Left: Here’s an example of using comple-
mentary colors in a composition.
Above: This image would present well in
both color and black-and-white. This is a
good sign that you’d have found this scene
even if you were colorblind.
- Contrasting colors help separate
regions of an image; yellow to blue
primary colors and green to magenta
secondary colors.
- Soft, low-contrast light reveals all colors.
- Bright, high-contrast light saturates
primary colors.
- There are some colors that can never
be accurately captured and presented,
and are referred to as “out of gamut.”
- The human eye is attracted to both
high-contrast and saturated colors.
- White balance is required by a camera
to produce accurate colors.
- We all see colors differently.
- Contrast is the most important aspect
of photography to understand.
When composing a landscape image, it
is very helpful to know how your camera
will respond to the light, contrast and color
in a scene. Once you understand how your
camera captures light, you’ll then begin to
train your eye to recognize that particular
light. I used Fujichrome Velvia film for over
10 years of my career, and during that time I
developed a keen eye for what would be the
best situations and lighting when I wanted
to capture the very best image. Now, 15
years and numerous types of digital cameras
later, my eye has adapted once again. The
basic difference between Velvia film and
today’s digital cameras is the dynamic range.
Velvia had a very narrow range of only 4.5
stops of light, as compared to a modern
Hasselblad digital medium-format camera
that has over 14 stops. Increased dynamic
range doesn’t make the actual light better
but rather allows the photographer to take
advantage of much higher-contrast light.
Understanding dynamic range and acquiring
the ability to recognize it is something that
comes with experience and spending time
post-processing images.
Using color in landscape photography
is fairly simple. First, be sure you know
what colors you don’t see. A free online
test is available at enchroma.com/pages/
test. If you’re fortunate enough to see a full
spectrum of color, then you’ll be better able
to make decisions about colorful subjects
in your composition. If you don’t see all
the colors, then you’ll be relying more on
contrast. This is why contrast is critical in
a landscape image. Your ability to identify
the right colors isn’t as critical as seeing
contrast between them.
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