Colour Palette

Making a colour palette using Photoshop is so easy to do and it's really insightful to see the colour scheme split down into exact hues. Not only does this make a gorgeous and professional design sheet,  but this process enables me to objectively measure which colours are the most prominent and how the values interact on the photograph. 

With the colours lined up in this way, I can re-order them and even go in and alter the palette to test whether an alternative value would work better in place of the existing one. If I take a photo, I can use Photoshop to break down the colour scheme and if the colours are too far removed or they clash I can look at the colour wheel and find a solution before changing a value and re-shooting.

Colour value is something I want to investigate further - it's such a vital part of visual language that I've found interesting to learn about. I can now see WHY the colours work well together, rather than simply guessing by the eye. Before this brief, I'd look at a colour palette and think 'yes, they work together. They look good.', but now I can evaluate what it is that works (the similarities or the high contrast) and how the artist has used the values to achieve their intentions.

My intention was to make a natural, sensual and fanciful tone to suit this fantasty pixie character. These colours are analogous as they sit closely together on the colour wheel and I think that they succeed in constructing a subtle, soft palette. The fairy stands out because she is sporting the darkest and strongest blue value dress, but because the greens in the mid-ground are next to blue on the colour wheel (though not as heavy in weight as that dark blue hue) she does not seem out of place or unnatural in the scene.

I didn't think that the red broom in the background would be noticable when I took the photograph, I imagined that it would just fade into the back with the rest of the scenery, but after breaking down the palette I can see why that isn't the case. Now that I am tuned into looking FOR colour. Because red is the complementary of green, which features heavily in the foreground, these two colours point each other out. The red has no place to hide when it is the warmest value in the image and when it is paired with its opposite.

When I next take a photo of my dolls, I will consider all elements of value within the frame: the foreground, the plants and the background. This should help me to acheive the most aesthetically pleasing and immediate palette and help me to introduce atmospheric intent into the image too, such as a mystical vibe by using enigmatic dark values against lots of foggy mid-tones.