Tones and shades can draw attention to a subject, connect parts of a frame or create tension.
The Color Wheel
The color wheel places hues in a circle to show relationships between them. Complementary, analogous and triadic schemes describe different positions on that wheel. Adobe’s color-wheel guide also distinguishes the traditional red–yellow–blue wheel from RGB for screens.
Complementary Tones
Complementary shades sit on opposite sides of a chosen color wheel. Blue and orange are a familiar pairing: a blue sky can contrast with orange rock in a desert landscape. In a portrait, a contrasting background can separate the subject from its surroundings.
In Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl, the red scarf contrasts with the green background around the face.
Analogous Balance
Analogous shades sit next to each other on the wheel. Blue, teal and green can connect water, foliage and clothing within a frame. Lighting and brightness can give the same hues a different mood.
An object outside that range may be a useful accent rather than a mistake. If you want to reduce a distracting hue in an edited image, a color remover from an image can be an option; first consider whether cropping or a different camera position would solve the problem.
Triadic Vibrancy
A triadic scheme uses three hues spaced evenly around the wheel. On a traditional RYB wheel, orange, green and violet form one example. Giving all three equal weight can make the frame busy; one can occupy most of the image while the other two stay small.
Magic Mix
In the traditional RYB model, red, yellow and blue are primary colors. Orange, green and violet are secondary; mixing a primary with an adjacent secondary gives intermediate hues such as red-orange or blue-green.
This is a way to discuss a photograph’s palette, not a description of how a camera mixes light. Digital images use red, green and blue channels.
Primary Colors as a Palette
Red, blue and yellow can make separate areas of a photograph easy to pick out. Try a red chair against blue walls, with a small yellow object nearby: the three primary shades occupy different amounts of the frame.
Secondary Colors in Photography: Examples
Green, orange and violet offer another group to look for in landscapes. They need not all be equally saturated.
Marc Adamus’s Fall Glow shows twilight over autumn colors in Alaska’s Chugach Range.
Tertiary Colors for Your Shots
Red-orange, yellow-green and blue-green fall between familiar primary and secondary labels. A building, car or patch of vegetation may carry one of these hues without dominating the scene.
Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places offers everyday subjects for close study. Pick out a small accent—a car, sign or building detail—and compare it with the larger areas around it.
Mind the Temperature
Blue, green and violet are commonly grouped as cool colors; red, orange and yellow as warm colors. These are palette descriptions, distinct from the color temperature of a light source or a camera’s white-balance setting.
Cool palette: A blue-green lake beneath gray rock is one possible landscape combination. A small warm-colored tent or jacket would create an accent within it.
Warm palette: Golden light or muted reds can suggest warmth or nostalgia, depending on the subject. Compare a portrait lit by a warm lamp with one taken in open shade; the face and its surroundings may shift together.
Last Words
Choose a photograph and identify its largest color area, then the smallest accent that catches your eye. Ask whether that accent supports the subject or competes with it. A color-wheel label can help describe what you see, but it does not decide whether the photograph works.