Tracy's OCA Blog: Assignment 3 Colour

The pictures for this assignment need to show a command for colour in photography and being able to find and use different colours in deliberate relationships. I need to produce four photos from each of the following

Colour harmony through complementary colours
Colour harmony through similar colours
Colour contrast through contrasting colours
Colour accent using any of the above

Here are my 4 pictures showing complementary colours
I have converted them to coloured pencil sketches using photoshop filters

VW Beetle

This first photo shows the cropped front of this car next to a green hedge, the red is shown mainly in the outline of the car as the window and driver take up almost a third of the image, there is also some red in the drivers face. this shows red and green as complementary colours.

Poppy field

Here we have a field of poppies mixed with green leaves and a few mauve thistles. I have also used red and green as complimentary colours as I have focused on the front poppies. Most of the picture is out of focus showing a muted mix of the colours in the background, this leaves a strong mix of red and green in the foreground

Snettisham sunset

In this sunset the complimentary colours are blue and orange, the course notes show that as orange is approximately twice as bright as blue the ideal proportions would be 1 orange to 2 blue. I think that this is not far off of that

Light and leaves

I was undecided wether to include this photo it shows an abstract effect looking up at the tree with the sun behind the leaf leaving patterns in it. I originally chose it to show red and green as complimentary colours, but when looking at it realised that the red is more of an orange red and the green a yellow green. Looking at how these colours are placed on the colour wheel would make them more contrasting colours

Hunstanton Cliffs

I took this photo to show the complimentary colours of blue and orange I liked the photo and the foreground interest but when I thought about it I decided that it would be better to crop it as this shows the colours off better and give better proportions.

Here is the cropped version showing a strip of blue at the top the reflection of this at the bottom in the sea with an orange strip running along the cliffs in the middle.

Colour harmony through similar colours

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Here for the second part of the assignment are pictures showing colour harmony through similar colours

Duck on the Broads

In this otherwise grey picture there are 2 very distinct areas of blue and green both next to each other on the colour wheel, these are cool colours. The colours stand out really well in this otherwise dull muted picture.

Top of the Cliff

I took this photo when walking along the top of the cliffs at Cromer, from the edge of the cliffs you can see the grass before looking down to the sea. It also shows the colours blue and green in strips along the top and bottom with a strip or grey sea running in-between them.

Brancaster Beach sunset

The photo taken just after sunset at brancaster shows lots of lovely warm colours from the golden sands up to the clouds, showing lots of light and different tones coming through them

Hunstanton

On the beach at Hunstanton it had been a lovely sunny afternoon with a bright blue sky showing white fluffy clouds, however when I turned around to walk back in the opposite direction the sky had changed into a darker stormy blue with sun rays trying to shine through creating a lovely effect. This along with the green on the rocks created a cool looking picture

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Colour contrast through contrasting colours

Red brick roof

Contrasting colours are very different from each other and spaced about a third of the way round the circle making them very eye catching. I was driving through this small village with very narrow lanes when I saw this cottage, luckily there were no cars behind me so I managed to pull over and take a quick photo. I found this cottage with its red tile roof and blue window and fascia to be very striking

Doors to the sea

This picture of the doors is in a lovely cafe in Cromer, they lead out onto a balcony. It shows 3 shades of blue, with blues from the doors sea and sky, contrasting with a smaller amount of red in the flags

Rape field

My next contrasting picture shows blue and yellow. There is a strip of yellow rape along the bottom and then the blue sky broken up by the clouds. I used a polarising filter to bring the blue out in the sky and it has also made the clouds more prominent reducing the amount of blue that would otherwise be in the picture

Starburst flower

Purple and green are the contrasting colours in this picture, with the purple flowers and green stems. I have blurred the background a bit this gives a muted look and makes the purple flower and green at the foreground stand out

Petal carpet

This also has the colours green and purple, with lots of green to the back of the picture and the bottom half shows all the purple flowers on the ground

Field edged by poppies

Golden yellow barley and red poppies are the contrasting colours in this photo. Although there is twice as much barley as red, The brightness of the red balances this up. I cropped in tightly to the poppies to show them in the foreground with the barley field behind

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Colour accent

This is when a small area of colour or accent is found within a larger background of another colour

Through the orchid

My first image is of an orchid, the background is all white with deeper shades in places where the petals fold and curve. In the middle of the flower the colour changes to a subtle yellow with smaller red markings. As I took the photo there was a small glimpse of blue from the sky coming through a gap in the petals and I thought this worked as an accent colour, although in my sketch this has not shown up very well. The tiny spots of red have come through brighter looking more like the accent colour so with this in mind I have cloned the blue out and added this other picture

Red post in the pier

It was a nice bright day when I took this photo of the iron work underneath Cromer pier. I was at first attracted by the shapes and angles in the metalwork, but I then spotted this 1 post towards the rear of the picture that was different from the rest being a rusty red colour. This stands out in the photo and I think it works well as an accent colour

Red lips

In this photo of Lilly she was looking into a mirror just before going to her prom. After applying some bright red lipstick, the rest of the photo is quite muted making her lips really stand out as the accent colour

The eye has it