UNDERSTAND COLOUR THEORY

Adam Waring takes you back to art class with a primer in colour theory

- Adam Waring

Colour is one of the most important ingredients of photo composition, and while it’s often forgotten about until the editing stage, colour can be used in portraits, landscapes and still-life shots to add depth, create mood, or draw the viewer’s eye to a certain part of the frame, so it’s important to understand the basics of colour theory when you’re shooting too.

You may recall from art class in your school days that the primary colours are red, yellow and blue, and that by mixing these colours in varying proportions you can create all other possible colours. If we arrange our primary colours equally spaced around a circle, and add the in-between shades by mixing neighbouring colours in varying quantities, we can produce a colour wheel (see the next page). We can then select colours based on their proximity to one another on the wheel. A pair of complementary colours sit opposite each other on the wheel – so for our pink flower, the complementary shade is green. Because these two colours contrast with each other, images that are dominated by them are usually bolder and more dynamic.

Analogous colours, on the other hand, are those that sit next to one another on the wheel, such as yellow and orange or blue and purple. Combining these colours can create a sense of balance and calm in an image.