Lesson 8:

Colour Grading
• As photographers, we have a lot of tools available to
us: compositional rules, lighting knowledge, the
exposure triangle, and so on. Color is just another one
of those tools. While it can be an intimidating element
to a photographer, color can help solidify a voice.
Knowing and understanding color theory — the way
painters, designers, and artists of all trades do — a
photographer can utilize color to their benefit.

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 Order of colors
This may cause some flashbacks to elementary school art class,
but let’s start at the beginning: The orders of colors. There are
three orders: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colors. When
working in RYB color, the primary colors are red, yellow, and
blue. That is to say, they are the three pure colors from which all
other colors are derived. If we take two primary colors and add
combine them equally, we get a secondary color. Finally, a
tertiary color is one which is a combination of a primary and
secondary color. Below you will see a graphic which depicts
these three orders using an RYB color wheel.

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Primary Colors: Red, yellow, and blue are what we call “pure colors.”
They are not created by the combining of other colors.
Secondary Colors: A 50/50 combination of any two primary colors.
Example: Red + Yellow = Orange.
Tertiary Colors: A 25/75 or 75/25 combination of a primary color and
secondary color. Example: Blue + Green = Tourquise.

Now, how do the orders of colors help a photographer? Well, by

knowing the three orders, we can make decisions about which colors
we want to show in frame. As this article continues we will explore
how to effectively make those decisions to achieve the final look you
are aiming for, but before then, lets look at some examples of the
three orders in actual photographs.

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 The Three Variables of Color
Now that we’ve been introduced to the orders of the colors, let’s look at
their variables. Those who have post-processed images in Polarr, Adobe
Lightroom, Apple Photos, Capture One, or any other RAW editor may be
familiar with what is commonly known as the ‘HSL sliders.’ HSL meaning:
Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity.

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 HUE
A color’s hue is determined by light frequency, with red having a
lower frequency, blue a higher one, and green in the middle.
By changing the hue of just one element, like your subject or
background, you can sometimes shift the overall mood of your
photo.
Red, green, yellow, blue, orange, etc. are all examples of hues.

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 Saturation
Saturation, sometimes called intensity, measures
the purity of a color. A color is heavily saturated if
it has no gray mixed into it; the more gray you
add, the less saturated it becomes. You can also
desaturate a color by mixing it with the color
opposite it on the color wheel. Saturation is
generally measured on a scale of one to one
hundred, as it is in Photoshop.

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 Luminance
Luminance is the brightness of the color. This
helps us bring out bright color, recover skin tones,
and many other techniques.
When we add white to a colour we increase
luminosity and we add black we
decreaseluminosity
.

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 Color Schemes
When you decorate a house, you choose the color of the walls to go with the
furniture, wall hangings, curtains, and so on. You’re essentially creating a color
scheme. We do the same thing when we set up a shot. When being intentional
with the color in your images, scheme absolutely comes into play. Three of the
most popular color schemes are complimentary, analogous, and monochrome.
To look at each individually, it will help to revisit our RYB color wheel.

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 Complementary Colours
Simply put, complementary colors are the ones which sit completely
opposite one another on the color wheel, and they, ahem — complement
one another. For example, red and green may make you think of Christmas,
or light blue and orange may make you think of the Mets (oh, only me?) But
there’s a reason these combinations create such strong emotions in us —
they just look good together.
Below you will see a few images which utilize complementary colors. Note
how our attention is not being fought for by strong colors, but rather the
colors create balance.

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Analogous Colours

Colors which sit next to each other on the color wheel and share
similar colors are known as analogous colors. They will have one
dominant color in common, most often a primary color, but can
also be a secondary or tertiary. Analogous colors are often found
in nature — think those rich oranges and yellows in a New England
autumn.
Landscape photographers can really benefit from knowingly
utilizing analogous colors, of course, but they also lend themselves
to other aspects of photography, such as beautifully bokeh’d
backgrounds of a portrait. By having similar colors in the
background, the subject remains the focus.

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 Monochrome Colours
While you may be familiar with monochrome referring to black and white,
it actually refers to anything which uses solely one color value. Those
images you see where there is overwhelmingly one color present are
monochrome, for all intents and purposes. We see this technique often in
those hazy sunrise/set shots, but it is also a very impactful technique for
street shots.

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 Sources

• The Beginner's Guide to Pinhole Photography……………………………

……………………………Jim Shull
• Commercial Photography Handbook - Techniques for Professional Digital
Photographers…Kirk Tuck
• Digital Photography - Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks, Fourth Edition
• Digital Photography Lighting For Dummies……………. Dirk Fletcher
• Jeff Smith's Senior Portrait Photography Handbook - A Guide for
Professional Digital Photographers

• Canon Official Website resources

• Nikon Official Website resources
• Dawn M Wayand
• Adobe Support

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