27.03.2012.
TAOP
Part Three: Colour.
Assessment Three: Colour.
For this assignment I have used a mixture of found and controlled situations. The Hastings, Liverpool and bluebell shots are from my files. The rest were taken for this assignment.
As I stated earlier in my blog I am mildly colour blind so my choice of colours may be a little quirky. I can only use the colours I see. For this reason I have used a colour wheel with a greater number of gradations. I find it easier to differentiate colours when they flow from one to the other rather than when presented with a stark start and finish point. The brightness of this wheel also helps.
Harmony Through Complementary Colours.
My first example is a scarf I noticed in a shop window. The two colours, orange and blue, are opposite each other on the colour wheel. The colours are subdued and further softened by the texture of the material. There is an almost flag like movement in the scarf that takes the eye across the picture. This movement is further helped by the presence of some detail in the secondary folds.
The pink lines represent the flag action of the scarf.
My second is a picture I took inside The Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. The use of colour in this space is stunning. The centre piece is the blue Crown of Thorns. As if this is not bright enough, the walls feature paintings and iconography of complementary oranges and reds. The aim of the piece is to focus the congregation on to the main altar. The eye is constantly brought back to the altar and picture of Christ above it. I was chuffed with this shot as it was hand held at 0.4 secs @ f2.8.
The eye directed to the altar.
Number three is a blue and yellow complementary picture. Mounted on a plinth in Ramsgate above is the Hugin, a replica viking ship, that was sailed across from Denmark in 1949. The bright yellow figurehead makes a strong contrast to the cloudless blue sky. The red features make for contrasting points of interest in the yellow head. Was the eye left black to give an air of menace?
Three lines of action running through the dragon's head.
Harmony Through Similar Colours.
The first is similar to one I have used before but in this the crop is tighter and is more square on to the subject. It is of Old Town Hastings as seen from East Hill. The colours of the houses and their roofs are all of a similar hue and tone. These are the colours one would more likely see in a brochure for Croatia. There are two pink houses in the picture but these are such a soft unsaturated pink that they do not intrude.
The second is again a building theme but this time a plain brick wall. The use of Flemish Bond would suggest this is a Georgian wall. The bricks are hand made London stocks and, as with all man made things, vary in their colour, shape and finish. Some have glazing marks on them where they were over cooked in the clamp and others are becoming soft and friable because they were under cooked. The bricks are all in autumnal hues and as such give the wall a pleasing warm look.
The third is a classic of this time of year and is one of a bluebell wood. The top canopy is just starting to grow and display the pale green of its early leaves. The branches with their contrasting shades of dark and light lead the viewer's eye down to the main event which is the carpet of bluebells. There can be few more pleasing sights in the British countryside. Blue and green sit close together on the colour wheel.
The eye is brought down from the canopy to the bluebells at the forest floor.
The fourth was taken in a friend's soft furnishing shop. The window display of cushions is seen from inside the shop. The mellow tones of the coverings give a very feminine feel to the place. A place where women want to spend money and men feel intimidated. I can see blue, pink and green in these cushions but still see them as close enough in tone to fulfil the criteria of this section.
The various shapes and action lines drawn by the display and eye line.
Colour Contrast Through Contrasting Colours.
The first contrast picture is a house plant. There are two main colours and a stand out additional third. The red of the bract stands out strongly against the green of the leaves with the yellow flower giving an almost 3D effect. Without the yellow the picture would not have anywhere near the impact. It is almost a single point.
The implied line made by the yellow element of the flower.
The second is an example of why we keep fish. The contrast of the bright red, gold and silver against the background of green weed if is a constant pleasure. Not only are the fish painted in bright colours but their scales reflect and refract the light as they move.
Three lines. Two formed by the fish and one by the plant.
The third is a robin against a green and brown background. The robin must be one of Britain's most photogenic birds. It is designed to stand out and declare its territory against all comers. The green of the feed ball is quite strong but only acts to highlight the red of the bird. The sun was from the left and I used frontal fill-in flash which gave the neat glint to the eye.
The bird's back matched by a parallel twig. The bird's leg is matched by the top parallel twig. The bird is framed by a twig to the left.
For the last of this set I photographed four tassels that were part of a display in my friend's shop.The three colours are in the same half of the colour circle but in this set up look uneasy with each other. It may be the slightly acid tone of the colours but I know I would not use this combination to add harmony to a room. Used flash bounced off the ceiling with some reflected forward. The black tassel acts as a stop to the left of the picture.
Colour Accent Using Any of the Above.
The Colour accent set gave me most thought. The robin is a colour accent picture as is the dragon. The fish make a double accent picture and had I isolated one of them it would have made a strong candidate. Those, however, fitted better in the other categories.
The first is a traffic sign. A red accent on a blue ground. The message is clear. This is a dead end. The use of colour in signs is deliberate and is meant to convey a message on its own.
Next is a set up in the shop where I slipped a dark red cushion cover in between pastel coloured samples. Not only was the red much more saturated but there were no reds in the samples. Same lighting as for the tassels and cut down the depth of field to concentrate the eye on the red cloth. I placed the red just off from the right side third line. I tried it on the other side and in the centre but this is the one that pleased me best.
As stated in the course notes there are few mauves or purples in nature. This time of the year, however, is one when they are abundant. I spotted this wild violet whilst out cycling. The mauve accent in the green of the grass works well.
I end on a discordant note with a picture of litter on the beach. The blue bag stood out from a long way off as a beacon of man's carelessness. The person who left it clearly did so on purpose as it was weighted it down to stop it blowing away. An accent and metaphor for man's stupidity.
