How to use color elements for composition

Composition is the basic principle of photography artistry. In other words, it is how to plan the elements in a photo to make it conform to the aesthetics of most people and have attractive visual charm as much as possible. One of the important components is the use of color elements for composition.

For example, didn’t the last time you observed a photo because it was full of vitality and strong colors? Such things can be found everywhere, which can prove the power of color and its relatively easy controllability.

There are many ways to make colors work in your photos.

Color is the remote control of mood

Did you find that looking at photos can change your mood? Although it may be a short time, it is real. It’s relaxing to see the sunset, and it’s inspiring to see the amazing panoramic pictures.

The use of different colors can have different effects on the mood of viewers.

Let’s look at blue. This cool and soft color can stimulate calm and comforting emotions. If you want to make others feel peaceful and serene through photos, you must add blue streams, lakes or other water bodies to the composition.

The colors at the other end of the spectrum are more energetic, such as the warm colors of red, orange and yellow. These colors will remind us of our feelings about them in life, and make us feel more comfortable (such as a bright fire in a cold night).

So if you want to convey a warm and comfortable feeling through photos, you should use more elements such as sunset, fire and beach.

Subtle and colorful

You can use soft colors in your photos in a subtle way that is closer to a monochrome theme. The key is to get rid of the blue and red mentioned above and use more radical and bold colors. Think back to the color of the world you saw when it was cloudy. You can also use this color tone for your photos. When shooting on a cloudy day, most photos show a soft feeling. This soft light effect and soft feeling are ideal for shooting people, still life and flowers. Essentially, the soft light effect is suitable for any scene that is not suitable for strong contrast.

Importance of balance

When using color for composition, balance is the top priority. Everything should be moderate, and do not over emphasize any element in the picture.

Have you seen the color wheel before? It can show the relationship between different colors, so that you can use it flexibly in composition. The colors on the color wheel complement each other (so they are similar to each other).

Tips:Using colors similar to each other on the color wheel, you can take very pleasing and perfectly balanced photos.

Let’s give an example.

On the color wheel, the “blue set” and the “green set” are adjacent to each other. Therefore, a color balanced photo should be a gurgling brook (blue), quietly passing through a quiet forest or grassland (green). This not only reflects the color balance, but also makes the viewers feel relaxed.

Create special effects

The colors in the photos can also serve as clues – attracting the attention of the observer and then highlighting specific parts of the structure. Contrast is naturally an important part of this balance.

After careful planning, only a little bright color can focus the viewer’s attention on the smallest constituent elements in the photo. For example, a child wearing a bright blue vest walked in a light yellow corn field. In the contrast of the children’s blue vest, the yellow of the corn field appears very soft. The use of color in this way is like a millionth difference in a shooting competition.

Color effect of natural light

According to different shooting times in a day, you can use natural light to color compose photos. So far, we have mainly discussed the composition of shooting objects with a certain color. Now let’s change our direction and start to study the “color” in light.

The most suitable time for color composition shooting is morning and evening. Dawn and dusk, to be exact. In the early morning, for a short time, the color of light is cool and soft blue. This photo style even has an alias: blue time.

Here, you can easily find objects with bright colors, because nature bathes everything in fantastic light and helps you solve all the problems. Generally, the skyline in the port or coastal urban area of the city is more ideal during this period of time. The blue light illuminates everything.

At sunrise, the light shines red, orange and yellow. After dawn and before sunrise, the surrounding environment presents an amazing color, which is the perfect choice for shooting specific compositions. When the sun sets, in the warm light, think about those simple and efficient things!

Now start to use color to compose pictures

As you can see, we have so many ways to help you use color for composition. Color not only adds vitality to photos, but also optimizes the composition of photos. Color is very flexible, you can use soft colors for subtle use; You can also use bold colors to highlight some of the elements by enhancing the contrast.

In a word, in order to avoid the wrong use of color for composition, practice more, and then go to verify your amazing results!