The Beauty of Color in Photography
Why do we like the fiery colors of a sunset? Or my favorite, the pastel pink of the clouds in the blue hour? Especially against a soft blue sky. My hunch has always been that it is evolutionary. There has to be some built in relax factor to see a calm blue sky with harmless white puffy clouds towering over fields of green. I can get that. Gold and brown hues confuse me a little though. It seems we would shy away from them as they represent arid, scarce environments. It does make sense to me that people don’t always gravitate towards desert type views. But why then do some (like myself) absolutely adore them? These are definitely ideas I like to explore in photography.
I’m a big fan of taking pictures of chaparral. An ecosystem found in Mediterranean climates like Southern California. It’s actually my practice grounds. I love the challenge of making beautiful images out of scenes many find pedestrian at best, ugly at worst. But, even though I like the natural flora of Southern California, I still find it difficult to capture pleasing images that are also true to the form of the plants I’m photographing. That is to say not using them for some sort of abstract look. Or, I’m also guilty of pulling in dramatic skies any chance I get, cheating the emotional response by adding in a reaction to the sublime.
The reason for my trouble is that chaparral plants are largely a dirty green, rusty red and brown. The soft pastel greens that so many are drawn to don’t exist in this environment. Other bright, eye-catching colors are hard to come by even in wildflower season. It’s an acquired taste for color palette of the chaparral. The desert, as monotonous and dry as it may seem at first glance, has an incredible array of color, especially in spring. Rare is the occasion where you can find wildflowers carpeting vast swaths of land, but they are there every year if you get out of the car and take a look. Brilliantly colored wildflowers tug at our most ancient impulses towards nature’s hues. You can easily find photographic compositions with complementary colors, and with a little work maybe even some advanced color theory like triadic or split complementary combinations.
Landscape photographers do most of their work during the golden hour- that time just after sunrise of just before sunset. The soft gold light illuminating a scene from the side makes for the most popular color images. I don’t disagree that that’s the best time for landscape photography but I do think there’s much to explore in any lighting under any conditions. Take the time to study the color wheel, color theory, and see what you can combinations you can compose in a scene. Learn a little but about the psychology of color as well. Do you want an excitable response (think reds and yellows), or a subdued one (blues, greens, and pastels)? There are infinite opportunities for you to create the imagery you want. Go out and do it.