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color theory

Your brain is lying to you – These eyes aren’t blue

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Optical illusions are a lot of fun, particularly when they’re based on colour. Ones such as this, posted by Dean Jackson on TikTok, is a great one that shows how our brain tricks our eyes into seeing colour that isn’t really there. This particular video starts off as a black-and-white image of a lady which then has a red filter placed over it, except for the eyes. Suddenly, we now see her eyes as blue.

Except they’re not really blue. They’re still grey. Our brain has tricked us into thinking that they’re blue based on the warmth of that red filter. It’s an interesting quirk of our brains that allows us to see beyond colour inconsistencies and fill in gaps for information that isn’t really there. A quirk that has real implications for photographers and filmmakers, especially when it comes to colour correction.

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How this simple color tip can dramatically improve your landscape photography

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Want to take your landscape and fine art images up several levels? Then it might be time to consider how color affects the emotion within your photographs.

In this video, landscape photographer Christian Irmler talks about how you can make conscious decisions about color, even in your landscape images.

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Use this Hollywood colour designer trick to elevate the emotion in your photographs

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The use of colour in most movies is not random. It’s actually all thought through and planned far in advance of shooting, in order to amplify and help convey the emotion and story. This excellent video walks you through the complicated theory of colour and how it’s used in the film industry.

One popular way to simplify how colour is designed is to use the 60/30/10 rule, as this video from Wolfcrow describes. It’s different from colour grading which is colour adjustment applied in post-production.

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Follow these six principles to improve your color photography

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Understanding colors is one of the key concepts in photography. Personally, I’ve always found it interesting to learn about colors, and it has helped me immensely in each of my creative endeavors. In this video, Kebs Cayabyab gives you six principles to follow while taking photos. Master them, and your colors will always be spot-on.

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Follow these five tips if you don’t want to suck at color theory

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Understanding color theory is one of the essential skills for photographers. It combines art and science and it’s what makes it so interesting, so complex… and so frustrating at times. If you want to be a good photographer, you don’t want to suck at color theory. And this video from Greg Gunn (The Futur Academy) offers five tips that will help you not to suck at it.

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The brilliant use of complementary colors in “The Queen’s Gambit”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByLgbBgqXwE&ab_channel=aboutphotography

I recently finished Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit and I have so many great impressions. It’s not just the story and characters I liked, but this TV show is a real treat for photographers. Martin Kaninsky is also enchanted by it, and in his recent video, he guides you through the brilliant use of complementary colors in The Queen’s Gambit.

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Watch: All you wanted to know about color theory and color grading

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Understanding color is one of the crucial things to understand, no matter if you’re a photographer or a video creator. Understanding color theory and psychology will help you add more meaning and impact to your work. So, if you’d like to master the use of color, Joanna Kustra has an amazing video for you.

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Colour in Cinema: Daredevil

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I’m not a fan of western superhero franchises.

Yes I fully appreciate that I’m in the minority here and it’s certainly not my intention to turn you away in the first sentence, but rather to solidify the fact that this exploration of colour in cinema does not come from a fanboy solely driven by vapid, one dimensional characters and napkin narratives, but rather pure adoration of a masterwork in cinematography.

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How to Avoid Colour Banding when using Coloured Gels

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Ever wondered why I’m so fussy about ‘clean’ lighting with my coloured gelled photography? Well it’s because failing to produce cleanly lit shots with gels, simultaneously produces horrendous looking shots with gels.

When I refer to clean lighting I’m referring to the fact that I like to keep all of my lights in my scene exactly where they’re supposed to be. If I have a background light then I have it lighting the background and nothing else, when I have a hair light, I have it lighting the hair and nothing else and so on. This might seem fairly obvious but when you’re using white-light and large modifiers like softboxes, the lighting is going everywhere whether you like it or not. We simply can’t get away with being that sloppy with coloured gels.

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This in-depth colour theory guide helps create harmony and impact in your photography

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Colour can be one of the hardest things to master in photography. The real world doesn’t always provide the most pleasing colour for our images. Even within the same scene, different colours can clash and compete for attention. It’s a subject that many graphic designers study religiously to get perfect harmony in their work. But for photographers, it’s a subject that seems to skip by many.

It shouldn’t be, though. It’s one of the most important aspects of photography you can learn. Some of the principles might feel difficult to wrap your head around at first. But they’re usually fairly straightforward when explained simply. Landscape Photographer Dave Morrow goes very in-depth on colour theory in this 40 minute video. And by the end of it, you’ll understand the principles to take your work to the next level.

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