With the ease of digital photography – taking pictures and printing – we’ve come to expect that all color pictures will “naturally” be pleasing to the eye. After all, our eyes are bombarded by color every minute our eyes are open. But looking at a 2-dimensional color photograph is very different. Remember how I talked about composition and line in the posts below? Color works very similarly. In a photograph, your eye will “search” to find a “pleasing” look that will capture the gaze and hold it. There are a number of ways to capture that pleasing look – each combination of colors does it in a different way.

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.

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If there is any ONE tip that will immensly improve all of your photos in every situation, it is to take the time to steady yourself. I’m amazed at the number of photo enthusiasts that I see holding the camera with one hand and directing their subjects with the other hand, and shooting before they put both hands on the camera. Now, it is true that if you are shooting at speeds faster than 1/100 of a second, you probably won’t have much of a problem with camera shake. And, if you are fortunate to have a camera with lens image stabilization, than you have the added bonus of shake reduction. Still, the few seconds of time that it will take to steady yourself provides many additional benefits to a better picture. Those few moments will allow you to breathe and relax, and this will help you better compose the scene. Those few moments will allow you to see other photo possibilities. Those few moments will help you eliminate clutter. Those few moments will help you check for proper exposure. Those few moments will help you think about whether you are shooting for a landscape look – everything in focus, or a portrait look – with the background blurred for a soft look.

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When looking through your view finder, remember to tell yourself that “less is more” appealing. Notice the objects on the side of your subject, above or below your subject, and also behind your subject. Move your camera lens to try to eliminate some of the distractions by: 1) getting closer to the subject, or 2) changing your position by moving left or right of the subject to eliminate background objects. Think of photography as subtractive art. The more distractions you can remove, the better the composition will be. Distractions are tiring to the eye, and are like hiccups in a story. You want to make your eye move smoothly across the picture without an abrupt stop.

Rule of Thirds

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.)

A picture has a story line, just like a novel. To be pleasing to the eye, and to the emotions, a picture needs an captivating beginning, a meaty middle, and a pleasing end. In photography, we do this by finding a “line” that moves through the picture in a certain way. Some examples are diagonal lines, s-shaped lines, wide-to-narrow, geometric patterns, etc. It is also important to make sure that when your subject is facing a direction, that you give plenty of space for them to look “into.” Don’t set your subject at the edge of the picture looking out; have them looking in. Pay attention to this even when your subjects are not animals or people. Flowers have faces, buildings have faces, etc. You want the viewer’s eye to move into the picture, not out of it.