Tips in Color Photography

In Color Photography, we must emphasize EMOTION. Color is the main factor for making a photo feel happy, sad, exciting, depressing, or supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. 
Color is one of the elements that a photographer must always consider when taking photographs. We can only say that our photographs are effective if we captivate someone and feel the emotion of the photograph. With just having the right knowledge about colors in photography, then you’ll surely move someone through your photographs.
Here are my 10 Tips and Techniques for you to learn more about Color Photography.


1.) Focus

If you are in a situation where there’s a lot of colors, be sure to shoot the dominant color and make it the sharpest part as possible in a photograph. Just like the photo above; by emphasizing the colors, the main subjects were given the focus that it need. 


2.) Mixing Colors

Fill up the frames of your photographs with complementing colors. After shooting, add contrasting colors to give the image an exciting feel. Sometimes, it’s the mix of contrasting colors that give a photograph a striking look.


3.) Color Portraiture

When taking a color portraiture, make sure to set the tone and mood that would fit your aim for the photograph. Make sure to pick colors that will give more life and emphasis to the subject. 

Never be afraid to go beyond your limits. 

The photograph above is one example wherein I used a Photoshop to give the Bluish(saturated) tone of the photograph a more vibrant feel by using Gradient. The colors that I used for the gradient were red, green, and pink. Just like what I said, try mixing contrasting colors.


4.) Creating Patterns

Shooting uniform colors is one thing that you can do to make the images more attracting and visually pleasing. In the photograph above, you can see a line of drummers wearing the same costume and having the same make-up on. 


5.) Selective Color

Selective Color is a way wherein you give emphasis to a specific color in an image. This can be done through the use of a one-color light lit on a subject or it can be more creatively done through the use of a photoshop just like the photo that I used above.


6.) Light

Make sure that your colorful subjects are lighted very well. Through the proper use of a light, adding a shallow depth of field is greatly possible. This enhances the colors found in the subject of the photograph and gives it a three-dimensional look.


7.) Saturation

By increasing the color saturation of your photograph, the colors become more alive. You can only do this in post-processing through the use of Hue/Saturation tool. In the photograph above, I increased the color saturation so that the colors would appear more and become more vibrant.


8.) White Balance

If you are in a situation wherein you are limited with the color tone of the environment, you can always use your White Balance to correct and/or change the mood of the photo. Experiment with White Balance. In the photo above, I used a 10000K(yes, it’s that warm! haha) to have an orange feel to my photograph compared to a 5000k Photograph(before).


9.) Props

Adding a prop when dealing with Color Photography helps. Aside from it adds another interesting item in the photograph, it gives more story to tell and life in the image. The more colorful the props are, the better your Color Photograph would be.


10.) Changes

If you have enough patience, then you can certainly do this technique in Color Photography. Just set-up your tripod and stay at the same location for the whole day or how many hours you’d like to stay as long as you get to photograph the same area with a change in its mood. In my photo, I used a Sunset and Evening shot. You can see a huge color difference between the two photos.

And that’s about it! I hope that I helped you with your problems in Color Photography! More tips coming soon!