Colour assignment 3 - Contrasting colours

For the primary and secondary colours, there are conceptually six contrasting colour pairings:-

- red + blue *

- blue + yellow*

- orange + violet*

- green + orange*

- red + yellow

- green + violet

I have selected one photograph each from the four categories marked with an asterisk which I feel best illustrate the use of contrasting colours.

Image 5: Pet birds - Manipa Island, Indonesia

Nikon 70-210mm at 70mm: Iso 500 f5 at 1/2000th second

These pet birds were sitting on the floor of a motor boat in which I was traveling in 2009. I had just a short time to grab this photograph before we disembarked.

Comments on colour

The red feathers and blue background colours are so intense that the contrast seems as strong as the example of contrasting orange and green in the OCA course notes. The photograph attracts a viewers attention, but the colours dominate more than the content of the photograph.

(I have not included a diagram of the colour composition for this photograph as this is straightforward and I have no comments to add on this.)

Image 6: Water butt

Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm: Iso 200 f8 at 1/320th second

I saw this corner of a garden in the small town of Lassay in Normandy. I was attracted by the line of yellow flowers in front of the bright blue water butt. I decided to include this broad view of the scene rather than a more closely cropped version even though the blue and yellow contrast is a less prominent element of the picture as I liked the composition:-

• The water butt is framed in front of a shady fence between a sunny shed wall on the right hand side and a bright vine covered wall on the left hand side.
• There is a "chequer-board" of light on the water butt. The brightest area of the water butt stands out against a shady fence, whereas the shaded surface and shadow of the water butt stand out against the bright shed wall.
• The shadows of the vine leaves on the smooth surface of the water butt adds visual interest.

These graphical elements already make quite an attractive picture even in black and white:-

Comments on colour

The colour composition of this photograph has a number of elements, as indicated in this diagram:-

The walls surrounding the water butt range from pale orange to neutral tones. The saturated blue of the water butt stands out well against this complementary colour.

The green leaves of the plants on the left hand wall and the plant holders in the foreground do not stand out strongly from the background colour. In principle, green and orange are contrasting hues, but the muted tones in this case do not have the visual impact that might be expected.

The bright yellow line of small flowers in the foreground has an effect which appears to adapt to the background colour. In front of the blue water butt, there is a strong contrast this enlivens the blue and brings forward the yellow flowers. In front of the wall and green leaves on the other hand, the yellow flowers harmonize and seem to recede in prominence.

I feel that the contrast between the blue water butt and the yellow line of flowers significantly enhances the composition of this photograph.

I did consider whether this picture should be categorized as an example of a colour accent. I decided however to treat this as an illustration of colour contrast because the relationship of the yellow with the rest of the composition is relatively complex. In this picture, the yellow colour does not make the small flowers the subject of the photograph, their colour merely sets off the blue colour of the dominant visual subject, the water butt.

Image 7: Orange drink cartons

Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm: Iso 400 f8 for 1/1250th second

This is one of the photographs taken on the streets of Guildford last month on rubbish collection day for the exercise on colour relationships. The orange drink cartons placed on the top of this violet coloured recycling box attracted my attention.

I photographed the whole box of papers and cartons, but selectively included just the orange and red/yellow cartons at this end of the box. I cropped the frame to make the violet colour occupy 2-3 times the area of the cartons in order to balance the relative brightness of orange relative to violet.

Comments on colour

In this photograph, I like the way that the orangey cartons stand out in vibrant contrast to the violet plastic. The clash between reasonably intense violet and orange colours seems to make the picture.

The colours of the red and yellow on the carton on the right hand side correspond reasonably closely with the orange drinks cartons at either side. As a result, the cartons seem to form a single orangey tonal area.

There were some bright blue cartons further to the right in the original frame, but when these were included, the impact of the orange colour was much reduced.

There is a small area of ivy leaves in the background. The green is dark relative to the other coloured objects in the frame, and this does not disturb the other colour relationships.

Image 8: Young plants

Nikon 18-70mm at 18mm: Iso 320 f8 for 1/25oth second

This is the colour version of a photo of a group of young plants that I included in Assignment 2 - elements of design.

The fresh green young seedlings were standing in orange coloured plastic pots on a bench in a greenhouse in the gardens near where I live. I took the photograph from above looking down on the tray of young plants to show the pattern.

Comments on colour

The potting medium in the pots provides a dark background so that the mid-toned pots and plants stand out clearly. The contrast between the orange and green creates a sense of vibrancy which distinguishes the colour version from the monochrome equivalent.

(The colour composition is uniform across the frame so I have not prepared a diagram in this case.)