Color As An Element of Photographic Composition
Using Color As The Main Subject Matter
You’ll discover that most photographers, regardless of their level of expertise will typically like to shoot a small number of subjects. There is a large army of nature photographers around the world. There are many that are primarily portrait photographers. Some concentrate their photographic efforts on travel (I call them the “lucky ones”). Others photograph a number of different subjects, that’s the category that you should be encouraged to explore.
In this time of year as Easter approaches, notice color as an element of composition. In the media, print, TV or even on the Web, retailers are into their spring colors. Soft blues, reds, pinks and yellows. It is an unconscious trigger to start thinking color for the spring season. The colors have triggered me to write this article, using color as your main subject matter.
As in our eBook Improve Your Photography, one of the 50 techniques talks about using color as and element of composition. This article just serves as a reminder that as a photographer, you can also think of yourself of a modern artist. Use digital images to create prints of just color. I learned this early on from my older sister who is an artist. Our home growing up was filled with her abstract paintings of color, no subject, just color. Large 4 foot by 4 foot canvases of color themes were hung on our walls, and I’ve had the bug ever since.
Instead of using paint I use images of flowers to derive my colors from. I then paint those colors using my digital paintbrush, Photoshop, to create my canvases. Give it a try and expand your horizons.
Your Project:
1. Choose a dud: Go ahead and view past images of colorful subjects like flowers, colorful buildings, or any other subject with a lot of color.
2. Using Elements or Photoshop, create an editing layer (SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E on a PC, or SHIFT+CMD+OPTION+E on a Mac)
3. Go to the Filters Menu, and choose Blur.
4. Using Gaussian Blur, completely blur the image until the image no longer has recognizable features.
5. Adjust Levels, Color Balance and/or Hue/Saturation to really change the colors of the blurred image until you find a set of colors you like.
Experiment with the different adjustments available to you using different filters like the Motion Blur tool (in the Blur Filter menu), or any of the color or tone adjustment layers. You might be surprised to find yourself among the latest modern artists!
If you are really daring, you can send out your file for printing on Canvas, like from one of our sponsors, Canvas On Demand. Add some color to your home and your life!
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