photo design-light and color-chapter 4
TRANSCRIPT
Chiaroscuro
• Chiaroscuro-attributed to the Italian painter Caravaggio– Literally means light/dark– Refers to the dramatic modeling of subjects in
painting by shafts of light illuminating dark scenes– It controls the sense of modeling in an image and
so it controls the 3d quality of the work
Chiaroscuro
• Chiaroscuro is a high contrast type of lighting
• Generally you are exposing for the highlights and allowing the shadows to go comparatively dark
Key
• Brightness can dictate the mood of the photo• When the image is dark, favoring shadow
tones, it is considered low key• When the image is brighter, it is considered
high key• It is difficult to show high key in color images• High key black and white can be luminous
and graphic, but high key color often looks washed out and underexposed
Color in Composition
• Hue, saturation, and brightness make up a color– Hue is the name of the color (blue, red…)– Saturation is the intensity of the hue– Brightness is determines how dark or light
the hue is
Color
• Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow– But this doesn’t correspond with our RGB for film
and digital images
• Red, blue and yellow refer to light reflecting off of paint from paper or canvas
• Our RGB refers to transmitted light• For our purposes we will use the painting
primaries
RED
• Red is considered the strongest color
• It tends to advance toward the viewer
• It can be seen as vital, earthy, hot, passion, aggression, danger
YELLOW
• Yellow is the brightest color
• It can be seen as vigorous, sharp, insistent, aggressive, cheerful
• It has obvious association with the sun and light sources
• Against a dark background it can seem to radiate light
BLUE
• Blue recedes more than yellow
• Seems to be relatively dark, quiet, and cool, wet, airy
• Refers strongly to sky and water
GREEN
• The color of nature
• Suggest growth and progress
• Yellow-green is associated with spring and youth
• Green can also show decomposition and sickness
VIOLET
• The illusive color
• Has connotations of mystery
• The similar color of purple has connotations of religion and regality
ORANGE
• Warm, strong, brilliant, powerful
• It is the color of sunset and fire
• Associated with celebration and heat
Color Relationships
• Colors need to be treated in relationship to each other
• These relationships can evoke emotional reactions
• How colors ought to be paired is a question of the ages
• Harmony is a pleasing, acceptable relationship
HARMONY
• Complementary harmony – Hues from across each other on the color
wheel
• Harmony of Similarity– Hues from the same section of the color
wheel
Muted Colors
• Strong colors are relatively rare in the natural world– They occur in isolated areas (flowers…)
• With digital photography we can manage saturation of our colors very easily