Harmony – Colors next to each other on the color wheel are called analogous, and relate to each other nicely, creating a natural compatibility to the eye.

Cool Colors – Green, Blue, and Violet (and the shades in between) are said to be cool colors. Cool colors make the viewer feel restful, easy, soft, patient, calm, etc.

Warm Colors – Red, Orange, Yellow (and the shades in between) are said to be warm colors. Warm colors make the viewer feel excited, energetic, upbeat, maybe even angry.

Complementary Colors – These are the colors found opposite each other on the wheel – red with green, blue with orange, violet with yellow. Instead of harmony, these opposites strike a discord with our eye, causing the subjects to “pop” from the photograph. This discord is evident in advertising and marketing materials when the product owner wants to “catch the viewer’s eye.” Look for red flowers against green grass, an orange kyak on a blue lake, a little girl in a violet dress holding a violet balloon.

Monochromatic – Photos that have elements of primarily one hue – white on white (polar bears against the snow,) grey on grey (small fishing boat on a foggy lake,) blue on blue (surfer with blue trunks on blue board caught in the curl,) don’t create much work for the eye, have simplicity, and put the mind at ease.

Color Meanings – Every culture has traditional meanings associated to color. This can be important when you are trying to evoke emotions from your photographs. (From: R. Jackson & L. MacDonald & K. Freeman: “Computer Generated Color”, 1994.)

Arab Nations: Red=death; Blue=virtue, faith, truth; Green=fertility, strength; Yellow=wealfare, wealth; White=joy

India: Red=life, creativity; Green=welfare, wealth, fertility; Yellow=success; White=death, purity

Japan: Red=anger, danger; Blue=shame; Green=youth, future; Yellow=grace, dignity; White=death

China: Red=joy, festivity; Blue=sky; Green=royal, honor; Yellow=wealth, power, birth

Western Cultures:
Red
Postive – victory, passion, strength, energy, sexuality
Negative – blood, war, fire, danger, anger, satan
Yellow
Positive – sun, summer, serenity, gold, harvest, innovation
Negative – cowardice, treason, jealousy, hazard, illness, folly
Green
Positive – nature, spring, fertility, hope, safety
Negative – decay, inexperience, envy, greed, bad luck
Blue
Positive – sky, sea, spirituality, stability, peace, unity
Negative – cold, depression, melancholy, obscenity, mystery, conservatism
White
Positive – snow, purtiy, innocence, peace, lightness, cleanliness
Negative – cold, clinical, vulnerability, deathly pallor, surrender, sterility
Black
Positive – night, coal, power, stability, formality, solidity
Negative – fear, void, death, secrecy, anonymity, evil
Grey
Positive – intelligence, maturity, wealth, dignity, dedication, restraint
Negative – confusion, decay, concrete, shadow, depression, boredom

How can you steady yourself? The simplest trick is to stand with your feet shoulder width apart, both hands on the camera, and take a couple of steadying breaths before holding your breath as you push the shutter button. In low light or windy conditions, you might want to lean against a building or a tree, or even sit down. If you are taking pictures of something lower than your waist, you probably should sit down anyway. (The top-down look is not flattering to most subjects.) If you need more steadying power, you can set the camera on timer, and place it on steady object such as a table. In extreme situations, you’ll need to rely on a tripod, or at least a mono-pod. (BTW: Mono-pods can double as good walking sticks.)

And, you’ll also need to pay attention to the steadiness of the subject. Flowers blowing in the wind usually don’t work very well, unless you want that abstract blowing look. Flying birds, racing bicycles, jumping dogs, running children will all have their challenges. To capture their motion in an artful way, you will need to pay even better attention to being as steady as you can be. Photography is about taking the time to capture a special moment forever. Take the few extra moments to ensure that the photo you are left with looks as special as the memory.

We all have those dark moments in our lives – when we are struggling to find our way out and reach the sunshine. We get battered by the elements, find ourselves overshadowed by something bigger and stronger, drowned by rains of criticism; and yet, it doesn’t take much to persevere and triumph. We move one grain of dirt at a time, and soon we’ve opened our way, our window to the nourshment that heaven provides.

My photography is a documentary of my life. You’ll see mountains that illustrate my struggles over my barriers, sunrises that give me hope, flowers that help me find my inner beauty, animals that represent my joy in all life, travel pictures that bring out my childhood wonder and awe, and sunsets that have me thinking about the next stages of my life. Without my photography, I would lose my soul.

I hope that you will find your own special emotions and secrets as you view my photos. I believe that if you look closely, you’ll find yourself examining less of the photo and more of yourself. At least, that is my desire as I share my photos with the world.

You’ve heard it plenty of times – Don’t put your subject in the center of the picture. It’s boring, and doesn’t have any line to draw the viewer in. Using the Rule of Thirds works like this: Imagine your viewfinder is a tic-tac-toe board. The lines that form that board intersect in 4 points – each about 1/3 of the way into the viewfinder from side-to-side or top-to-bottom. Try to place your subject at one of those points, and remember to have the subject looking into the picture.

Sometimes the subject is so big though, you can’t figure out what else to do. What do you do with a rhinocerous? You find the most interesting point on the subject. If you’re going for the whole rhinocerous, his head is more interesting than his tail. If you are doing a close-up of the head, the eye is the focal point you want to get at the intersection.

When you photograph people, have them stand at the left third or right third of the view finder, but not in the middle. And please don’t cut people off at the knees. Either have a whole person, or do a short or long bust shot. If there is more than one person, try to group them to create an interesting line. (I’ll talk more about people shots in another post.)