Since my background is in painting and design, I show photographers how to incorporate the basic elements of Visual Design into their imagery.
One of the elements is Color, which leads me to a quote said by one of if not my favorite artists. Wassily Kandinsky once said, “Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”
Color is a universal language and is a great way to communicate ideas, and I’m always looking for it. For example, you see a group of people with their backs to you at a park. They’re all wearing the same color sweatshirt. What would that mean to you?
Color is a stimulant for our eyes and ties the elements of a photograph together. Color affects every moment of our lives and has an enormous impact on our photography. Knowing color is one of the first steps in making (not taking) consistently good photographs.
Color can give you a sense of mood, a sense of place, and a sense of time. It can also be used to move the viewer’s eye around your composition; use it to create harmony and balance.
People that take my online class with the BPSOP, and those that participate in my “Stretching Your Fram of Mind” workshops I conduct around the world will often comment on the color saturation in my photos.
It usually is, and it’s not because of Photoshop. The main reason is that I shoot mostly in “Golden Light”, and I use the angle of the existing light as an important aid.
Having said all this, the one thing that really sticks out in my mind after reading Kandinsky’s quote that’s not always the case is that when you photograph people in color you’re photographing their clothes and when you’re photographing them in black and white you’re photographing their souls.
Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
