The magic of colour, and ways to enhance and incorporate colour in your photography.
Colour is Gods moment of divine eccentricity!
What would our world be like without colour?
Would it exist at all because perhaps we could not see anything?
Would it be black and white? Surely not because white is all the colours mixed together.
How did our God think up the concept of colour?
While out photographing I have this very annoying habit of talking out loud. Quite frightening, really, nobody around to listen and yet I vocalise what’s in my heart.
I’ve noticed many times my outbursts are about colour. If you were a nearby object you would hear me say…..
“Wow, look at that pink sunset!”
“Gosh, look at the colour of the blue ocean today!”
“Look at that child’s beautiful green eye colour!”
“Heavens, look at the colour of the blood red sky this evening!”
“Glory be, look at the colour of the golden desert sands tonight!”
When editing my photographs one of the things I like to do is experiment with colour. I will decrease some colours or increase others. I will sometimes change the colour of the sky or change the colour of the land.
I think I have mentioned this before, but photoshop has a wonderful tool called “the sky replacement tool” I love to experiment with different skies. I photograph images of different skies, I keep them in a folder on my computer and use them when I choose to replace the sky in a particular image.
However one of the best things you can do is capture an image in its most true and natural colours. This is best done when the sun is not so bright in the sky, hence dawn and dusk are great times to photograph outdoors. Called by photographers the golden hour. Seriously in this golden hour the colours become absolutely beautiful. Try it!
Here are some very simple ways I experiment with colour
I change the tint in one area of my image ever so slightly to see if I like it. One particular colour, of course has a thousand variations and tones. Take green for example, I will try making it more bluish, or more orange, what ever my preference is for that particular image. I use the selection tool and the colour sliders in Lightroom to do this or the selection tool in photoshop.
I use presets, mainly colour efex and lightrooms presets. Presets offer a huge variety of shades, tones and intensities.
I use the sky replacement tool in photoshop.
I purchase or use certain objects of a complete contrasting colour and place them in my image before I take the shot. Eg a pink umbrella on a white sandy beach. The contrast of two colours adds a lovely simple feel to an image.
I’ll look out for and photograph unusual things, places with unique colours, eg the gypsum mine below at Dalys beach, Yorke Peninsula. The dust storm in Barmera South Australia proved quite spectacular as Lake Bonney turned a light green and the skies where orangey pink.
I don’t often use charts or information to help me choose what colours are opposite on the colour wheel or what colours are analogous. I use my eyes and heart and work by feeling and emotions, in other words ……if I like it, I photograph it! I find nature itself has an incredible ability to use colour in a most imaginative way.
However here are some more informative links to understanding colour and how to add it to your photography.
A list of Complimentary colours Read here
A list of analogous colours Read here.
Have fun and work with whatever method is best for you.
Green grass and early morning fog
Canola field with a new sky edited in
Kaikoura mountain range, New Zealand, and the setting sun catches a snowy mountain behind the foreground hills.
The road to Lyrup Flats, South Australia. I have changed the sky in this image using the photoshop sky replacement tool.
The two images above are of a group of mossy trees on a cold winters day. The sun was setting and the dew and suns rays created some exquisite colours. Haast Pass New Zealand.
Lake Bonney, Barmera South Australia.
This dust storm above turned Lake Bonney a strange green and the air a goldy pink. I have enhanced the pink and taken out a bit of the gold.
This photo above was taken when copious amounts of smoke had drifted over to South Australia from Melbourne. The sun turned a strange colour and Innes Lake in Yorke Peninsula became an awesome spot for a photograph.
This photo was taken at Dalys head near the beach. An old abandoned gypsum mine left some remarkable colours.
A foggy morning at Marion Bay, the sun rises just over the jetty, if you look closely you can see a few early morning fishermen.
This photo was taken at Lake McDonnell, South Australia. Two salt lakes side by side with a dividing road. It had just been raining, if you look closely you can see puddles of water on the road. Even nature puts together colours which seemingly do not go together.
Try it in your photography.
All images are photographed by Wendy Philip. No AI generated images.
