In this lesson: Create dynamic images by composing with colors

Employing color theory is an easy and effective way to improve your compositions by deliberate placement of colors.

Colors influence us on a subconscious level, eliciting emotion, commanding attention, and emphasizing or de-emphasizing elements in a scene. By understanding how colors interact with each other and the minds of your viewers, you can exploit their effects to add energy and mood to your images.

Though color theory is a detailed topic worthy of a separate lesson, here’s a quick overview of a few common color schemes:

Complementary colors are those that have the highest contrast of any color pairings. Blue and orange, yellow and purple, and red and green are examples of complementary pairs. Note that these colors are opposite one another on the color wheel.

Analogous colors are sets of three colors that are next to one another on the color wheel. Typically, one color will be the dominant color, with another color being secondary and the third color serving as an accent. Examples of analogous colors are light blue, green, and light green, or light orange, orange, and red. This color scheme is typically found in nature and is often considered to be highly soothing.

Triadic color harmonies also have three colors, but rather than being next to one another on the color wheel, they form an equilateral triangle. These colors tend to be very vibrant. Purple, orange, and green, and red, blue, and yellow are examples of triadic color harmonies.

As noted above, one of the benefits of using color theory to help compose your images is that you can convey a mood more clearly. Blue tones, for example, tend to make people feel subdued. Red tones, on the other hand, add vibrancy and life to an image. Color can be used to bring more attention to a subject, and can also be used to isolate subjects within the frame.

Challenge Activity

Today’s challenge activity seeks to capitalize on colors within a scene by deliberately placing colored elements to strengthen the composition. These exercises will give you a good background in using colors in your images and with practice, will make you more conscious of the colors in a scene and how to employ them effectively.

Step 1: Using the examples of color theory listed above, locate or create and photograph scenes that suit the following steps.

Step 2: Isolate a subject by surrounding it with a complementary color. For example, you might isolate an orange subject by surrounding it with something blue.

Step 3: Create a soothing scene by utilizing analogous colors, such as light blue, green, and light green.

Step 4: Arrange the predominant colors in an image to convey a sense of cold.

Step 5: Using triadic colors, create a vibrant image that has a happy mood.