City colours shine bright + Psychology of colour

Last night I had hoped to find some snowy scenes but the snow doesn’t lie around for long near us and despite snow showers all day it had largely melted away by the evening. So instead, as always, I found myself drawn to the bright colours of the city streets. This scene contains some of my favourite colour combinations. Bright reds, oranges, pinks and purple offset by more neutral black, gold and silver, with a few small splashes of emerald green for good measure. I love to play around with city lights by night and I learned a lot yesterday with some good inspiration for future shoots.

I was struck by the contrast to yesterday’s blog photo, which was very muted and pale because of the snow, with only a small splash of red and black in the tugboat.

I’ve been reading about the psychology of colours today so it’s especially interesting. I’ve been updating my website recently and where I just put it together by instinct at first I’ve now got the time to go back and check if I want to make any changes. A lot of website guidance will suggest choosing some brand colours. My website is very simple with black text on a white background. Having done a little bit of research, I’ve only become more confirmed in my choice. Perhaps if you were a photographer who only showed black and white photos you could have some colour elsewhere in your website. If, like me though, you like colour images, I think it’s best to stick to very simple text. Having looked at some photography websites this morning, I see that they generally all use black text on a white background or white text on a black background.

I love colour, so this type of reading for me is never wasted time, even if I don’t make any practical changes right now. I read about colours a lot in different contexts. One of my favourite books at the moment is one I’ve been dipping in and out of for a while. It’s called The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair and it covers the history of pigments and colours. Did you know that there were no completely reliable yellow pigments until the twentieth century, Naples Yellow being ‘the best of a bad bunch’, or that Lead White was poisonous and lethal to both its manufacturers and artists? One of the book’s attractions for me is that in the chapters covering each pigment the pages are edged in that colour so you’ve constantly got a direct and attractive reference.

I’ve attached a link to the article about the Psycholgy of Colour in Marketing and to the book below.

Article - Psycholgy of Colour in Marketing

Book - The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair

I hope that you’re managing to get through this lockdown time in a way that you enjoy too!

Loren x