Transcripts
1. Introduction: Years back when I first
grabbed the camera, I was drawn to the simplicity and beauty of the
black and white film. Later, as I started working professionally with digital
photography and video, it still took me years
to fully appreciate the power of color as a tool
for creative expression. I decided to dive deep
into researching and understanding how color
could elevate my work. And I'm excited to share
the key insights that totally transformed
my approach hither. I'm Robert and I'm
excited to welcome you to this class on color harmony
and color perception. As a creative with
nearly two decades of experience in
photography and filmmaking, I've come to realize that a clear understanding
of color is essential for anyone wanting to take their images
to the next level. In this class, we will explore often overlooked principles
of color science that can make a profound
difference in your expression as a
visual storyteller. Whether you are a
complete beginner or have years of experience, you'll walk away equipped
with a lot of knowledge and practical ideas to help you evaluate and manipulate
color with confidence. We won't just be discussing
technical aspects or ideas to improve your
color grading workflow. We will also look at how traditional media like painting or analogue
photography, can inform our use of color
in the digital world. You will learn how
to create harmony. You will learn how to make the most out of your colors so they can clearly communicate
your artistic vision. You will learn how to
use color to direct your viewers attention
and experiment with intensity to create
photography and video that resonates and is
impactful to your audience. Throughout the class,
I'll be sharing examples from classic artworks, historical public
domain photography, some digital photography and video clips that I
have taken myself, as well as demonstrating
some techniques using Light room Photoshop
and Final Cut Pro. Don't worry if you're using
a different application. As long as it has RGB curves, you'll be able to
follow along and apply these principles
to your own work. I will also be showing you a few images edited
in the Hanser, a film emulation application
and plugging that beautifully complements
the concepts that we'll be exploring. By the way, this
is not required, but the answer is an application which I use for a lot
of my work and it allows so much in terms of color that I cannot
recommend it enough. You can get a 10% discount
by using the affiliate code crazy for color when purchasing any of their plug ins
from their website. Whether you are a
photographer, filmmaker, or simply a creative or an artist looking to expand
your visual language, I can tell you this
class is for you. Join me in this journey into
the amazing world of color, harmony, and perception, and prepare to see your work
in a whole new light.
2. Overview & Project: Welcome to this class on color harmony and
color perception. I am excited to dive into this fascinating world
of color with you. Before we get started, I want to give you a quick
overview of what we'll be covering and what you will be working on
throughout this class. Our main focus will
be on understanding the core principles
of color perception. Exploring the relation
between color and light, and learning how to evaluate and manipulate color
in an expressive way. A lot of what I will be talking
about is very subjective. We all may have different
ideas about what a good image with good colors
is supposed to look like. A lot of this is based on our own experience and
context around us, but my hope is to explain everything in such a
way that you can learn the principles so
that you can apply them for your own
creative artistic work. For the same purpose, we will also discuss some approaches and inspiration from
traditional media like painting and
film photography, so that you can enrich your
own understanding of color. If you want to have a sense of the power of color
as expression. And learn how the core
principles of color can be more universal instead of
individual personal ideas of what it's supposed
to look good. All you have to do is
truly look back in history for pieces that have shaped the meaning of
art as we know it. There's Vincent Bangoch's
Stay Night, for example, a great illustration of how pushing the boundaries
of reality with intense colors can
create a piece that resonates with its viewers
in so many levels. On the other hand,
the subtle tones of Johannes Bermeer's Girl
with a peril earring demonstrate how a more
restrained palette can still convey a strong sense
of harmony and presence. Throughout this class, I
encourage you to actively apply everything I will share
with you to your own work. In fact, this is a good time to talk about your
class project. I want you to take a photo or video clip and
manipulate the color using the techniques and
ideas that we would cover. You have to know that on
every photography example that I show you in this
class, specifically, if I am manipulating its color, I use raw files
when I am editing because they have the most
color information in them. I suggest that you
also use raw files when working on your class
project if possible, even if later you use export in Peg for sharing in video,
you can shoot log. But for the most part
I personally do not. I just know that I have less
bandwidth to work with. Basically what you
will be doing on your project is what's
called color grading. Your goal will be to create something that has
color harmony, or in other words, something
that feels cohesive. You can have creative freedom. And I am not necessarily looking for something
that is realistic, but rather something that feels like your own
interpretation of an image. If you want to
challenge yourself, take an image or
video that was taken under difficult
lighting conditions, something like harsh or
artificial lighting. I say this because
natural soft light is usually the most
pleasing to the eye. So maybe right away you would not feel like
you have a lot to do or maybe you do. It's
totally up to you. If you want to even
take it a step further, I would suggest that you take
your image and corrograate it right now with
whatever knowledge of color you currently have. Don't look at this image
until after you have finished this course and corrograate one more time with
what you learn. I have something to say here. Most of what I will be teaching you in this class will be in the context of digital
photography or video. But only because they are the areas that I have the
most experience with. The same ideas and core concepts can be applied to many
different art forms. If you feel like you want to do your project using what you
learn on something else, like a painting or
different media, please feel free to do so. The goal with this is to see your own development in the understanding of color,
harmony and perception. I would love it if you post some before and after
photos or video clips. If you do something that's
not photo or video, then you can submit
something that reflects your understanding of color before the class and
then something after you want feedback, you can
specifically ask for it. But even if not, I would
love to see what you come up with by sharing
your class project. I am sure that other
students will also be inspired and encouraged if
you have any questions. If you feel like
something was not clear, if you are in the
middle of working on your project and you
feel confused or lost, or even if you feel like
there is something that will be valuable for other
students to know skills. Has this discussion area for
each class where you can post and either me or other students can
jump in to comment. I have to tell you that
even though I have about two decades of experience with
photography and video, I still do not know everything there is
to know about color. Having this area for
discussion can be extremely valuable to share knowledge and experiences
from one another. So I encourage you to do so. All right, let's go to the
next section where I will talk to you about the
basics of color perception. I will share with you a
few key concepts that will be important to know as we progress throughout this course. At first, everything may feel like too much
knowledge or theory. But I promise that
as we go along, I will do my best to share
with you examples and references because I really want to help you develop
your eyeful color. Remember, this is a journey
of exploration and discovery. So have fun see you
in the next lesson.
3. Basics of Color Perception: Everyone, In this section, we will dive into some basics
of how we perceive color. And explore some key
concepts that will help you create more
visually appealing images. First, let's talk about three
characteristics of color that are very important to define in the context
of this class, Lightness, hue, and saturation. Lightness is also called tone. It refers to how bright
or dark a color appears, or in other words, how much closer to white or
black color is. Hue is what we typically
think of as the color itself, Red, blue, green, and so on. Saturation is the intensity
or the purity of a color. A highly saturated color
will appear vivid, while desaturated colors
will look more muted. Or now here's an
interesting fact that we will see over and over again
throughout this class. Each color has its own
optimal lightness range, where it appears most saturated
and vibrant to our eyes. I can actually show you this
in something like Photoshop. Let's take strips of
fully saturated colors. Now let me add a gradient from black to white
in a new layer. The moment that I change the blending mode from
normal to luminosity, what's happening here is that we're taking the colors from the first layer and the light
values from the second one. This image here now
reveals to us how our eyes perceive saturated colors based on how light or dark they are. Okay, All of this I'm saying may start to sound
too complicated. Let me simplify a little
bit more for you. We measure lightness
on a scale 0-100 where zero is pure black
and 100 is pure white. But here's the part
that will help us understand color in a way that we can apply
it to our work. Different colors peak in intensity at different
points within this range. In other words, this
division that we start to perceive across all
the colors show us the exact point of
lightness where each color reaches its most
saturated or pure form. From this image, we can
understand how in general, the range where most
colors look their best falls somewhere
10-70 on this scale. This is just an estimation, and I am still leaving out a few colors that we
should not forget about. For example, Gelo appears most saturated around 90
on the lightning scale, which is pretty close to white. On the other hand,
blue will look quite saturated down at around five on the scale which
is nearly black. What does this mean for
you as a photographer, videographer, or someone
who deals with images? Well, by understanding the optimal lightness range
for different colors, you can make more
informed decisions about exposure and lighting to
really make those colors pop. Have you ever noticed
how most big films, rarely ever have pure white
or pure black in them? Like a lot of them, even
on daylight scenes, are actually far from being
totally bright looking. Even this image of me
talking to you right now, there's bright areas and light. But if I have pure
white next to me, you can see that
I'm trying to keep my tone and lightness
range way below that. And still the decisions on the overall lightness of images, whether it's photography,
video or other media, allow for a lot of expression
and intensity in colors. Do you remember the
starry night painting that we saw in the
first section? Now you may start to understand why it being a night
or darker scene, it still feels so intense. Well, it's because of the blue, which is just a blue that allows for intensity even
when being dark. One of the first things
actually that you may hear if you start learning about color editing or color grading, is that cooling down the
shadows and warming up the highlights will generally
create placing results. I can quickly show you this
in one of my own photos. I'm here in Photoshop
and I will add an adjustment layer
for color balance. Let me go to the shadows and
I will add a touch of blue. Just a little bit of blue. I will go to the highlights and I will add a
touch of yellow. I did nothing else. Now, let's just look
at it before after. This is not a rule set in stone and it doesn't work
for every photo. But now you may start to understand why
colors start to pop. If you do, this is
not only because of the contrast between the
blue and the yellow, but because these
colors are being used in a way that
their lightness, on average, match the spot
where they are at their best. On the other hand, you can
learn how to make colors have less attention or
intensity so that they do not distract
from the main thing. This video of me talking
to you right now does not have intense blue everywhere
in the shadows around me. Or your attention would
be all over the place. I do not want to overwhelm you. But before going any further, there's another important detail that we can learn from
this image that shows the relationship
between lightness and saturation of
colors you see. When you increase or decrease
the lightness of a color, it will also affect
its saturation. If you take a color that's at its peak saturation and
make it lighter or darker, it will start to look more
washed out. Illustrate this. Let's take a look at close
Monas impression Sunrise. Notice how the orange sun and its reflection in
the water are right at about 95 ness level where
yellow and orange tones peak. I have never seen this
painting in real life. While listing this image
that I am showing you, we can see that all of the
blue and the purple tones in the sky and the water are
somewhat less intense. They are still within
that lightness range that I was telling you, 10-70 But the way in which these different tones and
hues play with one another, do not try to have
the same intensity of the yellow and the orange. Otherwise, we will be perceiving
this painting as much darker as you practice working with color
in your own work. Keep these principles in mind. Look for opportunities to
expose your images so that important colors fall within their optimal lightness range. Once again, I do have to
mention that this is not a rule that you have to
follow always many times. We do not want every color to be saturated or we want
something lighter or darker. And outside of this range
that we talked about, muted and softer colors like pastiles can also
be very expressive. But I hope that this section has helped you understand
more about what is actually happening to the
colors once you start to make decisions on the
lightness of your images. Now, if we know that our colors change their saturation by
changing the lightness, if we want to have our images within a certain
lightness range, we will notice that while some colors will be
beautiful and alive, others start to look muddy, dirty, muted, and not actually pop as
perhaps we would like. Then what can we do to fix this? This is what I want to share with you in
the next section. Let's talk about
the relationship between saturation and contrast. Contrast is so important and
I want you to understand it better so you can also start incorporating it in
your workflow on.
4. Enhancing Colors with Saturation & Contrast: Everyone, welcome
back to our class. In this lesson, we're going to dive into working
with saturation and contrast to make
your colors really pop. First, let's talk
about saturation. As we learned earlier,
saturation refers to the intensity or
purity of a color. The more saturated the color is, the more vivid and
intense it appears. Also, we learned that moving the lightness will
affect saturation. Something very important
to know related to that same principles is when
colors are more saturated. And within the range of
lightness we taught before, it's very easy to
distinguish between them. But take a look at those
outside the range. It's harder to know
one from another. Now, you might be
tempted to just crank up that saturation slider
in your editing software, But hold on a second. Using the saturation
slider to add saturation may actually
do more harm than good when you increase
saturation this way it affects all the colors
in your image equally, which can make your colors
look unnatural and collapsed. Let me show you what I mean in this image that I
showed you from the last section
already got it in a more ideal lightness range. But some colors seem a bit dead. If I bring up saturation itself, it's easy to mess
with colors that do not need to be
more saturated. Instead, we want to increase saturation in a
more targeted way. In a way that actually
is very much related to what we learned before about light and intensity of colors. The secret is to use RGB
curves to add contrast. I have to make a small
parenthesis here. Many applications, we now have the ability to adjust contrasts
with a single slider, which for the most part, will not give us the results that we're looking in
relation to color, lightness, and their saturation. There is a section in this class specifically talking about
the challenges of digital. But for now, you have
to know that one of the most powerful tools
for controlling color in a way that makes sense
with these principles that we have talked about
is RGB curves. A tool that you will find
in Photoshop light room capture one and your most popular image editing
applications. If it's your first time
hearing about curves, let me tell you short, RGB curves is a way to adjust the colors and brightness
levels in an image. Imagine each color channel, red, green, and blue, as a
line graph on a chart. The horizontal axis represents the brightness levels
from dark to light. The vertical axis represents
the intensity of that color. When you adjust the curve for
a specific color channel, you are essentially
manipulating your image to display the color at a
different brightness level. For example, if you raise the curve for the red
channel in the mid tones, you're telling the computer
to make those areas more red. If you lower the curve for the blue channel in the shadows, you are telling your
computer to make those areas less blue. In simple terms, RGB curves allow you to fine tune the
colors and brightness of your image by adjusting
how each color is displayed at different
brightness levels. For this section where we're talking about contrast
and saturation, I would actually
suggest that you only touch the actual RGB curve, which is moving all of
the color channels red, green, and blue
at the same time. By doing this, you are
essentially changing the brightness and
contrast of your image. Here we are on our
photo. We seemed a bit dull and lifeless. After bringing it into a
lower lightness range, I can start to add
contrast with an S curve. If you notice, we are
making some colors a bit brighter and others a bit darker without getting out
of the range that I want. By increasing
contrast with curves, you are also boosting
the saturation of your colors in a
very natural way. You are manipulating
colors without breaking this relationship that there is between them and
their lightness. Now let's compare the
saturation done only with sliders or adjusting
it with curves. See how the colors in the image where we did the adjustment with curves look more vibrant,
natural and lifelike. That's the power of using
curves to add contrast. Of course, we have to
be aware that contrast is a bit like adding salt
to your favorite dish. A little contrast goes a long way in bringing
out the flavors, or in this case, the colors. Now another thing to consider is the balance between
detail and saturation. When you push your
colors too far, you can start to lose detail
in some areas of your image. In film photography,
grain can actually help compensate for the lack of detail in over saturated areas. The texture of the grain adds visual interest and keeps the image from looking too flat. In digital photography, we do not have that built in grain. We may have some noise depending on our
camera, but in general, we need to be extra careful not to push
our colors too far. Let's take a look at this image. I have actually not touched the saturation or contrast,
or curves at all. This is just exactly
as it was taken. It looks okay, nothing wrong. Saturation seems
balanced and natural. But what I want to tell you is that before doing
any adjustments, you need to evaluate your image. If we take a closer
look at the reds, we may see that they are
at their very limit. This will depend on
your camera and how your editing application
interprets colors, foot you. Film cameras do have a very natural contrast and saturation when it
comes to raw images. This is what I use in this case. But if I just look at this
image and think like, okay, let me bring it down
in lightness and saturate with curves like
we have done until now. Then notice how I am pushing these reds and I am crushing the details like
the texture here, or the different tones of
red are just getting lost. Evaluate your images before any color edits or by increasing saturation
through contrast, you'll be missing out on some detail and
color variation that may make your image more expressive and
interesting to look at. In this specific case, since I see the reds
already very intense, I would first lower
the saturation. Then I would add the
contrast to make the different tones stand
out little by little. Of course, this also
affects the other colors, so you have to
watch out for that. The details with shadows have brought some
variation there. I now have different
tones of red. It feels more alive even
though the image as a whole may be less
saturated than before. To be honest, even if I
left it without adding contrast or changing anything from the beginning, it's okay. Many people will be
happy with that. Or even if I push the contrast, making other colors pop and lose some
details in the reds. It's something that
I see very often. I just want you to know
that you have the option of even using muted
tones if you want, and still having your
image feel alive and expressive with many more
variations of tonality. Just like the sky of the
painting impression, sunrise was composed by many different tones of
blue and not only one. Let me run the
same image through the answer my favorite
film emulation app. I just want to show you
how grain also adds some detail and color
variation in a different way. I love the whole
analog process and its imperfections and
it's good to know that specifically things
like grain can also translate to texture
and depth on our images. Regardless of having this
extra texture or not knowing that saturation and contrast can affect how detail in
an image is perceived. Something that will come
in handy when trying to make your colors
feel more natural. To recap, when you want to add more saturation
to your image, one of the most natural ways to do it is by adding contrast, specifically using RGB curves. Also, keep in mind
how much saturation your image has and consider adjusting it or removing some to avoid losing important
details in color. If you are shooting
analog photography or want to experiment
with a film look, don't be afraid to let Green to do some of the heavy
lifting in this department. That's it for this lesson. In the next one, we'll be
talking about color harmony and some techniques for creating cohesive color
palettes. See other.
5. Color Harmony Principles: Everyone, in this section, I will teach you some
very important principles about color harmony. Color harmony refers to the pleasing
combination of colors. As photographers, videographers,
or visual creators, understanding how colors work
together is essential for creating images that feel balanced and have
a cohesive look. First, let me talk to
you about the challenges of working with pure,
saturated colors. While they might look bold
and attractive in their own, combining too many
saturated hues can be a recipe for disaster. The main issue is that these colors often
lack a common ground, making it difficult for them to harmonize with each other. A good way to think about this
is comparing it to music. As a piano chord is created by combining multiple
keys played together. Color harmony is
achieved by blending different hues to create a
visually pleasing composition. Music When you play a chord
with just a few keys, the sound is clear and pleasing. Similarly, when working
with a limited palette of colors or combining
a few saturated hues, the visual impact can be more balanced and
pleasing to look at. As you add more keys
to a chord in Music, the complexity increases
and maintaining a harmonious sound becomes more challenging. It's
the same in color. Imagine a painting
with bright red, blue, green, and orange all
competing for attention. It might look more like a chaotic mess than a
cohesive work of art. As a very general rule, if you are in control
of the colors of whatever you are shooting, something commercial,
for example, is a good idea to limit
dominant colors in your images and play with
different tones of them. Classic paintings are a huge
learning resource for this. The Keys by Gustav Klimt is a stunning example of the
use of color and pattern. The work is dominated by rich golden tones
with accents of blue, green, and red that create a sense of
balance and harmony. Or the other painting, landscape
with the fall of chorus, where there's earthy
browns and greens. And the artist specifically
uses saturation to direct the viewer's
attention to the main subject. Of course, we can also say that the colors in
these paintings have been chosen
specifically to create a calming or serene atmosphere. Or that the artist
chose specific colors for the emotion that he wanted
to evoke in the viewers. But by analyzing
the colors alone, without getting into their subjective
interpretation at all, we can see that
there's few colors. But it is the variation
of their tones that create a depth and
dimension of the artwork. How can we create color harmony? How can we do it in
situations where we may not be in control of everything
at the time of shooting, like the corion, or the set, or the light, or
even the outfits. In documentary
photography for example, one simple technique
for achieving color harmony is to desaturate
your colors slightly. This might seem counter
intuitive at first, but let me show you
everything we have been talking until now in
a very simple way. Here we have many
saturated colors, all fighting with one
another for attention. This is what we want to avoid
in one image all at once. I told you that reducing
the number of colors, especially with colors that share some common
ground with them, will make them
better on the ice. Here, we can take each
color with their neighbor. Red with orange,
orange with yellow, yellow with green, purple
and blue and so on. Even though they continue to
be fully saturated colors, these combinations are
just better to look at, to know about different
combination of colors that work well together. You can go ahead and
research and learn about different palettes like
complimentary colors, analogous colors,
monochromatic colors. There's so many ready made
palettes that work well. And there's a lot of resources out there that can
help you in this area, but that's beyond the
scope of this class. Let's go back to our
fully saturated colors. I want you to look at this
for just a few seconds now. I will just slightly reduce their saturation and
show them to you again. By reducing the
saturation of the colors, we have actually made
them work better. Together, the colors
appear less intense, but overall, they appear to go with one another
in a better way. It doesn't feel
like they all want our attention all
at once anymore. Another way to harmonize
colors is by introducing a separate hue that bridges the gap between
different colors. It gives them this
common ground. Especially something that
brings them all together. Here we have all of those
same colors from before. Now I will just add
a yellow layer at, let's say about 10% on top. Let's look at the
images one by one, all of the colors at
their full saturation, lowering saturation to make
them a bit more harmonized. And now adding an extra color to even bring them
closer to one another. This is where we started
and this is where we are. This is the point
where color grading, while keeping in mind
color perception and harmony starts to make
a bit more sense. Because not only we
are manipulating lightness, saturation,
and contrast, like in the previous
sessions we talked about, but now we're actually
changing and adding colors. It's here that we can also
understand how adding a bit of warm or cool tones not only can make our images stand
out with contrast, but we are basically doing that, which I just told you,
adding a third color. In your editing application. You may even have the option to target specifically the shadows, mid tones, or highlights. All of this, so you can create images that feel
cohesive, many cases. You can also use this
extra color to balance out tones that aren't
quite working together. By the way, let me show
you with this example. We have this image
of this little cat, or it feels a bit greenish, maybe A little bit bluish. Of course, it may
have to do with the lighting conditions or that there's all of
these green plants. We can see that there's no
intense colors already. There's no need to
reduce saturation even more in a case like this, to fix any color cast, I would first correct
the white balance. But it's tricky because it
already feels All right. Let me just add a touch of warmth because the
image feels so called. The moment that I start
to warm up my image, I notice that the colors of these plants start to
become too intense. They start to stand out more, which takes away attention
from the main subject. I want those colors to come in together a
little bit more. In that case, I would have a third color, like
I mentioned before. Now the little cat is, he still feels a
little bit cold. The opposite of the blue
is the red or the yellow. I will be adding that
in the mid tones. I will also do that
with the shadows. Now it starts to feel a
little bit more together. All the colors start to
blend into one another, but I don't want it
to feel so warm, so I will add a touch of
coldness in the highlights. Why blue again? Because this is the opposite of the color that I
want to balance out. After this, I will
probably go in and adjust the contrast and the saturation like we talked
before with curves. But for now I just want
to show you before after this is just a very
good starting point where my color scheme
feels more cohesive. Now you might be thinking one, reducing saturation and
adding a third color make my image look more
muddy or lifeless. And it's a valid concern. It's true that over using these techniques can lead
to dull or muted colors. The key is to use them
when you need them. With experience,
you will learn to evaluate the direction
you need to take, whether it's with lightness, saturation, or
adding other hues. I suggest that when you
do add a different color, try to think of it as a mediator between the dominant
colors, not the Starov. Also, it is very important
to consider that your images can still be
beautiful and impactful, even with colors that
could be considered muddy or desaturated
and not vibrant. Consider this painting
by Pierre Bernard. While using a relatively muted, desaturated and limited palette, he still achieves a rich, harmonious array of
tones and colors. Harmony doesn't
have to mean dull. Now let me tell you
another useful thing here. Since we're starting
to add colors that maybe were not originally
in our images, things may start to look
a little bit strange, like maybe there is harmony, but the image just
feels overdone or fake. Another very useful
technique when dealing with color harmony is adding balance
with some neutral colors. In other words,
incorporating black, white, and gray in your images. These neutrals act as a
reference point to the viewer, making the other colors appear more natural and believable. Here's a video clip
where I want to illustrate this principle
that I was talking to you. I'm inside Final Cut
Pro and I just did a very quick color edit with the native
color grading tools, I have to make a
quick parenthesis here to show you
something that will be both interesting and useful
if you use final cut. My color grade that I
did is very simple. I just brought the
lightness level down here with my color wheels. My highlights are also
down a little bit. My tones a tiny bit, the shadows tiny bit up. All of this just to bring my lightness levels inside that range that I was
mentioning before. But the interesting thing here
is to look at the curves. Final code pro doesn't have
the same curve as light room. It gives me one luma curve which only manipulates
the brightness, is not controlling
the three red, green, and blue curves. Which means that if I change
this curve up and down, I see changing brightness, but not in the saturation
of the colors to achieve the same effect that we have been talking about in
the previous sections. With contrast and saturation, the only way to achieve that
with the native tools is by creating the same curve in
the three separate channels. That is a bit
troublesome for me. I prefer to use a plugging code. Colopinale Color finale gives me some sliders which is like
what we're more used to, even though the exposure slider is the same problem
as you can see, it only changes the brightness, but it doesn't change the color. I don't use this
exposure slider at all, but I can edit the layers
in the layers, this curve. As you can see, look
at the yellows, they start to become
more intense. It means that I'm really manipulating the colors
with this curve. This one really controls the other three
at the same time. Okay, Now to
illustrate my point, let me zoom in a tiny bit. You will see that my door
here is not totally black. It has like some brownish
color. Like yellowish. If I wanted the entire image to be perceived a tiny
bit more natural, what I can do is
take away some of the color in this darkest
area of my image. For this final cut does have a native tool that
is very useful. This is called the hue
and saturation curves. I can go down to
the one that says Luma VS saturation in a similar
way as the other curves. The left side of the covers, the dark areas of my
image and the right side, the bright areas I can say in the dark area reduce
The saturation is just a very tiny
change that will make a difference and make
my image feel more natural. I can take a scene
shot in daylight, for example, like this
clip taken at a wedding, and I can manipulate the
color of my image in a way that is not necessarily
natural, realistic, but going in and neutralizing
the black or dark areas, it already starts to feel
like somehow it works. Video color grading.
I find this a bit easier to do
because the built in tools allow you to control not only the hue and light,
but also saturation. If I am in light
room, for example, I have control of the hue
and I can add saturation to different light levels of my images with a
color grading tool, but I cannot totally
remove the color. In the case of
dealing with photos, the best way to add neutrals, like blacks on your shadows
or whites in your highlights, is to find the opposite
color that you got in there. If I see there's blue, the opposite in the wheel is
the yellow or warm tones. If there's too much magenta, then I would have green
to neutralize that way. We still end up with an overall tone bringing
everything together. And we have these
areas that make our images more believable. It just feels less overdone. The desaturating, neutralizing,
or even adding colors in the shadows or bright areas of your images can be very subtle. But it can have a big impact on how your audience
perceives your work. Okay, let's recap the main
takeaways of this session. Number one, if possible, limit the number of dominant
hues in your images. I am talking here when you are in control of your
shooting scenario. Number two, desatrate colors slightly to help them harmonize. Number three, use a third hue strategically to bridge
clashing colors. Number four, incorporate
neutral tones to make your color
schemes more believable. By keeping these
principles in mind, you'll be well on your
way to creating stunning, harmonious images that
captivate your viewers. In the next section, we will
explore the idea of using colors expressively
to evoke emotions. This will be very helpful
to you when finding a unique and personal
style. See on.
6. Artistic Expression with Color: Welcome back. In this section, you will learn more about
expression with color. As creatives, we have the
power to move beyond just capturing reality and create
images that more than that, seek to evoke emotion
and tell a story. First, let's talk about the
idea of correct colors. While it's important
to understand the technical aspects of color, like white balance
or saturation, we don't always have to stick to what's
considered realistic. In fact, many striking
and memorable images all across art history embrace unique and unconventional
color choices. We go to classic paintings
once again for inspiration, there's Cafe Ras At
Night by Vang here, and in most of his work, actually, the artist does not aim to depict reality
as we see it, but rather express
his inner vision and emotions through colors. In the case of digital
photography and video, we can also use color to create a specific mood or atmosphere. Here is where we start to
get into something very subjective that has to do with the viewer's interpretation. A warm color cast can evoke feelings of closeness,
something personal, maybe even nostalgic, While a cool blue tint can suggest
coldness or isolation. Since we're talking about
interpretation of color, you must know that
oftentimes this also has to do with the
background of your viewers. There's even cultural differences
in color preferences. Specifically, when it
comes to skin tones. In some Asian cultures,
for instance, a lighter, more pale complexion is often
considered beautiful. While in other
parts of the world, a Sunkissed glow
is more desirable. This is something
that was considered even since the creation
of film photography. That is the reason
that Kodak film, an American company, tends to shift a bit more
towards warm colors. Fuji film from Japan tends to go a bit more
towards color tones. Now, of course, we
live in a world which is much more international
than ever before in history. But as artists, we can
still choose to embrace these differences and
use them to create unique and culturally
relevant images. The opposite, we can use
colors in unexpected ways. This is actually one
of the reasons that I personally love the
35 millimeter look. Because it has so many surprises and unexpected things
in regards to color, even when there's
technical imperfections. For me, film photography seems to capture a feeling
more than reality. Which in a way is what many times we should
strive to achieve. Another way to use
color expressively is by embracing unusual
lighting conditions. Instead of always
striving for perfect, even lighting, try experimenting with artificial lighting. Perfect lighting
is totally fine. Many times I see
people trying to achieve these cinematic photos, but you have to know that many times all there is
to this is just embracing lighting
conditions that are not always the most perfect. There's this photo, for example, where some days before the
wedding day of this couple, the bride went with
the groom to do some last arrangements
on the dress. I was with them just to capture some moments while
this happened. If I had been waiting
for a perfect, soft, or beautiful light, I would have not taken anything. One thing that I personally
like to do is to use spots of strong,
harsh lighting. When I was starting out, I would try to avoid
this lighting, but I have learned
to use it creatively to direct the attention
of the viewer. I got inspiration from a painting style
called Chiaroscuro, which in a similar way
paints with the light. There's these spots of light, but also very deep shadows. I'm talking about expression and harsh lighting conditions. There's also another thing
that I have to mention, it's totally okay to break whatever it is that we
understand as rules. Let's go back to this form, see that there's no
detail in these blacks In many cases, even though I have talked about
color variation, or not losing detail in color, I still break that
rule if I need to. There seems to be the idea that crushed blacks are always bad. But if used with intention, it can serve to frame whatever
you want people to see. Everything we have
learned until now. You can use it or go in a different direction if
you have a reason to do so. Conventional
lighting sources and breaking the rules of color can create a sense of mystery, drama, or even surrealism
in your images. That is one of the
reasons which I really like to do
wedding photography. Because it presents me with some challenges of
light or color, where at the same
time it allows with a lot of creative
experimentation at times, like during the party time. One aspect that I feel is unnecessarily overemphasized
in photography or video, just like this idea that you should never cross
your black shadows, is that you need to have
perfect skin tones. But I'm here to give
you permission. Don't feel constrained to making skin tones
look correct or natural if that doesn't fit your artistic
goals for the image. Generally, the more artistic
and stylized an image is, the more freedom you
have in interpreting things like skin tones in
an unconventional way. Our minds can accept
separation from reality when we recognize the work as being
artistic in nature. At the same time,
like I said before, sometimes you just have to work with the course or
light that you have. The mind of the viewer
will also understand that the source of light may
not be white. It's okay in wedding interiors, I often find yellow or greenish light. It would be very frustrating for me if I wanted it
to look like it was shot in a studio or in
a natural soft light. I used, emphrase what I have and try to create harmony with the techniques that we have
been discussing many times. Instead of neutralizing or correcting colors like we
were talking last session, you can consider keeping
it like that if it contributes to the mood or
style that you are going for. Remember, the key to artistic
expression with color is to be intentional and
thoughtful in your choices. Do not be afraid to
break the rules and experiment with different
combinations and techniques. The most compelling
images are those that surprise and challenge
the viewer's expectations. Okay, now let's
recap this section. Number one, you don't
always have to stick to correct or realistic
colors in your images. Number two, you can use color intentionally to create a
specific mood or atmosphere. Number three, experiment
with unconventional lighting and color casts to create
unique and expressive images. Number four, be thoughtful
and intentional in your color choices and don't be afraid to
break the rules. In the next section, we'll be talking about some of
the challenges and limitations of working with
color in a digital workflow, and how to overcome them to achieve your artistic
vision. Stay tuned.
7. Challenges in Digital Color Workflows: Hello, in this section
we're going to dive into the challenges
of working with color, specifically with
photography and video in the digital age. The past few sections
have been very practical. So while we let all of those techniques that we have
been talking about sink in, I want to share with you
some background information that will help you
understand even more everything that we have
discussed back in the day. Film photographers had it a bit easier when
it came to color. Each film stock was carefully crafted to produce a
specific color palette. Giving photographers a
solid starting point. They could rely on the film's
unique characteristics to create their desired look. The colors rendered
by something like Kodak portrait or Fuji Velvia
didn't happen by accident. They were carefully
designed by artists and color scientists to be pleasing
right out of the camera. In other words, photographers
could choose a film with their preferred
characteristics and the colors would already
come out harmonized. Of course, I am
oversimplifying this, but I mean to say that there was so much research and so much
color science that went into the creation of film photography
pallets that in the end it would make this
part of the job easier for the ones
pressing the shoulder. After some research for film photography in the
public domain, I found some samples from the
Albert Can Museum website. Now notice that these are from the very beginning
of the 1900s. These are made with
urochrome processing from the early days of film
photography and steel. You can notice how each of these images has their very
specific color palate, whether it's warm or cold, or even when there's more
diverse or intense use. You don't see colors
clashing with one another. Can find those elements
that we mentioned before of being less saturated, blending with one another, or strategically
standing out with lightness or intensity to guide the attention
of the viewer. Now, in the digital
world, for the most part, it seems like we don't have those same pre established
color traditions. Modern row processors and
color editing apps are still primarily focused on technical aspects
like resolution, noise reduction, sharpening
tools, and so on. In regards to
color, many cameras now seem to have
gone more towards the direction of capturing as many realistic
colors as possible, as much information
that sensors can get, and handing as many options as possible for the
user to do the rest. We are faced with an
overwhelming array of directions in which we
could take our images and the tools allow so
much which can be both exciting and down t now there is so much
that we can control. Simple things do
make a difference. Like in the past, film
had fixed white balance, but now the user needs
to adjust it either on the fly or on the
editing application. You can easily
make mistakes with white balance and affect the
rest of your processing. Or you can let automatic
settings take control. But oftentimes that also can get in the way of
artistic expression. The thing is that
with technology, there are so many
available possibilities. And while this
flexibility is great, it can also lead
to inconsistency and color casts if
not handled properly. Now, everything that I
have talked with you until now in previous
sections, guess what? It is very much in line with the analog photography
processing where you could not
separate color from light. Film photography was very
limiting in many aspects. But I am a firm believer that some limits are necessary
for creativity to thrive. You can consider everything
that I have shared with you as some of these
limits that you can, of course, expand now
with technology or experiment with creatively
now in a digital workflow. Like I said before, we
can do so much and you do not have to be constrained by these techniques that
we have discussed. But I want you to
know that many of the tools and sliders
that you will find in color editing
applications do not follow the same analog
conventions. What do I mean by, let's check Light
run for example, all of these sliders are controlling settings
like exposure, contrast highlights, and so on, but in a very algorithmic way, through software and precise
mathematical equations, but not following all of the
principles of color science. Why? Because the
application is made. So that, for example, if the user only
wants to add contrast well, it will try to
only add contrast, but without affecting
saturation, because the user
didn't ask for that. If the user wants, he or she can add
saturation by itself without touching
contrast or lightness. The light or details in bright or dark areas alone can be set with
these other sliders. All of this makes sense
and it is great to have leaving all of these isolated parts
of the processing. Specifically, if you do
not have experience or are familiar with how things do
work or should look like, then it can be quite
frustrating and can easily lead to
overprocessing. I am very grateful
that we still have those RGB curves that
I was talking about. Let me tell you that I have just scratched the surface of
what can be done with them. You really can do so many
specific color manipulations with the individual
color curves. In some applications,
like capture one, you also have curves to
manipulate light alone. But again, watch out. You may think that using individual channel
curves in RGB or a separate curve for the light only may be a precise
way to control colors. It is, but you also have
to be careful because many times fixing one issue
can only create another. What's the key takeaway here? Don't get too caught
up in technical tools. Don't forget about
the bigger picture. Your artistic vision
and photographic eye should always guide
your color choices. The tools are there to support
your vision, not dictated. Take inspiration
from master painters or from analog photography. Because it is there that you
will learn to use colors in bold and expressive ways to convey emotion and atmosphere. I am very happy to
actually see a comeback of these color science principles
in some camera companies. There's Fuji Film
cameras, for example, that offer camera profiles where it is obvious
that they have applied knowledge of color that comes from the age of
analog photography. There's also several film
emulation applications that have been built
with this in mind. My personal favorite
being the answer. This application not only
makes available to you many different film
stocks that you can apply to your digital
photos or video, but it also has sliders
and all of them do work very much following
an analog processing. Having calculated
color shifts and even some imperfections
every time that you move something around
applications like light room or capture
one or final code pro, they're all still amazing. But my advice for
any kind of app or in any kind of digital
workflow is trying not to get lost with the
limitless possibilities. Remember the most
compelling images are often the ones that evoke
a feeling or tell a story, rather than those that only make use of the
latest technology. I am not saying
that we need to go back to only using analog tools or only seek nostalgia and imperfection in
our color grading. No, not at all. You can embrace
the challenges of a digital color workflow as
opportunities to experiment, learn, and develop
your unique style. To sum it up, be mindful of every decision that you take in your preferred
digital application. Even small things like white
balance can negatively impact your photos if
not set correctly. Number two, familiarize
yourself with IDV curves and all
the principles that we have learned
until now of contrast, light saturation, and harmony. I highly suggest that you learn this before manipulating
individual settings, sliders, or even separate
color channel curves in your preferred
editing application. Number three, above all, lead your artistic vision, guide your color choices, Okay? In the next section, we will explore how
perception and context play a crucial role in how your images are
experienced by others. We will discuss more the
subjectivity of color perception and how you can use this knowledge to your
advantage. See you soon.
8. Perception & Context: Welcome back to our class. In this section, we will talk about something
really fascinating. How our perception of
color is actually quite subjective and can be influenced by a lot of different factors. I have already mentioned this a few times in previous sections, but I would like to
talk about this with the perspective of
what can we do as creatives to understand
our viewers perception that may be unique to each other and still
create something that is compelling and resonates
with the first off. It's really important
to understand that even though we all perceive colors
in mostly the same way, we know that the color is
red or green, for example. But our individual impressions
can vary quite a bit. What looks like a vibrant, beautiful blue to one
person might seem like a bit dull or
muted to someone else. Our own perception of colors
is changing all the time. If you are looking at
images like this one for a while or this other
one, they may look okay. But if suddenly I show you
a very colorful photo, because it's such a big change, your eyes may recognize that. But very soon we'll also adapt. Interestingly, this is
the photos that we are surrounded with all the
time on social media. Because there's a
common idea that if we want our images to pop, they need to be always
as intense as possible. This is simply one
way to go about it, and there's no right or wrong. But again, if that's
all that you're seeing all day color wise, and suddenly you
see a beautiful, harmonized painting, like
water lilies by money, You may think that
this is missing some intensity or that
it feels a bit lifeless. Where in reality it has
so much variation of tones and colors and it's so expressive.
Isn't that world? I think for that reason it is
important as a creative to try to keep a good and
diverse visual diet. I mean this in the context of social media and stuff
that we consume. I suggest that you follow
art instead of trends. But it's not just our
personal preferences or our visual diet that
affect how we see color. The context in which we view
an image plays a huge role. Things like the
size of the image, the lighting in the room, if a person is
looking at it with full or half brightness
level on a mobile device, even if there's background
music or noise and smells, everything can impact
our perception. It's like how food always tastes better when
you are eating in a cozy candlelit restaurant versus a loud, bright cafeteria. This is why viewing
artwork in person can be such a different experience than seeing it
online or in a book. Now, of course, a lot of
this is out of our control. But what does this
mean for us as creatives, photographers,
or videographers? Well, first of all, if possible, we should try to be intentional about how we present our work. I personally find it
extremely difficult to be consistent with posting things on Instagram or social media. Because I feel like all of these platforms are
far from ideal. But it is what it is if you deal with photo video
or images for work, or if you are more
serious about this, you can have a
portfolio website. I really think that's
so much better. But aside of the ways that
you can present your work, specifically talking
about color, there's a few things that
you can keep in mind. Let me show you something. Let's look at some
intense colors placed on a white background. There's warmer hues on the top and colder
colors in the bottom. All of them also have a
slight gradient in them. This is for us to
understand how detail or slight tone differences within a color are perceived
against white. Based on these squares
that you're looking now, can you recognize what
feels the most intense? Yes, this blue actually we
have already talked about how this blue tends to be the most saturated at
low light values. It also seems to be the darkest
color out of all of this. This stands out even more
with a white background. One more thing, which
of these squares makes us feel that they have the
most variation in tone? In other words, which shows us the most details within the color or which is
the most obvious graded. This is harder but
definitely it's not blue. You got it. Is this yellow? If you do not perceive
it like that, at the very least, it should be one of these warmer tones. Now let's just change
the background to black. All the colors and gradients
are exactly the same, but our perception is
pretty much the opposite. Which color feels the most
intense? It's the yellow. It's almost like
if it was shining, standing out, since
its intensity is connected to a
high light level. Which one seems to show us the most detail or
variation in its stone. Now it's this blue. Another thing we can
notice is that all of the colors in general feel
brighter against black. But now, if we go white, all of them feel darker. Okay. What do we do
with this information? Well, now you know that warm
colors will be perceived as brighter and more intense
against darker backgrounds. It doesn't even have
to be the background. Darker colors can be
predominant in your image. If you have some warm tones, it's easy for this
to stand out and feel more alive
at the same time. Deeper tones may seem to have more detail and more
variation of tone. Just like in that image
that I show you with multiple colors in squares
and with black background. Our colder colors in the shadows also do not seem very intense. Now if we have an image which is brighter in
general by itself, we have the opposite happening. The colder colors may
seem more intense. By default, warmer
tones may feel less, less bright, but with
more detail in them. All of this to say that with
this you can start to make more informed
decisions on how you capture an image in a
bright or dark setting. It may be useful when you are framing a photo to
know if you want to include more of
the brightness of the sky or more of the
shadows under the tree. It can even help you evaluate
an image before editing. Knowing that you want
detail to appear more in the warm or
in the cold areas. This will tell you
if maybe you should accentuate the shadows or
make your image brighter. Detail or intensity of colors
is not always necessary. I personally try my best not to obsess too much over
all of this information and go much more by feeling
instead of following rules like if it was a
mathematical formula. Still, I believe that it is
very good to know all of this whenever you are
editing something and it just not working
the way you want. Consider this knowledge about
perception and color like tools that you can use creatively when you
feel it is necessary. Another practical tip
that I do follow a lot is that whenever I am color
grading a photo or video, especially if it's something
that will go to clients, I will primarily have it
against a white background. If possible, in light room by clicking the background
and in my canvas, selecting the option there, or in final cut by adding
a white letterbox. If not, at least,
I will try to have a white shape there that I can hide or show from time to time. Having white as a reference
is just good for me to know that I am not
making my images too dark. I will also go back and
change it to black. I feel like I have the
tendency to go a bit warmer on my images once that I change the surrounding colors
from white to black. Like I told you, I know that everything will pop
out a little bit more. It really will look better. My primary focus is
to make sure that everything at the very least
looks okay in a well lit, bright, and non
ideal environment. I just have no control over where people will be watching. I hope that this section
was useful to you. I would say that
the most important thing is to be conscious that every time that you
are manipulating the colors of your
photography or videos, you must know that they will
be perceived differently. To sum it up, here are the key takeaways
from this section. First, whenever possible,
be intentional about how you present your color to optimize the
viewing experience. Always be mindful of the context in which your
work will be viewed. Second, understand how colors interact with different
background tones. Warm colors will appear brighter and more intense
against darker colors. While cooler tones may show more detail in variation
in brighter images. Cooler colors may
seem more intense, while warmer tones
appear less bright, but with more detail. Third, use this
knowledge to make informed decisions
when capturing and editing your images, consider the balance of warm
and cool tones, shadows, and highlights to emphasize
the desired level of detail or intensity in specific areas of
your composition. Fourth, when color grading, use white and black
backgrounds as reference to ensure your images look good in different viewing
environments. Remember that color
perception is objective and everyone's experience
may differ slightly. Above all, focus on creating images that resonate with you
and trust your instincts. Using your knowledge
of color perception as a tool to enhance your
creative vision when needed. All right, in the
following section, we will grap up the class with some additional
resources and ideas that will help you continue learning
about color the other.
9. Closing & Additional Resources: Hello everyone and
congratulations on making it to the
end of this class. I hope that the knowledge and
the techniques that we have covered not only expanded
your understanding of color, but also inspired you to apply these principles
in your own work. As artists, we have
the power to shape the way others see the
world through our lens. Color plays a crucial role in this process as it
can evoke emotions, set the mood, and guide
the viewer's eye. I hope that with everything
you have learned about color, you will be better equipped
to make intentional choices. In your, to learn
more about color, I encourage you to
continue studying the works of master painters. During the class I show you
works by Vincent Bango, Claude Monet, or
Johannes Vermeer. There's also Paul San, Henry Mattis Nar, and so
many more on photography. I love the use of color by
masters like Herr Griard, Pinkasov and Alex Webb. Observe how all of these artists use color
to create harmony, contrast, and visual impact
in their compositions. If this class has spiked your interest on the
film, look at all. I highly recommend exploring this application or
plugging that I mentioned. The answer, it was
created by a team very, very passionate about color. The answer tools,
film emulations, and sliders are built upon the same principles
of color harmony that we have discussed
in this class. It's an invaluable resource for learning and
experimentation. If you decide to purchase the app from your
site, by the way, remember that you can use the affiliate discount
code crazy for color, for a 10% discount, but do not feel obligated. You can also look around for different film
emulation applications that may work just as well. The most important
thing is to find tools that work for you and your
own creative process. Even without playing
with analog photography or digital film emulations. Remember that a very powerful
tool for manipulating color contrast and saturation
is the RGB curves. While they may seem less
intuitive than sliders, mastering curves will give you unparalleled control
over your images. I did not get into
very technical tools, but if you are interested, I also encourage you
to research and learn about histograms
and vectorscopes, as these can provide
valuable insights into the color composition of you would like to dive deeper into color
harmony and perception. I also recommend the
book, Life Like Color, which actually served as a foundation for much of
the content in this class. Remember, however,
that knowledge about color is just one piece of the puzzle composition form and your unique artistic vision are equally important in
creating compelling images. For those of you interested in exploring composition,
by the way, I invite you to check
out a class that I have on layered photography
and form are connected and understanding
how they interact with one another can inform
your sharing decisions. As you apply everything that you learned in this class
to your own work, please do not hesitate
to reach out with questions or to share experiences
in the discussion area. If you like this class, please do leave a review. I'm always excited to read from students would love to know if what you
learned was useful. If there's a
particular aspect of photography or video that
you would like me to cover, please let me know so that I can continue making other
courses in this area. Finally, I encourage you to share your projects
with a class community. Seeing how others have applied
the principles of color, harmony and perception
can be incredibly inspiring and can spark new
ideas for your own work. Remember the key to growth as an artist is to keep learning, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries of
your creativity. Trust your instincts,
stay curious, and never stop exploring the limitless possibilities
of color in your work. Thank you for being a
part of this class, and I cannot wait to see the incredible images and
videos that you create.
Robert J. P. Oberg, Creative • Filmmaker • Photographer
