Wednesday, October 26, 2011

How to Use the Psychology of Color in Your Photography


To understand how colors affect the mood of your images and your viewer’s experience with your photography it’s important to understand the psychology of color. Colors often have different meanings in different cultures so I’m somewhat generalizing in this post. 

Colors also may have very different meanings depending on the context used. For example, black can be evil or sexy.  By using color psychology, you can send a positive or negative message in your image. Here are some basics.


ORANGE:
Orange is the color associated with fun, flamboyance, happy days and warmth. Like red, there is nothing calm associated with this color.



RED:
Red is the real attention getter. It is often where the eye looks first. It's associated with movement and excitement - think fast cars and motorcycles. If your subject is wearing red clothes they will appear a bit heavier so be careful! It is the color of romance – think red roses and Valentine’s Day.

Scanned film photo of my son







YELLOW:
Yellow is a cheerful attention getter. It is considered an optimistic color associated with laughter and happiness.



PINK:
Pink, like red, is also considered the color of romance. Pink is the color of love and gentle feelings and is the most calming of all colors.



BLUE:
Blue is one of the most popular colors. It is peaceful and tranquil. Maybe it’s because we see so much blue in our world with our blue skies and oceans.




GREEN:
Green represents nature and is the gentlest color on the eye. It’s a calming, refreshing color.



PURPLE:
Purple is feminine, romantic and mysterious. Use purple to lend an air of femininity, romance and mystery to your images.



BLACK:
Black is the color of power and sophistication. It can represent sexiness or evil. Depending on its use it can be a somber color that can easily overwhelm people emotionally. Black clothes make people appear thinner in photographs.




But sometimes black can be just darn cute:

Spontaneous smooching for my camera - Harley Davidson owners


Please leave comments regarding your ideas on the use of color. What colors are you drawn to? 


And, as always, please leave a photo in your comment box for all of us to share and enjoy. Click open your comment box, click on the + sign in the lower left corner and follow the directions. Click the uploaded thumbnail to view large.


Happy clicking!