, green, orange and yellow i.e. primary and secondary colours. Due to the use of ambient light and the cream-coloured background, the combination is not overpowering.

 Photo by Sandip Debnath

Harmonic colours

From what has been said so far, you may be forgiven for thinking that colours that are adjacent on the colour wheel do not work well together. In fact, this is not the case. According to colour wheel theory, shades of colour taken from adjacent spokes of the wheel create a harmonic colour combination. For example, an orangey-yellow will work well next to a plain yellow, as in the following photograph.

 Photo by Manojit Sarkar

Using soft lighting (rather than direct light) or shooting the colours in shadow will also help to harmonise the colours. In the following photograph, the dark brown of the bike works well against the pale brown of the wall.

Photo by Manish Mehta

Of course, in real life, it is often difficult or impossible to avoid scenes with discordant colour combinations. Do not avoid shooting these scenes by any means! Often, scenes such as these offer a powerful depiction of movement and life. However, do remember that the way the colours are brought together may determine whether a photo works or not. The same colours may clash in one photo but combine well together in another.

Using these tips, you should now have a better understanding of why some colour combinations work well while others clash. Perhaps this article has simply confirmed what you knew instinctively! All in all, understanding that colour photography is both an art and a science will set you on the way to producing colour photographs that stand out from the rest, for all the right reasons.