Colour - final version of assignment #3

Decisions
The decisions made to create the final submission were:

• Keep unchanged the following images since they fit the brief:  Complementary Colours Harmony - 2, 3; Similar Colours Harmony - 7; Contrasting Colours - 9, 10, Colour Accent - 13, 14, 15
• Adjust Complementary Colours Harmony - 1, Shoes in Superdry window as follows: correct for original error in White Balance, blur the background and (because the blur didn't reduce the distractions as much as the tutor suggested) crop the image more closely
• Replace Complementary Colours Harmony - 4 with Forest and Lake in Autumn to respond to tutor's feedback that too many of the images presented for this assignment were simple close-ups
• Change Similar Colours Harmony - 5 with the shot of the Ceiling at Snog! , to provide an image that was less flat than the Autumn Leaves still life of the original project and that introduces more variety to the assignment
• Change Similar Colours Harmony -6 with the image of the men's shirts in the Shop Window, which seems to be fit the brief better than the shades of yellow and ochre of the Colonnade (my Tutor suggested re-framing the original to include people and café tables but (a) I could not return to the scene and (b) I think it would have distracted from the objective of showing similar colours in harmony)
• Reduce the bleeding of light (in Photoshop) onto the black background of the Pears on Book Similar Colours Harmony - 8 (definitely agree with my Tutor here)
• Substitute Contrasting Colours - 11 with a second shot of the St Giles Circus Office complex, as its predecessor (green and yellow flip flops) didn't fulfil the brief
• Change Contrasting Colours - 12 with an additional image from the Superdry Shop Window, as my Tutor thought the original looked like a snap (I thought that was harsh, frankly, but if that is the impression it risks, then it has to go!)
• Replace Colour Accent -16 with the Reflection of the Sky in the Window in the Wall, because the original failed (miserably!) to illustrate colour accent

Click here for: Original version of assignment 3


Images

A Harmony through complementary colours

 

1. Red and Green in 1:1 ratio
Superdry shop window,  Covent Garden

 

2. Blue and Orange approaching 2:1 ratio
Highlighter pens

 

3. Crimson Red on Light Greens, adjusted away from 1:1 to compensate
Crane in front of City of London office block 

4. Mixed shades of red and green, with some orange,
roughly equal space
Forest and lake in New England in autumn

 

B Harmony through similar colours

 

5. Light Blue and Purple
Ceiling of Snog!, Covent Garden
(frozen yoghurt store)

6. Shades of Blue and Green
Boutique in Verona
(where men's clothes are displayed just
as imaginatively as women's)

 

7. Blue and Green
Pennants advertising the 2012 Olympics, Covent Garden

 

8. Red, Orange to Yellow
Pears on book

C Contrast through contrasting colours

9. Orange and Violet, in 3:1 to compensate for
relative brightness of these colours
Door and wall of restaurant, Covent Garden

 

10. Yellow and Blue
Office block at St Giles Circus, London
 

11. Orange and Green
Another view of the office complex at St Giles Circus
(see previous image)

12. Yellow and Blue
Another section of Superdry's shop window
(see 1 above)

 

 

D Colour accent

 

13. Green accent on complementary red background
Apples stacked at Waitrose
(many thanks to the manager for agreeing to
let me photograph!)

14. Yellow, Dark Blue, Green and Orange on a Blue background
Ferris Wheel, New England

15. Red diagonal on Blue background
Crane reflected in glass of City of London office building

16. Light Blue on Peach and Brown
Window in a street in Verona

Assignment 3 - Colour

Requirement
16 images

Assignment instructions
Take 4 x 4 photographs that illustrate the following colour relationships:

• harmony through complementary colours
• harmony through similar colours
• contrast through contrasting colours
• colour accent using any of the previous relationships

Vary subject matter between still-life and found scenes.

Use lighting and filters to help create colours

Make notes about the way colour works in each image

Sketch how balance and movement works in each

Images and review

Tutor's comments

Overall

• Mostly a good understanding of the use of colour but the close simple nature of the subjects lets it down
• Prints submitted for review were not as saturated as they appear in the blog (especially: 1, 2, 5 and 9). Need to improve print quality.
• Blog is well ordered but light in the important areas of (a) evaluating what does and does not work visually, de-constructing images in terms of colour, light and design and (b) revealing purpose and thinking behind images

Suggestions for next section - Light

Photographers

• Trent Parke
• Boris Savelev

Approach

• Make monochrome and colour images, at different times of day and different weather conditions
• Make use of flash, both for interiors (bounced) and fill flash for exteriors in daylight to add emphasis

Complementary colours - harmony

Use of colours that are polar opposites on the Colour Wheel. Key combinations are: red and green, blue and orange, violet and yellow.

(1) Red and Green

Shoes on sale 
on display in window of Super Dry store in Covent Garden, London.
Red and green are approximately as bright as each other,
so are harmonious in equal quantities, as here.

Needs adjustment of the white balance to correct the effect of artificial light. Might be improved if the background darkened.

(2) Blue and Orange

Highlighter Pensstill life in makeshift studio in spare bedroom.
Pure orange is roughly twice as bright as pure blue, 
although in this image the orange is darker and the blue
lighter than pure. So, harmony comes from
adjusting the quantities of each colour to reflect this.
(HDR Software used on bracketed images to mimic
how advertising might present these objects) 

(3) Red and Green

Crane against office building 
near Broadgate, London
Red of the crane is brighter than the
green of the panels in the office building, so
quantities adjusted accordingly.
Consequently, harmony comes from including more
of the office in the frame than the crane,

Red crane somewhat over-saturated

(4) Red and Green

Autumn Leaves #1

The equal relationship of warm red/orange

and range of greens creates harmony.
(Image comes from panning on a slow 
shutter speed between trees.)

Similar colours - harmony

Use of colours that lie adjacent to each other in the Colour Wheel

(5) Red, Yellow, Orange and Violet

Autumn leaves #2
The leaves cover the warm colours of red,
orange and yellow, as well as violet, adjacent
to red

(6) Shades of ochre

Colonnade
near the piazza in Verona, Italy.
The stone as well as the light and shade create
tones of yellow

Why didn't you frame the entire colonnade?  [people, cafe furniture and bright light at the end distracted from colour effect]

(7) Blue and Green

Olympic pennants
in the piazza at Covent Garden, London.
The image has 2 areas of Blue (one the foreground
set of flags, the other the sky seen through
glass panels) and 2 areas of Green (one the
background, the other the roof supports)

(8) Red and Yellow

Pears on a book
still life in makeshift studio in spare bedroom.
Two adjacent warm colours
The muted yellow of the pear and its lesser size
compensate for the higher brightness of
pure yellow compared to pure red

Watch out for leaking light turning dark backgrounds grey (top right). 

Contrasting colours - contrast

Use of colours that lie one third of the way around the Colour Wheel. Key combinations are: red and blue, red and yellow, orange and green, orange and violet, blue and yellow, green and violet

(9) Orange and Violet

Door and wall
at a restaurant in Covent Garden, London.
The darker mauve stands at the opposite
end of the Colour Wheel from this
(slightly muddy) orange. Contrast
toned down by including more mauve 
than orange.

(10) Yellow and Blue

Office block
at St Giles Circus, London.
The bright yellow stands out against
the (rare) clear blue sky

(11) Yellow and Green

Flip-flops on display
in Super Dry store in Covent Garden, London
Both yellow and green flip-flops are very
bright colours (probably visible from
out of space)

As green and yellow are adjacent colours, this belongs in Section 2 - Similar Colours: Harmony. 

(12) Red and Blue

New office block
in Cannon Street, London.
The red advertisement around the revolving door
contrasts with the blue backlit panels behind
reception

Take more care in composition - this creates the impression of being a snap.


Colour accent - harmony or contrast

Use of a dominant colour set with a small quantity of a contrasting colour which creates a point of focus in the image

(13) Green accent on Red

Apples on display 
at local Waitrose (thanks to manager for
giving permission)
The green apple catches the eye amongst
the display of similar red apples 

(14) Yellow, Blue, Green and Orange accents on sky Blue

Ferris Wheel at Summer Fair
in New England, USA.
The sequence of 4 colours of the chairs
stand out as points as well as provide
rhythm to the image. 
The yellow and orange chairs
advance as warm colours, the green
ones to a lesser extent.

(15) Red accent on Blue

Crane reflected in glass 
in New Fetter Lane, London.
The red diagonal cuts across the middle
of the building. Being a warm colour it advances
on the blue (sky reflection) of
the building

(16) Pale Blue accent on Pink

Alternative therapy centre

in Covent Garden, London
Eye catching name!

Pale blue stands out against pink

colour of upper wall

These colours are pale, subdued and belong in the Similar Color section.