Emotional Colors
Artists and Photographers often talk about how colors affect the mood, emotion, and energy of a picture. A nature photographer might include a lot of greens and blues in a landscape to convey a fresh, calm feeling; however, the same image with an orange filter (either via a lens filter or a software effect) or shot near sunset might dramatically alter the mood of the photo. Instead of calm and relaxed, it now might be perceived as cheerful and full of energy. Give it a red hue and it might convey the landscape's power and strength.
In combination with the elements of the picture, it can also create negative emotions. A painting of people dancing in a ballroom with lots of black and purple colors might be conceived as classic royalty, but a painting of a dark violet sky might be perceived as cold and foreboding.
As an artist, the choice is yours how you want to portray your piece.
Here are some emotions that are commonly associated with a particular color:
Red: Positive: Action, passion, sense of power, sexuality, and strength. Negative: Anger, conquest, forcefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, intimidation, revenge, and violence.
Yellow: Positive: Brightness, caution, intelligence, joy, organization, and Spring time. Negative: Criticism, cynicism, and laziness.
Blue: Positive: Acceptance, comfort, cooperation, love, loyalty, patience, security, tranquility, and understanding. Negative: Coldness, depression, fear, and passivity.
Orange: Positive: Cheerfulness, confidence, courage, energy, excitement, friendliness, steadfastness, and warmth. Negative: Ignorance, inferiority, sluggishness, and superiority.
Purple: Positive: Religion, royalty, and sophistication. Negative: Bruised, and foreboding.
Green: Positive: Food, freshness, growth, health, hope, money, nature, responsiveness, sharing, and soothing. Negative: Constriction, disorder, envy, greed, guilt, and jealousy.
Black: Positive: Classy, committed, dramatic, and serious. Negative: Coldness, death, evil, and ignorance.
White: Positive: Cleanliness, easy, fresh, goodness, and pure. Negative: Blind, cold, distant, and winter.
About the Author
Brian Broderick (http://www.brianbroderick.com) is a semi-pro nature photographer and the creator of The Lens Flare. His hobbies include hiking, skiing, and computer graphics, and is currently a web programmer.
This article may be reproduced in its entirety, providing that it is not altered from its original form and that HTML links are not removed or altered. Short quotes are also allowed, provided that a link back to the original article is included.
