9 Tips for Better Colour In Your Photos

I've received lots of requests on the topic of colour in my photos so I decided to make a video about it, in which I show and explain how I approach the topic of colour. You can see the video on my YouTube channel:

If you prefer to just read, here's a summary of all the tips in the video:

1.Study Colour

First things first. If you're interested in getting 'better' colour in your photos it's important to know a thing or 2 about colour psychology. Certain colours evoke different feelings. Red can be agressive but passionate as well. Blue can be 'calm' , evoke trust, or can feel cold in photography. Different colours have different meaning and feelings attached to it. Read THIS article for example.

Then there's the colour wheel. You know, that wheel we often see in design & photography. Colours on this weel are not just randomly positioned. They are positioned to show a relationship to each other. Certain colours in certain positions work well together. More on that on the next tip.

2. Adobe Color

A great tool to use to study colour and to see if you're colours work well with each other is Adobe Color. Simply head to color.adobe.com , go to Create and check the different color schemes in the colour wheel. Please check the video above to see this in more detail. I often use complementary colours on my photos. I love the orange/yellow with blue tones combination.

3. Mute & Enhance Colours

My photos are often quite saturated. People sometimes think that I just pull the saturation slider to the right and that's it. But obviously, there's much more to it than that. When you look at the colour wheel, it's important to spot distracting colours. These are the colours you'll want to mute, desaturate, or simply make darker. And colours that you DO want your viewers to see, you can make a bit brighter or more saturated.

4. Be Selective

A little bit similar than the last one: Be very selective with your colours. Work on each colour separately to make sure they are 'just right'. Some tips here are especially the greens of an image. They are often too blue if you saturate them. I often pull the hues slightly to the left of the greens to give them a more natural tone. And then there are the yellows. These I often make slightly warmer and more orange. This is simply a matter of preference. Choices like this can also define your photography style.

5. Bad Weather = Nice Colour

Rainy weather and dark skies. They can be great for landscape photos. They can give your photo a lot of atmosphere, but also, when used right, can make for very colourful photos. Simply look for something with colour in the foreground. This can be a flower, a colourful stone, anything. When used in a very monotone photo, the colours pop to the extreme, giving a very colourful photo.

6. Less is More

Sometimes, you'll want less different colours in an image to simplify the colour palette. I often use this when I don't really like the colour palette of a photo in general. Also, I also use these techniques on mountain portraits. Simply desaturate the image a lot (saturation -80) and then tone the photo. For example, make the white balance very blue. This way you get a very desaturated image with almost no colour, that you then colorize to give it a cold (or warm) look! See me do this in the video above.

7. Trick to see Perfect White Balance

If you're not sure about your white balance, simply move the vibrance and saturation sliders to the maximum. This will result in a super colourful image. Then, slowly change the white balance (or tint) slider. You'll immediately see what's going on in regards of colour in the image. This way, you can set your white balance super precise to the colours of your choice. When the colour balance is nice, simply change vibrance and saturation sliders back to zero and you'll have your accurate white balance.

8. Split Toning

You can use split toning to give a certain mood or style to your photo. I often use split toning in very contrasty images. It works very well to give the shadows a certain tone (often a little bit cool) and the highlights a certain tone as well (I often give them a slightly warmer tone). You do this by using the Color Grading wheels in Lightroom (or any software of your preference). Simply give a certain colour to your shadows and highlights.

9. Use a Good Photography Monitor

A very important last tip is to use a proper screen to work on. And most importantly: calibrate it. I use BenQ photography monitors myself, currently the BenQ SW272U and 321C. I also made a video on how to do prints & calibrate it. Make sure to check that out:

Having a good screen makes sure your colours are accurate when you look at them.

For more info on my screen:

BenQ SW272U Product pages:

UK: https://benqurl.biz/46pFdLY

US: https://benqurl.biz/46CYf1D

AU: https://benqurl.biz/46Afh0D

Amazon: https://benqurl.biz/3toxEXr

Hope you found the tips helpful. And if you have any questions, be sure to drop them down below or simply comment on the video!