To help with the color composition also look at the shots in your book on pages 82 and 83. Do you see how the photographer uses colors in big areas to move your eye around? Especially in the chair shot, the lines of the chair and in the yellow help but the blue and yellow contrasts and makes very interesting negative spaces.
Here are some more good examples in your book.
A good analogous color scheme is found on page 94, the truck and people shot.
A good complimentary color scheme is found on page 115.
Page 119 bottom right the picture of the grill thing.
Analogous: page 121
Tanked, you'll probably hate this one: The shot on page 141 is just awesome in its use of color! Reds and greens AND yellows and blues, very vibrant!
Here is one of the best color shots I have seen, ever. It's from a photographer that I have become a huge fan of:
How many ways it this an awesome shot?
Look at his lines and shapes. Do you see how his horizon line brings the viewer's eye to focus on the striped fish? There is a definite path to that fish both from the sides, the lines created by his rock, and from the front, the urchin and the sponges point your eye right to that striped fish. Heck, he even got his clown to point your eye to that fish! So, successful use of lines and shapes, that's one awesome thing. Next can we talk about texture? This is absolutely sumptuous. The sand is not washed out but instead he managed to capture a nice even rocky feel the fuzzy gorgonians and the squishy sponges and the brilliant ripples. There are two absolutely brilliant textures going on here first the blobby is that a hairy mushroom? Frogspawn? Look how the light graces the top and gives your eye enough to "feel" the playful texture there. If it was lit evenly it would be pretty but not give you the feeling of that coral. My favorite texture is the echoed use of spikes in the urchin up front and then the starburst on the upper back right. I think it is another urchin up there but I'm not sure. By echoing that spikey shape it keeps your eye moving. There are no dead spaces. The lines and the textures keep you grooving around this shot and every where your eye rests there is something interesting for you to enjoy. Finally the use of color and light here are absolutely awesome. The lines and shapes and textures bring your eye to that stripey fish. Then, the vertical lines in the stripey fish echoed by the vertical lines of the gorgs bring your eye up to that wicked color burst in the top. By bringing the viewer's eyes upward he is creating a feeling of inspiration. The texture of the ripples and those rich watery blues, yellows, aquas, orange..... All of those colors are in the bottom in the sponges, the fishes and the corals. The negative space in the right and left make the colors POP out. I think this is a great combination of all the things we've been talking about the past few weeks! Awesome get, Dennis!
Hope this helps with your color shots!
Catherine
