Assignment 3: Colour

This purpose of this assignment is to show how certain colour combinations and ratios can be useful in creating strong images.

Colour harmony through complementary colours:

'Complementary' colours are colours which are opposite each other on the 'Colour Circle'


Violet twilight sky with autumnal yellow leaves and streetlight:

Canon 5Dii MF 28mm f.2.8 1/80 iso1000 

I saw this scene from about a mile away, and only having a fixed 35mm equivalent lens, had to put in some serious legwork to fill the frame as I wanted.

 Fujifilm X100 35mm f.11 1/125 iso640

Shot through the windscreen (I wasn't driving!).

Canon 5Dii MF 28mm f.2.8 1/100 iso500

Little red riding hood.

Canon 5Dii MF 28mm f.2.8 1/200 iso100 

Colour harmony through similar colours:

I think this shot captures the colours of autumn really well.

Canon 5Dii 28mm MF f.2.8 1/80 iso400

A cold, grey morning over the Tyne.

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.2.8 1/750 iso200

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.4 0.15 iso200

I think the muted colours in this sit well together.

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.2 1/90 iso1000

Fiery colours.

Canon 5Dii 50mm f.1.6 1/50 iso1600

Colour contrast through contrasting colours:

Contrasting colours are those which sit roughly a third of the way round the colour circle from each other .

I love the cracks in this, and that one of the colours is provided by the lighting.

Canon 5Dii 50mm f.1.4 1/160 iso500

Each of the primary colours, with the brighter yellow occupying less of the frame.

 Fujifilm X100 35mm f.4 0.1 iso400

Another example of the the three primary colours.

 Fujifilm X100 35mm f.2.8 1/220 iso200

I love how the orange cigarette butts sit against the purpley-red chair. This is probably my favourite image in this assignment.

Canon 5Dii 50mm f.2 1/400 iso800

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.16 1/60 iso200

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.2.8 1/125 iso1250

I think the way the frame is divided into solid chunks of colour here is really striking.

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.2 1/40 iso1250

Colour accent: 

A small area of colour, either harmonious or contrasting, against a large background.

Simple but effective.

Fujifilm X100 35mm f.8 1/1500 iso200

Not sure if  the purpose of this window display is to sell children's clothes or promote a Japanese horror  film.

Canon 5Dii 50mm f.2 1/1600 iso500

This almost looks like I've done some nasty selective colour type processing, but the only thing I've done in post is small S curve to boost the contrast.

Canon 5Dii 28mm MF f.2.8 1/500 iso200 

Not bad for a £10 lens!

Canon 5Dii 135mm MF f.2.8 1/200 iso500 

Reflection:

I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment. I suppose colour is a large part of how I shoot naturally, and it's been really interesting to think about the theory behind it.