Color contrast is an effective compositional element in color photography, just as tone is in black-and-white photography. Colors with opposite characteristics contrast strongly when placed together. Each color accentuates the qualities of the other and makes the color images stand out dramatically. Color contrast is enhanced when you create the contrast of detail against mass. An example is a single, bright, red flower in a clear, glass vase photographed against a bright, green background.

Cold colors (bluish) and warm colors (reddish) almost always contrast. Cold colors recede, while warm colors advance. Light colors contrast against dark ones, and a bold color offsets a weak color.

PH2 Neil Crews

Figure 5-17. Low-key scene.

LOW- AND HIGH-KEY SCENES. When a scene contains mostly dark tones or colors, it is low key (fig. 5-17). When the scene contains mostly light tones, it is high key (5-18). Low-key and high-key pictures convey mood and atmosphere. Low key often suggests seriousness and mystery and is often used in horror pictures, such as a dark-granite castle in a thunderstorm. High key creates a feeling of delicacy and lightness. A photograph of a fair-skinned, blond-haired mother dressed in a white gown against a light background nursing her baby is a good subject for a high-key picture.

HIGH- AND LOW-KEY COLORS. High-key color pictures contain large areas of light desaturated colors (pastels) with very few middle colors or shadows. Intentionally overexposing color film (exposing for the shadows) helps to create a high-key effect.

A low-key effect is created when the scene is dominated by shadows and weak lighting. Low-key pictures tend to have large areas of shadow, few highlights, and degraded colors. Naturally dark subjects are best for low-key pictures. Low-key color pictures can be induced by exposing color film for the highlights.

FRAMING

Framing is another technique photographers use to direct the viewer's attention to the primary subject of a picture. Positioned around the subject, a tree, an archway, or even people, for example, can create a frame within the picture area. Subjects enclosed by a frame become separated from the rest of the picture and are emphasized. Looking across a broad expanse of land or water at some object can make a rather dull uninteresting view. Moving back a few feet and framing the object between trees improves the composition.

An element used as a frame should not draw attention to itself. Ideally, the frame should relate to the theme of the picture; for example, a line of aircraft parked on the flight line framed by the wing and prop of another aircraft.

Not only is framing an effective means of directing the viewer's attention, it can also be used to obscure undesirable foregrounds and backgrounds. The illusion of depth can be created in a picture by the effective use of framing (fig. 5-19).

JOC Guy Miller 302.52

Figure 5-18. High-key scene.

PH1 Michael D.P. Flynn 302.302

Figure 5-19. Framing used in photographic composition.

PH3 Tim O'Neill 302.95

Figure 5-20. Blurred background creates subject separation.