Knowing how to tinker with your photos is key to revealing their aesthetic potential. Especially when it comes to color theory, you’d want to be good at it from the get-go. Getting a good shot is not the end of it. A good photo has to be edited well. And there is no better way to go about it than to master color theory for some impactful changes. In this article, I will walk you down some of the best tricks and hacks you can use to level up your editing skills through color theory. From small edits like fixing the overlay, the hue, and the undertone, all of these skills are useful to cultivate whether you do them yourself or outsource photography editing.
What’s color theory?
So, color theory comprises many definitions, ideas, and conceptual applications. However, to put it simply, it is nothing but the relationship that different colors have with each other. Basically, color theory tells you about how certain colors are going to feel against each other. There are some basic tools for understanding color theory that are particularly useful: The color wheel, the context of how colors are used, and color harmony.
What are some applications of color theory?
As mentioned briefly, color theory automatically determines how colors will appear next to each other or interact to create certain visual effects. These are applied in the following cases:
- Color scheme
Fine-tuning the color scheme of your image is arguably one of the most basic yet powerful abilities you can master. Here, color theory’s tools are highly effective. For editing photos specifically, the balance of whites and temperatures is extremely important to focus on. This requires an acute adjustment of hues, exposure, and saturation. You can use HSL to fix specific tints and shades further.
- Skin tone grading
In certain lights or against certain colors, your skin can get washed out, making images appear gray and dull. By tinkering with the contrast between complimentary colors, saturation, and contrast, the CMYK color system, you can easily make the subject look flushed and far more alive. It also makes the people in the picture appear better placed against the backdrop.
- Black and White
Sometimes, edits just need nostalgia. And even black and white need to be color-graded. Be it recreating an old photograph or a black and white photoshoot for that cinematic effect. Monochrome can tell a thousand stories and open up the image for greater imagination. Color theory provides several ways in which you can create the illusion of black and white while still having colors in your picture.
Wrapping up
That brings us to an end of some cool skills and tricks you can leverage in color theory to make your editing more impactful. With practice, these techniques are bound to become second nature. Till then, keep on practicing.
