Monday, December 31, 2007

Composition - Color

Color is another important feature of photographs. Color affects the mood of people and has different meanings. Look at this website to get a quick view of its affects- http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html. Thus, you can invoke different emotions in your viewer by the use of color. This includes the blacks and whites.


How does the combination of colors in this picture of the Chincoteague Island lighthouse make you feel? If you were a mariner, you could probably see this lighthouse from a long way off.




Now, take a look at this photograph in black and white (I used a popular software among photographers called Photoshop to change the above photo to black and white and give it a different look).


I find this latter combination to be more soothing. However, the lighthouse blends into the background more and, therefore, does not stand out as much. Especially the house at the base of the tower. A lighthouse in dark colors may get lost in the background to a mariner viewing it from the sea. Perhaps this is why you don't see too many lighthouses in dark colors.

(Note that I place a branch in the photo to frame the lighthouse. I did take a photo of the lighthouse without the branch and find it less to my liking. You might find the branch distracting. Thus, the different tastes of photographers and the people that view their photos. Also note that I purposely broke the rule of thirds, although the house at the base of the tower is just below a focal point- this subject is made for breaking the rule in my estimation.)


Would the picture below have been as interesting if I had used two white balls? I don't think so.



Which colored ball attracts your eye the most? Note that the color of the orange stands out in this photo. You can tell it was either taken either early or late in the day by the shadows (late in the day in this case). You know from an earlier posting that the warm colors stand out early and late in the day. Thus, you can impact the viewer further through using techniques that further enhance the colors.


(Note where the balls are located- just about on a focal point. I also chose the close in view so the shoes would be at or near focal points. I think this adds to the photo because the eyes tend to move from focal point to focal point to gather all of the information to determine what is happening. You also know that shadows are longer during the early or late parts of the day. I think the shadows add to this photo. What do you think?).

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