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COLOR IN COMPOSITION

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digital cameras. The core reason is that painters’

primaries are those of reflected light, on paper or
canvas, while the RGB familiar to photographers
are those of transmitted light. The actual red
and blue of each system differ. Comparing the
two sets of primaries is not, in any event, a very
useful exercise, because one deals mainly with the
perceptual effect of color (RYB) while the other
is concerned mainly with the creation of color
digitally and in film. As our purpose here is color
effect, I’ll stick to the painters’ primaries.
Strong hues are perceived in multi-leveled
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ways, with various associations that have as much
(UEISTYPICALLYMEASUREDINDEGREESFROM›TO› DIGITALCOLORWHEELSHOWSTHATTHEPRINTER´SPRIMARIES
to do with culture and experience as with optical ANDINTHISARRANGEMENTTHERELATIONSHIPSACROSSTHE CYANMAGENTAANDYELLOW LIEDIRECTLYOPPOSITERED
reality. Red is perceived as one of the strongest CIRCLEAREIMPORTANT#OLORSOPPOSITEEACHOTHERARE GREENANDBLUE4HEPAINTER´SPRIMARIESHOWEVER
# olor adds a completely different dimension
to the organization of a photograph, not
always easy or possible to separate from the other
dynamics that we have been looking at. The ways
in which we sense and judge color are in any case
complex, from the optical to the emotional, and
the general subject of color in photography is, like
color in art, a huge one. My earlier book, Color,
in the Digital Photography Expert series, goes into
much more detail than is possible here, including
color theory and management (see bibliography).
The critical color issue before us in these pages is
how it can affect a photograph’s composition.
We’ll begin with strong colors, because the
effects and relationships work most strongly with
these, although the broad range of colors met
114
with in front of the camera tend to be muted in
various ways. The strength of color is determined
mainly by its saturation, and this is one of the
three parameters in the color model that is most
useful for our purposes. One of the side benefits
of digital photography is that post-production
in Photoshop and similar applications has made
most of us familiar with the technical language of
color. The three most widely used parameters, or
axes, of color are hue, saturation, and brightness.
Hue is the quality that gives each color its name,
and is what most people mean when they use the
word “color.” Blue, yellow, and green, for example,
are all hues. Saturation is the intensity or purity
of hue, with the minimum being a completely
neutral gray, and brightness determines whether
the hue is dark or light. Another way of looking
at this is that saturation and brightness are both
modulations of hue.
Color effects naturally work most strongly
when the colors involved are intense, and the
examples shown on the next few pages favor these
for clarity. Hue is the essence of color, and in its
simplest representation, the hues are arranged
in a circle. In the centuries of thought that
have gone into color in art, the idea of primary
colors has been central, and general opinion has
settled on three—red, yellow, and blue—known
as painters’ primaries (refined to CMY(K) by
printers). These obviously do not square with
the three primaries—red, green, and blue—that
are used in color film, computer monitors, and
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and densest colors. It tends to advance, so that
when in the foreground it enhances the sense of
depth. It is energetic, vital, earthy, strong, and
warm, even hot. It can connote passion (hot-
bloodedness) and can also suggest aggression
and danger (it is a symbol for warning and
prohibition). It has temperature associations,
and is commonly used as the symbol for heat.
Yellow is the brightest of all colors, and
does not even exist in a dark form. Expressively,
it is vigorous, sharp, and insistent, sometimes
aggressive, sometimes cheerful. It has obvious
associations with the sun and other sources of
light, and especially against a dark background
appears to radiate light itself.
Blue recedes more than yellow, and tends to
be quiet, relatively dark, and distinctly cool. It has
a transparency that contrasts with red’s opacity.
It also appears in many forms, and is a color that
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many people have difficulty in judging precisely.
The primary symbolism of blue derives from its
two most widespread occurrences in nature: the sky
and water. Thus, airiness, coolness, wetness are all
possible associations. Photographically, it is one of
the easiest colors to find, because of sky reflections.
The secondary colors that are complementary
to these primaries are green (opposite red on
the color wheel), violet (opposite yellow), and
orange (opposite blue). Green is the first and
foremost color of nature, and its associations and
symbolism, usually positive, come principally
from this. Plants are green, and so it is the color of
growth; by extension it carries suggestions of hope
and progress. For the same reasons, yellow-green
has spring-like associations of youth. Negative
associations of green tend toward sickness and
decomposition. We can perceive more varieties
of green, between yellow on the one hand and
blue on the other, than any other color.
Violet is an elusive and rare color, both to
find and capture, and to reproduce accurately. It
is easily confused with purple. Violet has rich and
sumptuous associations, and also those of mystery
and immensity. The similar color purple has
religious, regal, and superstitious connotations.
Orange borrows from red on the one side and
yellow on the other. It is warm, strong, brilliant,
and powerful, at least when pure. It is the color
of fire and of late afternoon sunlight. It has
associations of festivity and celebration, but also
of heat and dryness.
115
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