Colors can be used in a variety of ways. When working with photos, each picture comes with its own set of them. Sometimes, it is a good idea to alter the original colors to make them match better, to highlight a certain area or to create tension between objects.



What can be found rather often is the use of almost monochromatic colors, i.e. all color used is for example green – think of it as desaturating the image and then using one color to recolor it (in Photoshop, this would be done via Image > Hue/Saturation > Colorize).



Monochromatic colors can make a picture more uniform up to the point of being boring. Such a color scheme can also serve to not distract from the main subject or leave more room for interesting textures. The lack of (other) color(s) has a certain impact on the viewer - highly desaturated colors leave an atmosphere of despair, dark, saturated ones one of mystery.



The color itself can be used to evoke certain associations, for example green is often associated with hope, spring and nature in general, purple with royalty or religion, blue with calmness and red with danger. If you use a rather monochromatic palette, you can create tension or a focal point with very little of another color in certain areas or just make it a bit more interesting, if needed.



It is also well worth to point out that there are warm colors (yellow, orange, red) and cold colors (violet, blue, green) which when placed next to each other can create a certain tension. The most tension can be achieved when using complimentary colors: red with green, yellow with purple and blue with orange - they are oposites in the color wheel (see below for more info)



Setting colored and uncolred areas side by side can draw the viewer's eyes and also create tension between the elements:



So, the challenge is to find the color combination that fits your image and your theme best.

For further material on color theory, please take a look at the following tutorial by `Cedarseed:



_{If you have any ideas as to how you can challenge yourself in photomanipulation, please write me a note! I’m always happy to find inspiration and I’m sure others do, too}