Colour theory: how do you use colour?
You do not think about it every day, but every colour has a meaning. Unconsciously we associate a colour with a feeling, with an emotion. On this website you will find yellow as a supporting colour alongside the predominant black and white. Yellow is a colour associated with something positive (as well as with Easter, of course, but that is another story entirely).
With colour theory in photography, there is another question: what does a colour do to the rest of your photo? I want to look at that too.
Positive and negative associations with colours
Naturally, what works that way on a website works the same way in photography. Colours matter and can make or break a photo. Even in black and white photography colour plays a part. It is not for nothing that in black and white we still talk about red, yellow, green and blue. They are tones we can adjust individually. Back to the colours.
Let me be clear that a colour can have both positive and negative associations. I mentioned positivity as an association with yellow, but perhaps you also recognise overstimulation (nervousness). Both Zwitsal and I have chosen to bet on the positive association.
An overview of colour meanings
Blue
Positive: Trust, loyalty
Negative: Conservative, corporate
Where do we see blue?
Visa, Dell, Facebook, Rijksoverheid
Light blue
Positive: Young, cool
Negative: Cold, unemotional
Where do we see light blue?
Skype, Twitter, AH, the United Nations
Brown
Positive: Safety, warmth
Negative: Dull, stubborn
Where do we see brown?
M&M’s, UPS, Nespresso, Louis Vuitton
Yellow
Positive: Positivity, renewal
Negative: Fear, overstimulation
Where do we see yellow?
McDonalds, Lay’s, Snapchat, Ferrari
Grey
Positive: Neutral, timeless
Negative: Non-committal, dull
Where do we see grey?
Apple, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, WordPress
Green
Positive: Balance, growth
Negative: Boredom, envy
Where do we see green?
Land Rover, Staatsbosbeheer, Spotify, BP
Orange
Positive: Optimistic, warm
Negative: Immature, cheap
Where do we see orange?
Fanta, PostNL, Nickelodeon, Amazon
Purple
Positive: Quality and luxury, creativity
Negative: Decadent, introverted
Where do we see purple?
Milka, Monster.com, Lucardi, Hallmark
Red
Positive: Passion, active
Negative: Aggression, provocation
Where do we see red?
Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Texaco, Netflix
Pink
Positive: Calming, caring
Negative: Helpless, inhibited
Where do we see pink?
Dunkin’ Donuts, Lyft, LG, T-Mobile
White
Positive: Perfection, clarity
Negative: Indifferent, sterile
Where do we see white?
Apple, Swarovski, Uber, Mini
Black
Positive: Solidity and efficiency, glamour
Negative: Distant, threatening
Where do we see black?
New York Times, WWF, Audi, Nike
In many cases it is of course a combination of two or three colours, but usually one dominates. Do you see why the companies above chose those specific colours for their logos?
Sometimes you have to think in reverse. You can deliberately choose cheap (orange) or the overstimulation of yellow. That Jumbo advert with Snollebollekes? Exactly. Rabobank uses blue and orange. Wibra has a yellow and red logo, just like Lay’s. Sometimes particular combinations are chosen precisely for the mix of positive and negative qualities.
Complementary colours
Colour psychology can go a long way. You choose your brand colours on the basis of what you want to convey. You go for recognition. That sometimes makes you dependent on it too. You can read here how companies changed their logos and sometimes their colours (and sometimes changed them back). In most cases the colours still provide the recognition, even when the logo changed completely (see BP, Converse).
On a website I always look at the use of colour. One of the most common mistakes is taking the brand style too far. It is nice that green is your brand colour, but if you make everything green, nothing stands out. Your call to action in particular, the action on the page you hope people will take (clicking a button, for example), has to jump out.
One way of doing that is to use a complementary colour for that button. Then you can be sure the button stands out.
You find complementary colours on the colour wheel. The colours opposite each other are complementary. So if you have a predominantly blue website, an orange button will stand out most. Yellow sits opposite purple.
A brief aside: it does not have to be that black and white, of course. Your own opinion and preference count too.
I absolutely wanted dark yellow, and absolutely no purple. On the colour wheel, blue sits opposite those transitional colours from yellow to orange, and I chose to use blue for the first button on my homepage. They are guidelines, not laws.
A very important note here is that complementary colours are not necessarily a good combination together. If you use one as a background and the other as text colour, you can end up with unreadable text.
Do this now: take a look at your website
The most important lesson is that it is worth looking critically at:
The impression your logo and brand style give. Do the colours fit the image you hope to have or achieve?
The various calls to action on your website. Do they stand out enough? Could a complementary colour make the most important elements on your site stand out better still?
I would just do it.
Photography
I could make a whole story of it, but in my colour photos the colours always have the leading role. The most important thing in a colour photo is the colour, to me. Wrong use of that colour distracts. Too much colour distracts.
On a website, you choose the colours yourself. In a photo, you work with what is there and choose what to show. Colour can be the subject, set the mood and guide your eye. A bright colour can catch your attention before a face does. That is why I look at the colours in the frame first, then everything else.
Which colours work alongside each other?
The colour wheel also helps with colour harmony in a photo. Complementary colours, such as blue and orange, create tension and can make your subject stand out. Analogous colours sit next to each other on the wheel. That combination often feels calmer.
A red coat in a grey street acts as a colour accent. If you mainly want atmosphere, a limited palette can be enough. Not every photo needs to shout. You rarely get to choose the colours that are there, but your framing, position and timing determine which ones end up together in your photo.
Why that white wall is suddenly blue
Light has a colour of its own. Candlelight, an incandescent bulb and the sun low in the sky all give warm light. Shade, overcast skies and the blue hour can look cooler. Your eye adjusts to that. A camera uses white balance, and it does not always judge things the way you see them.
Automatic white balance lets the camera choose. Choosing a white balance yourself lets you decide what looks neutral. With raw files, you can adjust that choice later without losing colour quality. Warm colours can feel intimate and cosy, while cool colours can feel distant or calm. That feeling can stay.
An indoor lamp and daylight through a window give you different colour temperatures at the same time. Getting everything neutral is not straightforward then. You have to decide what needs to look right. In a portrait, that is usually the light on the face.
Skin, clothing and background
Skin quickly shows when colour looks wrong: orange, grey, unhealthy. Walls, clothing and trees reflect their colour back. A green wall can leave a green cast on a face.
Clothing that suits your skin and eyes helps keep the attention on your face. Plain colours or subtle patterns can work well. Bright colours and busy patterns draw attention themselves. Talk that through with your photographer. My article on preparing for your portrait shoot also covers clothing and what to bring.
In professional portraits, an uncluttered background gives the face room. A complementary background colour can make it stand out. That orange button on the blue website, but with a person.
On the street, you can wait for colour
A wall, door or bus can be the starting point for your photo. You can wait for someone wearing a colour that works with it to walk into that space. You have no control, but you do have somewhere to look.
A small, bright subject can be enough of an accent. Colour can strengthen lines and layers, but it can also claim all the attention. There is more on that balance in my article on composition in street photography. You can also find my street photography here.
Have a good look at photos by Martin Parr, or Alex Webb, to name a couple of heroes. Without colour, what makes those photos unique disappears.
Editing: more colour is not automatically better
Hue changes the colour itself. Saturation determines how intense it is. Brightness, also called luminance, makes a colour lighter or darker. Saturation is particularly tempting. It does not take much to make your photo jump out. Whether it looks right is another question.
You can work on individual colour channels and, for example, tone down just the greens. Red, yellow, green and blue came up earlier: in black and white, they let you control the grey tones; in colour, the individual colours.
Colour grading, such as warm highlights and cool shadows, is a stylistic choice. Keep an eye on skin tones as you do it. A calibrated screen helps you judge your colours. Look at consistency too: do the photos in a series speak the same colour language?
When that one colour keeps distracting you
A bright patch at the edge, a background that clashes with clothing, too many colours at once. Sometimes a different viewpoint, a different crop or a wait can help. Sometimes you can tone down that one colour when editing.
Black and white is another option. For portraits, I discuss the choice between black and white and colour. You can also view my black and white portraits. What you see is still the test.
Learning to see colour for yourself
You can read about it, but you also need to start recognising it. Try this:
- Spend a week deliberately photographing one colour.
- Find the complementary colour to a colour you see.
- Mark the photos in your archive where colour carries the photo.
- Convert a photo to black and white. Does it still work?
You can also use those photos to make a series that shares the same colour language.
How do you see those colours and that colour theory come back in your own photos? I am curious.
Sources:
Colour psychology
colourharmony.nl/kleur-en-betekenis
Handy:
Colour picker
Colour generator