by Editor Lourens Durand
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 14th of Februari 2025

'Everything is red' by Evgeniy Popov

Colour is only one of the elements used to create a great photograph, but many successful photographers (and artists) will argue that it is by far the most important, creating the emotional and psychological foundation upon which a successful image is built. In fact, Goethe recognised the psychological impact of colour on the mood of an image as early as 1840 in his Theory of Colour. He wrote, among other things, that "people experience great pleasure in colours", especially yellow, red-yellow and yellow-red, which evoke quick, lively and aspirational feelings.On the other hand, blue, red-blue and blue-red were associated with a "restless, sensitive and anxious expression".

Today this has become a generally accepted set of associations and is universally used by artists and photographers:

-        White    =  Innocence, purity, natural, peace

-         Red       =  Passion, love, anger, danger

-         Green    =  Natural, fertile, earthy, harmony, life, growth

-         Blue      =  Sadness, coolness, calm, cold

-         Orange  =  Joy, enthusiasm, energy, autumn

-         Brown   =  Dependable, confident, stability, comfort

-       Yellow  =  Hope, happiness, friendly, brightness

-        Purple:  =  Royal, melancholy, pride, magic, luxury, mysterious

-       Violet    =  Drama, authority, strength

-       Pink      =  Airy, feminine, compassionate

            -    Black    =  Power, deadliness, evil, elegance. dramatic  

Both Newton and Goethe (centuries apart) developed colour wheels, with red, blue and yellow being the primary colours, not a lot different from the modern colour wheel.

Newton's colour wheel on the left, Goethe's on the right

https://annrichmanart.com/blog/goethes-color-theory

Modern Colour Wheel

Interestingly, the colours on the blue side of the wheel tend to recede into the background, while the reds seem to approach the viewer, which can be a useful compositional tool.
Goethe also associated the use of complementary colours, such as red and a touch of green, to balance each other and create a complex mix of emotions, which is an important part of colour theory today. Using three adjacent colours on the wheel in different proportions can also enhance mood.
These concepts propounded by Goethe still hold true today, and when used creatively, recognising these relationships between colours and their balance can have a powerful effect on the emotions expressed in the final work.Fine-tuning tools such as colour contrast, harmony of tones, saturation, desaturation, lightness and darkness, along with composition, all have an effect on the mood and dramatic interpretation of the photograph, adding to the story, even if it is just a touch of colour in an otherwise monochromatic image.
Try them all, whether in the studio, in the field or even in post-production, and see for yourself how colour affects the final product.

Lourens Durand

'After Harvest 2' by Jian Xu

'Cheese Farm' by Fernando PIçarra

'Donegal stories...' by Krzysztof Browko

untitled by HJ Yang

'Bee-eater' by Amro

'Persian girl' by Moein Hasheminasab

'purple hour' by Judith Kuhn

'Fine Art – Valeria and flowers' by Gila Koller

'Balance stem' by Jian Xu

'Whispers of Fall' by Sharon Levy

'Summer mood' by UstinaGreen

*?* by Ramiz Sahin

'Duc Hoa 2' by Clas Gustafson PRO

'Downtown Dubai' by Mrinal Nath

'Autumn Colors' by Grigore Roibu

'Beauty in the branches' by Barbara Fletcher

'Field View' by NanZ

'Bees at work' by Emanuel Papamanolis

'A True Lady' by Daniel Springgay

'Red Dot' by Karen Kolbeck

'Red Beans' by John-Mei Zhong

'caddo Lake' by Ti Wang

'Steampunk tea' (with a hot air balloon) by Dina Belenko

'La Rotonde' by Isabelle DUPONT

'CarMechanics' by Marcel Egger 

'Competitor' by HuongHoang

'Sunflower' by Anna Qu