Color Theory in Photography on Samsung Galaxy

Try noticing colour when you're out and about. It's often the first thing you see in a photograph, even before you understand what it is you're looking at. That red coat in the grey cityscape or the orange light against the blue sky is all down to colours and their positions on the colour wheel.

If you understand the key relationships, you'll start to notice them more and make sure your Galaxy doesn't do away with them when it crunches away on your snaps.

Colour schemes at a glance

The following colour schemes are best suited to evoke different moods. The Galaxy setting column lists the one that has the greatest say in whether or not the colours make it to the final file, and the camera settings guide deals with the rest.

How the colour wheel works

Complementary colours sit opposite each other on a colour wheel (where related colours are placed near each other and contrasting colours are placed opposite). On the painter’s colour wheel (based on the three primary colours of paint, with secondary colours made by mixing the primaries placed between them), each primary’s complement is made by mixing the other two (according to Tate’s glossary of art terms, blue’s complement is orange, red’s is green and yellow’s is violet). Analogous colours sit next to each other on the colour wheel (blue and blue-green, for example), and monochromatic colours are different values of the same colour. Complementary colours in light act differently. According to the National Gallery, when two complementary colours of light are mixed, the result is white light.

But when it comes to thinking about colour in photography, the painter’s colour wheel is the most useful as it most closely reflects the way we’d describe colours we see in everyday life. Have an image of the wheel on your phone for easy reference until you know the complementary colour pairs off by heart.

Complementary colours

The strongest colour contrast is created by using complementary colours. Complementary colours are those which stand out against each other more than any other colours and appear brighter next to each other (according to Tate). An example would be blue and orange, which is the most common complementary pair used in photography as every evening the warm colours of the sun and street lights are set against the cooler tones of the sky or shadows. Red and green turns up in flowers and when doors are set against leafy backgrounds, while yellow and violet provide a pretty contrast in many a spring garden. Impressionist painters used complementary colours in shadows, so yellow light has a violet shadow (Tate). You’ll often notice this when there’s snow or sand in late light. Use one of the colours predominantly in your picture with only a small amount of the other. An orange subject in a blue world will jump out at you far more than if you’d used equal amounts of each colour. For red, our red photography ideas cover settings to avoid clipping.

Analogous colours

Colours next to each other on the colour wheel, analogous colours, when photographed together, produce images that are calm and harmonious. As Adorama’s excellent primer on Adobe’s version of the colour wheel notes, analogous colours are useful for moody, atmospheric pictures. Colour can be cool (blues and blue-greens of the ocean and shallows) or warm (greens and yellow-greens of mosses and ferns), but analogous colours photographed together will produce pictures that are settled and at ease.

If there is little contrast between colours in a picture, light and texture become the important ingredients. Avoid harsh lighting in favour of softer, flatter lighting.

Be aware of complementary accents, as a red sign or jacket will stand out from an analogous scene. Decide whether or not you want to include them, and if not, move a couple of steps to the side. With Galaxy’s colour enhancement, be sure to evaluate colours in the final image before you move on, since greens and blues may come out stronger than in the scene itself.

Monochromatic colour

According to Adorama, a photo is monochromatic if it’s dominated by tints and shades of one colour. It could still be entirely in colour. Think pewter seas, silvery skies and dark wet sands on an overcast day. Such photos can have a graphic and serene quality as tone and form step in to perform the job usually undertaken by contrasts of colour. Fog and overcast skies take away much of the contrast of colour, so can provide an easy opportunity for monochromatic photos. Other monochromatic opportunities could be provided by locations that feature a single colour such as a red market stall, a grey concrete wall or a white room. Expose carefully for the brightest area you want to retain detail in (tap-to-expose on that area and drop it slightly if it looks overexposed), as there will be limited other cues to guide exposure. The black and white guide covers dropping colour altogether.

Galaxy settings that affect colour

Of course, white balance is critically important. Samsung’s Pro mode guide says you can override the phone’s judgement on this one and either choose a colour temperature or use a preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten etc.), which will prevent Samsung neutralising that golden evening glow. The other important setting is the Scene Optimizer. Samsung’s support page says that when the camera recognises what you’re shooting it’ll apply its own colour choices accordingly, so if you’re after more subtle tones and think colours look exaggerated in Photo mode this is the first place to look. In One UI 9 this option is called Scene detection and can be found under Photo enhancer. The phone describes Scene detection as automatically adjusting the colour and contrast of photos to match the scene. Samsung states that Expert RAW will capture a 16-bit linear DNG image along with a JPEG, retaining as much information as possible to give you maximum control in post-processing. Whether you’re using Vivid or Natural screen mode will also impact what colours you see on your Galaxy’s display. The white balance guide and the Scene Optimizer guide go deeper.

Seeing colour before you shoot

In most cases, you’ll find the colour composition, so you’ve done your job before you’ve even lifted your phone to take the picture. Practise these steps (there’ll be plenty of opportunity to do so in the colourful places gallery, which contains lots of scenes you can use for practice), until they become habitual.

1. 1

   Name the dominant colour

   Figure out what the dominant colour is in the picture and determine how the other colours compare to that.

2. 2

   Look for its complement

   If the majority of your picture is blue, look for a warm colour, such as orange, to stand out (maybe someone’s wearing an orange jacket, or there’s a patch of sunlight).

3. 3

   Remove competing colours

   Step side to side till the colours which aren’t paired with the colour you’ve chosen are out of sight.

4. 4

   Expose for the accent

   Tap on the accent colour. If it looks a bit washed out, reduce the brightness a little.

5. 5

   Fix the white balance

   To avoid automatic white balancing (which will either warm or cool your picture depending on the lighting situation), go into Pro mode and either select the Daylight option, or choose a Kelvin temperature.

Editing colour with HSL

For more targeted edits, use the HSL panel (called Color Mix in Lightroom mobile) to adjust the hue, saturation and luminance of individual colours. Rather than guessing which slider to move in Lightroom mobile, you can use the targeting tool to select a colour from within the image itself. Digital Photography School explains that HSL stands for hue, saturation and luminance and that there are sliders for eight different colours in Lightroom. To make blue skies richer and deeper, drop the luminance for blue (starting with a value of -15 to -30). If skies look a little grey, also increase saturation for blue just a touch. To make autumn colours warmer and richer, increase the saturation of oranges (by about +30) and move the hue slider slightly towards red. Changes of -100 to +100 are available for each slider, but be aware that large changes can result in strange colour fringing around objects and blotchy areas within the image. Start with subtle changes and work from there. If possible, always make these kinds of adjustments to RAW files rather than JPEGs. You’ll get much better results. The Lightroom vs Snapseed comparison helps you pick an editor.