How to keep your photos happy with colour harmony
Some colours have natural partners that look perfect together in a photo, while there are others that shouldn’t be anywhere near one another. There’s a science behind these relationships, and it’s known as ‘colour harmony’.
Colour harmony is all based around the ‘colour wheel’, an illustrative reference point that was invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1706. By looking at the colours in a photo and finding their places on the wheel, it’s easy to identify whether they harmonise or not.
There are different types of colour harmony. Each one is easy to identify, and each one draws the viewer’s attention in a different way.
‘Monochromatic’ colour harmony uses shades of the same colour to create a smooth, gradient look and feel, while the ‘analogous’ technique uses colours that lie next to each other on the colour wheel. ‘Complementary’ colour harmony takes two colours from opposite sides and provides extra contrast, while the ‘triad’ variation takes three different colours from evenly spaced spots for a vivid, complex photograph.
To achieve the best possible results, a good photographer will consider colour harmony before they even turn their camera on. They’ll think about what colours they can see, whether they harmonise well, and how they can emphasise that harmony in their photo.
Sometimes a scene can look harmonious when looking at it with our own eyes, but no matter how good the camera sensor it just won’t be able to compete in terms of processing colours as well as light and dark. In situations like this, it may help to use HDR - High Dynamic Range.
By taking multiple shots at different exposures and merging them into one photo, HDR allows you to capture a higher dynamic range which in turn allows for even more colour in your photo. Data can be lost if areas of a photo are too light or dark, and HDR is the perfect way to restore this data and bring the photo back to life.
However, heavily-processed HDR images can also add unwanted colour information that can cause your images to look electric or ‘muddy’. So, if you’re processing HDR using computer software (as opposed to having your camera do all the work), it pays to spend time to ensure that the colours harmonise and deliver an honest reflection of the scene you shot.
Colour is a vital element of photography, and taking the time to consider colour harmony before pressing the shutter could make a huge difference to your work.
