19 Top Tips In Color Theory

For Photographers
Read the full article here.
 Setting the right color space for your workflow.



Managing color space can be confusing for beginners. There is no standards as to what
color space you should be working in. Every photographer has a different preference in
Tip #1 their workflow. Personally, I shoot Raw and post-process in 16-bit depth with ProPhoto
RGB set as the color space for Photoshop. As I export the bulk of my images for web
display, I set my output color space to sRGB.

You can set the color space in Photoshop by going to Edit > Color Settings,
under Working Space, select the color space you want. To set output color
space, go to Edit > Covert to Profile and choose a color space under
Destination Space.

Lightroom uses ProPhoto RGB to manage all images by default and you
can't change that. But you can decide the output color space. You can
change the color space for images exported to Photoshop by going to
Lightroom > Preference. For exporting images to any where else, go to File
> Export and choose a color space under File Settings.
 Is your monitor displaying color correctly?



Most computer monitors do not display color accurately. This poses a problem if you
print your images with your computer.
Tip #2
Without calibration, the color of your print may look different compared to what you
see on the screen. The solution is to use a colorimetric calibration device.

Must you calibrate your monitor?

Maybe not.

If you don't earn a living with your images, then there's no need to do so. Plus, a
calibration device costs.
 Wondering where the HSL adjustments are?

It's called the Hue/Saturation in Photoshop (it also has a Lightness slider
bar). You can find it in the Adjustments panel, at the bottom of the
Tip #3 Layers panel, or simply go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/
Saturation.

The HSL sliders is in the Develop module. L is for Luminance in

Lightroom.



 Use the Selective Color adjustment in Photoshop to fine-tune
skin tone in your images.

In Selective Color adjustment layer, select Reds from the drop-down menu. Use
Yellow and Magenta slider bar to fine-tune the skin tone color, and Cyan for the
saturation.
Tip #4

The skin tone looks darker and more

saturated before adjustments.

Selective Color adjustment: Cyan -23,

Magenta -26, Yellow -22, Black 0.
 When enhancing the color of foliage, use the Targeted
Adjustment Tool instead of choosing a single color channel.

You can find this in the HSL panel in Lightroom. Make sure you have
Tip #5 selected Hue before using the Targeted Adjustment Tool.

There is also an option to use the Targeted Adjustment Tool in Adobe Camera Raw
Filter in Photoshop. Look out for the icon in the row of icons on the top left corner.
The same can be found in the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

*The icon may look slightly different in all three



 Desaturate the blue sky to make the foreground pop.

It's tempting to saturate the blue sky in post-processing, especially in images with
bright sunny day. As blue is a receding color, reduce its saturation a little can make
your foreground stand out even more. A foreground subject with a warm color (red/
Tip #6 orange/yellow) helps in this case

The yellow/orange color from the

sunlight competes strongly with the
blue sky for attention.

Blue is desaturated using the HSL

adjustment in Lightroom: Blue -35.
The image is now more gentle to the
eyes.
 Make water looks whiter by adding a tinge of blue.



Adding a small amount of blue to water makes us perceive the whites whiter. The
effect is stronger when you shoot in long exposure to create a smooth and silky
water flow.
Tip #7

In Lightroom or ACR in Photoshop,

use the Adjustment Brush to paint
selectively over the waterfall in your
image. Once the selection is made,
move the slider in the Temp to the
left to add some blue color to the
water.
 Make water looks whiter by adding a tinge of blue.

Adding a small amount of blue to water makes us perceive the whites whiter. The
effect is stronger when you shoot in long exposure to create a smooth and silky
water flow.
Tip #8

Create a new layer. Select the

Brush Tool, hold down Opt/
Alt to reveal the color picker.
Use it to sample the yellow/
orange color of the sunlight.
You may need to change that
color to one with the same
hue but higher saturation
and lightness.



 Using the Brush Tool, set the
brush Opacity to 100 and
Hardness to 0. Paint on the
new layer around where you
want to enhance the color of
the sun.
Tip #8

Change the blend mode of

the new layer you have
painted to Soft Light. Reduce
the layer Opacity to about
20% (experiment with your
image). Mask out any areas
you don't want the color to
be.
 Always, always, always shoot Raw.

The auto white balance (AWB) of modern digital camera is pretty good at predicting
the right color temperature that falls between 3000-7000K (daylight is about 5500K).
You should manually set the white balance in your camera for anything that is out of
Tip #9
the range. (e.g. shaded area, indoor especially with artificial light, flash, etc.)

You can also buy white balance cards (e.g. ColorChecker Passport) or a white
transparent lens cap (e.g. ExpoDisc) to set custom white balance.
white balance drop-down menu

Always shoot in Raw as Raw file preserves all the color information
recorded from the digital image sensor.

Correcting white balance couldn't be easier. Pick a white balance

preset from the WB drop-down menu in Lightroom or ACR in
Photoshop.

In a JPEG, you lose the option for presets. You'll have to manually correct the white
balance using the Temperature slider bar.
 Apply digital filters in post-processing.

Gone were the days when you have to carry a pouch to store color filters. These
filters are held in place by a holder attached to the front of the lens.
The common ones are warming and cooling filters. These work by increasing or
Tip #10 decreasing the color temperature of the image.
photo filter

Now, you can do so easily in post-processing with one click. In Photoshop, go to

Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter. You can also click on the Photo Filter icon in the
Adjustments panel.

Choose a filter from the drop-down menu. You can also select Color and pick any
color as a filter. Change the Density (0-100%) of the filter and check the box for
"Preserve Luminosity" to prevent the filter from darkening your image.

Besides the built-in filters in Photoshop, you can also get others in the form of
presets (which you may have to purchase) or software that apply filters to your
image.

Color Efex Pro by Google Nik Collection is a good example of such software. It's a
plugin for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and Apple Aperture.
 Finding the black, white and gray pixels in your image.

Your secret to finding the true black, white and gray point is the Threshold
adjustment layer. Add it on top of a Curves/Levels/Exposure adjustment layer.

Tip #11

Black Pixel
Drag the arrow (circled) in Threshold from the middle all the way to the left until your
image turns completely white. Start moving the arrow slowly back (towards the
middle) until you see blacks appearing (pointed in arrows). Cross-check with the
graph to make sure the arrow is pointing where pixels are present. These are the
black pixels. Zoom in and use the Color Sampler Tool to mark a black pixel.
Tip #11

White Pixel
Drag the arrow (circled) in Threshold from the middle all the way to the
right until your image turns completely black. Start moving the arrow
slowly back (towards the middle) until you see whitess appearing
(pointed in arrows). Cross-check with the graph to make sure the arrow
is pointing where pixels are present. These are the white pixels. Zoom in
and use the Color Sampler Tool to mark a white pixel.
Tip #11

Gray Pixel
The steps are similar to finding black point. The only difference is that
you need to add a new layer above your image and below the Threshold
adjustment layer, fill it with 50% gray and change the blend mode to
Difference. Move the arrow in Threshold to the far left and start moving
back to the right slowly until you see blacks appearing. These are 50%
gray. Zoom in, pick any gray pixel and mark it with a Color Sampler Tool.
 What is clarity? How does it work?

Strictly speaking, clarity is not part of color theory but I just wanted
to give you a quick tip !
Tip #12
Increasing Clarity enhances the edges primarily in the midtones.
An edge is where the bright meets the dark. In other words,
increasing clarity boosts micro contrast by making darks darker
and brights brighter in the midtones. It makes any image looks
better :))
 Selective saturation adjustment with saturation mask.



We love colorful images. But sometimes too colorful makes your image looks unnatural
and tacky.
Tip #13
What if you want to adjust saturation selectively on parts of your image? You can use
the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom or the Hue/Saturation in Photoshop with a layer
mask, but you can never create an accurate selection.

The concept of saturation mask is very similar to luminosity mask. The difference is that
a saturation mask targets the most saturated areas with a smooth transition into the
less saturated areas. This means your adjustment is blended in seamlessly.

You can learn more about saturation mask on Tony Kuyper's website.

Don't know what a saturation mask is? Below is a comparison between a saturation
mask and a luminosity mask.
 This example is to demonstrate
how a saturation mask looks in
comparison to a luminosity mask.
In this image, you can see the
Tip #13 most saturated area is the sun
flare.

Saturation mask sets white in

areas that are most saturated in
your image. Naturally, for this
image, is the sun flare and part of
the sky and the foreground.

Adding an adjustment layer for

saturation with a saturation mask
will only affect these areas. This
 Create depth by controlling saturation and lightness
selectively.

Study the scene, observe where the light is coming from. Shadows and shaded areas
Tip #14 tend to be less saturated. So, it makes sense to boost the saturation in areas that are
exposed to light!

Also, when increasing saturation, use Vibrance instead to boost the saturation of
muted colors (see Glossary for muted colors). This often creates a more natural
effect.

Now you must be wondering how to desaturate selectively?

Use the Adjustment Brush to paint the areas you want and desaturate.
This creates a selection and you can then apply the adjustment with the
Saturation slider bar. Alternatively, you can do the same with the Radial
Filter.
 One of the easiest ways is to desaturate globally and mask the unwanted
areas with a layer mask. But if you want to do it with more precision, try
luminosity mask, zone mask or Color Range. Use these techniques to
create targeted selection before applying a contrast adjustment layer.

Tip #14 Dodge and burn on a 50% gray layer is another good way of creating light and
shadow artistically.

The colors look saturated

and everything seems to be
bright. The difference
between light and shadow is
not very noticeable. The
image looks slightly flat.



Tip #14

Saturation and lightness adjustments were applied selectively using the

techniques I mentioned above. The image now looks more natural and
three-dimensional.
 Using Adobe Kuler to study the colors in your image.

Click here to go to Adobe Kuler.

Tip #15 Step 1: Click on the camera icon on the top right hand corner (create
from image). Select the image you want and click Open.

Step 2: You should see that your image has been analyzed with a
theme of five colors in big square boxes. Now, click on the color
wheel on the top right hand corner.

Step 3: Check out the color wheel and see if the colors in your image fit any of the
color harmony.

You can also experiment with the menu on the left hand side in Step 2 to analyze
different properties of color.
 Creating depth with warm and cool colors.

Remember that warm colors advance and cool colors recede?

Tip #16 Make use of this psychological element when you have complementary colors in
your image to emphasize depth.

In the example given above, you can saturate yellow/orange more than blue. The less
saturate blue recedes, which makes the more saturated yellow/orange stands out
even more.
 Enhance your images with color grading.

Color grading is the process of enhancing or altering the color

of an image. In photography, this can be done in post-
Tip #17 processing such as in Photoshop.
color grading

The use of color grading is commonly seen in the film industry.

Take the movie Amelie or 300 for example, there's a distinct
color theme throughout the whole film. The whole idea of color
grading is to give the film, or an image an identity.

Do it right with color harmony, you can strengthen the

connection between the subject and the background, and
directing the viewer's attention to where you want.

Color grading is beyond the scope of this tutorial. It should

be treated as a topic on its own.
 Split tone your image to enhance color harmony.

Split toning involves adding a single color to either the highlights and/or the shadows.
Tip #18
If you pick colors that already exist in your image (and if it's already harmonious), this
will enhance the effect of color harmony. You can also choose different colors to
experiment with the result.

Split-toning your image is easy in Lightroom and using ACR in Photoshop. As you can
see in the image below, use the slider adjustment to set the Hue and Saturation for
Highlights and Shadows. Use Balance to shift the weight of the adjustment towards
either highlights or shadows.
 Notes on color harmony.

• When your image has more than one dominating color, reduce the saturation or
lightness in one to avoid simultaneous contrast or competing contrast.
Tip #19
• Muted colors work better in equal amount than pure, saturated colors.

• Experiment with different level of saturation and lightness in each color to create
an image with more depth.

• The visual impact is always more obvious in bright values than in dark values.
Thanks for subscribing for Fotographee!

I hope you have enjoyed “The Practical Guide To Color Theory For Photographers”.

Remember to put what you have learned into practice to create more awesome
images! Happy shooting :))

Be Different, Be Creative.

Cheers,
Yaopey