LESSON 32
Colour theory for photographers
Wheels, opposites and harmony in a frame.
IN THIS LESSON
- Two kinds of colour knowledge
- Opposites
- In practice: harmony and restraint
- Colour and light
Two kinds of colour knowledge
Colour theory is an old body of ideas about how colours mix, contrast and sit together, and about what they suggest. It runs alongside colour science, which measures colour and is used for things like reproduction and printing. The two drifted apart in the late nineteenth century. Photographers need both: the science tells you why a file shifts on another screen, which lesson 22 covers, and the theory helps you choose what goes into the frame. Isaac Newton showed in a paper of 1672 that white light is made of a spectrum of colours, and that colour comes from how a surface reflects or absorbs light.
Opposites
Complementary colours are pairs that cancel each other toward grey when mixed, and that make strong contrast when placed side by side. Which pairs count depends on the model. In the modern additive and subtractive models, red pairs with cyan, green with magenta and blue with yellow. In the traditional painter's red, yellow and blue wheel, the pairs are red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange. For photographers the useful pair is the one light gives you for free: warm sunlight against blue shade or sky. An orange jacket on a blue evening, a lit window in a blue street: that tension is complementary contrast.
In practice: harmony and restraint
What follows is working practice. A picture with one strong colour against quiet neutrals reads clearly. Two complementary colours give energy. Neighbours on the wheel, such as yellow, orange and red, give warmth and calm. Many colours at full strength usually compete, and the eye does not know where to go. So the first decision is often what to leave out: step left to drop a red sign out of the frame, wait for the green bus to pass. Saturation is also a choice. A muted palette can carry more mood than a bright one.
Colour and light
The colour you record depends on the light as much as on the object. Low sun is warmer than midday sun, shade is bluer, and artificial light varies widely. Lesson 06 explains white balance, which decides what the camera treats as neutral. You can use it to clean colour up or to push it: a warmer setting at sunset deepens the gold, a cooler one makes a winter street colder. Keep the theory in mind when you edit as well. A small shift of one colour, not the whole picture, is often enough to bring two tones into a clear pair.
| Model | Complementary pairs |
|---|---|
| Modern RGB / CMY | red and cyan · green and magenta · blue and yellow |
| Traditional RYB | red and green · yellow and purple · blue and orange |
Try it today
- 01Walk for twenty minutes and photograph only complementary pairs you find.
- 02Make one frame with a single strong colour and everything else neutral.
- 03Make one frame using three neighbouring colours only.
- 04At sunset, shoot a warm subject against a blue shadow or sky.
- 05In the edit, change the saturation of one colour only and compare.