Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: #17 Complimentary/Harmonious Colors

This Compose Yourself Photo Challenge (CCY) Theme is #17 Complimentary/Harmonious Colors and will be open for two weeks.

For your assignment I would like to see at least 4-6 photos showing complimentary photos and which colors each photo represents . Please describe what you learned in this lesson as well.

Each week I will select several features from everyone who submits an entry. And from those posts that I feature, I will grant one blogger the Gold Star Award. To find out who was awarded the Gold Star Award and Features for this week, please see CCY Features Week #16 Color Basics.

Note: Participants who do not have at least 6 photos showing their attempt at this week’s topic in their post will not be featured nor be considered for the Gold Star Award.

Essay

This week I will attempt to take more of the mysteries out of color and help you make sense of why your photos work with some colors and don’t work with other colors. If you were to look up “complimentary colors” you are likely to get an array of various color combinations. Color theory just seems to keep getting more and more complex.

In this series I’m really showing you two forms of color combinations. This time we’ll talk about complimentary colors, or harmonious colors, that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Next time I will address contrasting colors, which are opposite to each other on the color wheel.

Notice the chain on the bottom they are consider complimentary and are harmonious.

Complimentary color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create a more serene photo. You can use only two or three colors as long as they are next to each other on the color wheel.

Because I usually take my photos outside in nature, it wasn’t easy to illustrate this for you using my own photos, but I hope that I’ve found some to show my point.

Why should this be important to you as a photographer? Sometimes it can help you decide on how to crop or process a picture. It can help you choose what to keep in or take out to create the “feel” of the photo that you would like to give your viewer.

The other way this information can help you is in setting up a photo. For example, if you are do taking pictures of people outdoors, think about the color of their clothes versus the background you’ll have them against.

A few things to note if you want the people in your photo to blend in with their surroundings, think ahead to where you are photographing them, then ask them to wear complimentary colors. Greens, khaki, tans, and browns are more likely to blend in with wooded surroundings. That creates a more natural looking photograph but it might not show the person off the best.

Chris took this photo of me in 2006 with a small Sony Digital camera. I just happened to be wearing an outfit that worked well with where I am standing in this photo. I’m beside a tall tree, with a fallen old growth tree behind me. That makes my pants blend in well with the darker background. My sweatshirt happened to be green which matched the moss and lichen around me. And my hair just happened to fit the color and shape of the trees in the background.

Now if you are wanting the people to stand out from the background, white or black usually works. Bright reds, oranges, and purples work well, too, for most outdoors photos. Unless of course you are in a red tulip field or something.

The point is to do a little planning to create the shot you want. It’s as true of color as it is of perspective, placement of lines, or any other principle we’ve been discussing.

Here are just some examples of complimentary colors. This should give you an idea of what I am looking for.

Purples and Reds