"Complementary Colors," Weekly Assignment for 2 - 8 March 2009

[keithsnell]

In photography, complementary colors are defined as a color and its opposite on the color wheel.  For example, primary blue and yellow are considered complementary colors.  If we want to make a feature stand out from its background, we can photograph it against its complementary color, for example yellow aspen leaves against a deep blue Colorado sky.  Other complementary color pairs are primary green and magenta; and primary red and cyan.  Every color on the color wheel has an opposite, or complementary color.  The color wheel below illustrates the color relationships.

Note that colors that are close to each other on the color wheel are called "harmonious" colors, such as green foliage against a blue sky, or yellow flowers in a field of green.

Your assignment for the week of 2 - 8 March 2009 is "Complementary Colors."  You should photograph a scene that uses complementary colors to emphasize an object against its background, or emphasize the color contrast between objects in a scene.  Please upload your images to the "Complementary Colors" album in the Weekly Assignment category in the Gallery no later than midnight, Mountain Time (GMT -07:00) on Sunday, 8 March 2009.

I'll look forward to seeing your images!

Keith

[RebeccaSnell]

Ok, this is a good assignment for me as it is making me more aware of colors and how the color wheel works.  Also figured out that you can't adjust complementary colors as they are opposites--I know many of you are saying 'duh', but it was rather enlightening to me.  I went into photoshop under adjust color balance to give my picture a little more boost, and I realized magenta and green are on the same scale - you adjust one and you affect the other --negatively.  In fact, Keith thought if you could perfectly offset complementary colors, you might end up with white.  Might be a fun experiment in photoshop.  Let me know if you try this and it works.  Tom, that would be a good challenge for you :-)

I also became very aware of how the toy industry uses complementary colors to attract kids.  A lot of the kids toys are bold complementary colors that 'pop' and catch your eye.