COMPLEMENTARYCOLOURS:In oppositiontothe
low-contrastaestheticsof analogouscolours,
scenescontainingcomplementarycoloursare
naturallyhighin contrast.Complementary
colours,alsoknownascontrastingcolours,
arethosethatsitdirectlyoppositeoneanother
onthecolourwheel,forexampleredand
green,blueandorange,orred-purpleand
yellow-green.Imagesthatmakeuseof
complementarycolourstendtobeimpactful,
graphicanddrawtheviewerin,andcanbe
usedtomakesubjectsorelementsof a scene
standoutanddemandimmediateattention,
forexamplea redphoneboxin frontof a green
tree,oranorangefloweragainsta bluesky.As
findingtwoperfectlycomplementarycolours
in thenaturalworldis relativelyrare,another
potentiallymoreusefulruleforoutdoor
photographersis SplitComplementary
colours– thisis whereyoutakeonehueand
matchit withthetwocolourseithersideof its
complementarycolour.Forexample,green,
red-orangeandred-purple.Visualiseit using
thecolourwheelandit’saneasyconcept.
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O FAR WE’VE covered using two or
more colours alongside one another
and how they interact, but did you
know that not all colours are created equal
and some will dominant a composition
over others? Colours that grab your
attention and stand out are known as
dominant colours, and colours that recede
away and are less noticeable are recessive
colours. The three primary colours are the
most dominant in the spectrum, with red
having the most impact, followed by
yellow. Warmer tones are almost always
more dominant that cooler tones, but just
how much they dominant an image
depends on the saturation of the hue, its
brightness and contrast within the scene as
well as the colour itself. For example, a
bright phone box hidden in a largely
monochromatic city scene will still be very
dominant, and will draw your eye in,
whereas a big red bus against an orange
wall will be less dominant because the latter
is lower in colour contrast, despite being a
bigger subject. Being aware of dominant
colours is as important for knowing what to
include in your image frame as it is for what
to leave out – background clutter can be
far more distracting if it’s in a dominant
colour, for example.
Recessive colours, conversely, are those
than shrink into the background. These
comprise of the cooler tones, as well as
muted, low saturation hues such as
lavender, light blue or dusky pink. Typically,
these colours form the background of the
images that we capture, so be wary of using
them to ‘dress’ your main subjects in the
foreground of images, especially if there’s a
more dominant colour in the background.
On the other hand, images made up of
mostly recessive colours (think of a
landscape after sunset as the dusky
blue-hour sets in) can give the viewer a
sense of tranquillity and calmness, as no
one colour is fighting for attention. Turn to
page 60 for more on how colour can affect
perception and emotion.