Colours: Colour relationships - part 3

The third location I visited was the walled gardens at Loseley House last Sunday morning. I had visited the gardens before in early May whilst working on the Elements of Design exercises. I hoped to find some interesting colour combinations now that the summer flowers are coming out.

I will comment on just two of the photographs I took, as others repeated colour combinations already covered by photographs at the other locations.

Image 1: Blue flowers

Nikon 70-210 mm at 70mm: Iso 320 f16 for 1/80th

These blue violet flowers emerging from pale yellow flowers and yellow green foliage was the closest I found to the violet-yellow colour combination. In this case, it was possible to frame a photograph where the blue-violet dominated and the yellowish colours were relegated to smaller areas on the edges of the frame.

Comments on colours

The bluish violet flowers are of moderate brightness but the colour is relatively unsaturated. The hue is intermediate between blue and violet. The yellow flowers and buds are brighter than the blue flowers and the yellow is moderately saturated. The yellow-green plant growing below the blue flowers is slightly darker than the yellow flowers, but the colour tones closely with them, to create a yellowy backcloth for the blue-violet flowers.

The gardeners intention of making the bluish flowers stand out more than against a green backdrop appears to have been successful. The flowers stand out even though their colour is relatively unsaturated.

Image 2: Plant with pink stems

Nikon 70-210 mm at 85mm: Iso 5000 f16 for 1/125th

I was attracted to take some photographs of this large plant by its combination of subdued red, yellow and green colours.

Comments on colours

The seed heads of the plant range from an unsaturated yellow with a greenish tinge, to a yellowish-green colour. These are moderately bright, and they stand out clearly against the dark bushes behind. The stems of the plant are an unsaturated red. The stems are naturally a small area of colour and I felt that they provided a subtle and harmonious colour accent.

Conclusion

Before starting this course, I was aware that I have a tendency to photograph something colourful, even though the subject may lack interest in other respects. By doing these exercises after completing the topics of "Contrast" and "Elements of design" I have hopefully learnt to use colour more deliberately to create more interesting pictures.

The use of hue, saturation and brightness to examine the colours in a photograph is something new that I have not tried before.