Cool a Hot Photo

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Continued

How to cool a hot photo

When your photo can’t be changed, surround it with cool color.

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How to cool a hot photo 0472

How to cool a hot photoWhen your photo can’t be changed, surround it with cool color

The color wheel is an artificial device that’s good but not perfect—colors in nature aren’t so evenly distributed—whose purpose is to show color relationships. Also on the wheel are values (dark-light) and temperature.

Whew! You can almost feel the heat. Reds, oranges, yellows and golds radiate from every molecule; even the water is hot. San Diego, that famously balmy city, never looked like this in real life. But our assignment is to create a brochure cover for an upcoming conference (or for any event in which the city itself is part of the attraction), and this hot, monotone skyline is the photo they want. So the challenge is, how do we cool it off, so visitors won’t come expecting to swelter? The answer is found on the color wheel between ice blue and yellow, in the turquoise blues and verdant greens of springtime. Watch.

HotCold

Cool Warm




Before&After ® XiBAmagazine.com UHow to cool a hot photo 3 of 12

3 of 12 How to cool a hot photo 0472

First step: Find the color palette in your photo Every photo has a natural color palette; first step is to find it and organize it. Zoom in on your photo, and you’ll be astonished by how many colors you see.

First, reduce the photo to a manageable number of colors; the easiest way is to create a mosaic using Photoshop’s Mosaic filter (Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic). Working from the big-gest areas (sky, skyline, water) to the smallest, extract colors with the eyedropper tool. For contrast, pick up dark, medium and light pixels of each color. Then—this is important—sort your selections by color and each color by value (dark to light). This lets you see every color in relation to the others. It’s obvious just by looking that this palette is very narrow.

Skyline dark

Skyline light

Water

Sky






Locate your colors on the wheelTo find compatible colors, we first need to know the relationship of our colors to others on the wheel. Working by eye (the wheel’s not exact, remember), locate your swatches by hue (color) and value.

All the colors in this image are in the yellow-orange, orange-red range, quite unusual. The sky is somewhat yellower, some shades are darker than our chart, but this is the zone.

Shade

Hue

Tint






A color in commonAdding yellow to blue yields the cool range; these are the colors of water, new growth, springtime. They are peaceful colors, tranquil and refreshing. As with a monochromatic palette, all hues that share a color—blue, in this case—coordinate naturally. Any color in this range will work with any other.

Tints and shadesColor is made darker or lighter by adding black (a shade) or white (a tint). Because they are color neutral, black and white do not change the hue. As a result, any one color plus its own tints and shades always coordinate naturally. Such a palette is called monochromatic. Blue and orange are opposites, or complements, as shown above.

What we know Our photo is full of colors in the orange range, and very warm. Orange’s opposite—or complement—is blue, the coldest color. Let’s start there.






Color the brochure It’s time to take that hot photo and submerge it in cool colors. For depth, coolness and beauty, two colors are better than one, and three colors are better than two.

Ice All blue monochromatic palette is very cold and has very high value contrast with yellow-orange. Blue and orange have no color in common and therefore have high color contrast, too. High contrast normally equals high energy, but here the conser-vative dark blue (think winter) mitigates that somewhat.

CITIPLAN2006SANDIEGO

Conference GuideConvention of City PlannersAugust 15–18, 2006 www.cp06.org








Cold Moving toward yellow is a cool mix of blues and greens; the greens share warm yellows with the photo, while the blues provide the ice. Blue dominates, keeping the overall effect cold. The colors shown here have similar value and therefore low contrast.








Cool Closer to yellow, the palette is warmer still. These are the colors of springtime, cool and refreshing—but with sun in the sky! Green dominates. Green has a lot of yellow in common with the photo, yet the aqua blue keeps the effect cool.








Warm Here, all the colors are yellow-green, a mono-chromatic palette that has the most color in common with the photo and yields the warmest image; it doesn’t really cool the skyline very much.




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How to cool a hot photo 10 of 12









Analogous (side by side) tints with very low contrast are soft and touchable. Think baby products.

Photo stands out against light tints, which recede. Yellow “city” color connects head to photo.

Dusty, dark-light monochrome is handsome; identical opposite cor-ners act as a frame.

Low-contrast green-blue and light blue harmonize; light green and white cool the headline.

Tone down the color Less saturated colors (more black or white and less hue) yield quieter, more “professional” palettes. Quantity matters; the more of a color, the greater its influence.






How to cool a hot photo 11 of 12

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Color wheelBefore & After’s color wheel is an abbreviated version of the model in Bride M. Whelan’s book, Color Harmony 2, a digest-size reference

work that also includes a brief intro-duction to color theory and plenty of color examples with CMYK mixes. It’s strength is its brevity. Very handy.

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How to cool a hot photo 12 of 12How to cool a hot photo 12 of 12

Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative directorGaye McWade Associate publisherVincent Pascual Staff designerDexter Mark Abellera Staff designer Before & After magazine323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995E-mail [email protected] www http://www.bamagazine.com

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w to

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ow

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ho

t ph

oto

How to cool

a hot photoW

hen

your p

hoto can’t b

e chan

ged,

surrou

nd

it with

cool color.

The

colo

r wh

ee

l is an artificial device that’s good but not perfect—colors in nature aren’t so evenly distributed—w

hose purpose is to show

color relationships. A

lso on the wheel are

values (dark-light) and tem

perature.

Wh

ew! You

can alm

ost feel the h

eat. Red

s, o

ranges, yellow

s and

gold

s radiate fro

m

every mo

lecule; even

the w

ater is ho

t. San

Diego, th

at famo

usly b

almy city, n

ever loo

ked

like this in

real life. Bu

t ou

r assignm

ent is

to create a b

roch

ure cover fo

r an u

pco

min

g co

nferen

ce (or fo

r any even

t in w

hich

the city

itself is part o

f the attractio

n), an

d th

is ho

t, m

on

oto

ne skylin

e is the p

ho

to th

ey wan

t. So

the ch

allenge is, h

ow d

o w

e coo

l it off, so

visito

rs wo

n’t com

e expectin

g to sw

elter? Th

e an

swer is fo

un

d o

n th

e colo

r wh

eel betw

een

ice blu

e and

yellow, in

the tu

rqu

oise b

lues

and

verdan

t greens o

f sprin

gtime. W

atch.

Ho

tC

old

Cool

Warm

Be

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Ho

w to

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ow

to co

ol a

ho

t ph

oto

First step

: Find

the

colo

r pale

tte in

you

r ph

oto

E

very ph

oto

has a n

atural co

lor p

alette; first step

is to fi

nd

it and

organ

ize it. Zo

om

in

on

you

r ph

oto, an

d yo

u’ll b

e aston

ished

by h

ow m

any co

lors yo

u see.

First, re

du

ce th

e p

ho

to to

a

ma

na

ge

ab

le n

um

be

r of co

lors;

the

ea

siest w

ay is to

crea

te

a m

osa

ic usin

g P

ho

tosh

op

’s M

osa

ic filte

r (Filte

r>P

ixe

late

>M

osa

ic). Wo

rkin

g fro

m th

e b

ig-

ge

st are

as (sk

y, skylin

e, wa

ter)

to th

e sm

alle

st, ex

tract co

lors

with

the

eye

dro

pp

er to

ol. F

or

con

trast, p

ick u

p d

ark

, me

diu

m

an

d lig

ht p

ixe

ls of e

ach

colo

r. Th

en

—th

is is imp

orta

nt—

sort

you

r sele

ction

s by co

lor a

nd

e

ach

colo

r by va

lue

(da

rk to

lig

ht). Th

is lets yo

u se

e e

very

colo

r in re

latio

n to

the

oth

ers.

It’s ob

viou

s just b

y loo

kin

g th

at

this p

ale

tte is ve

ry na

rrow

.

Skyline dark

Skyline light

Water

Sky

Locate

you

r colo

rs on

the

wh

ee

lTo

fin

d co

mp

atible co

lors, w

e first n

eed to

know

the relatio

nsh

ip o

f ou

r colo

rs to

oth

ers on

the w

heel. W

orkin

g by eye (th

e wh

eel’s no

t exact, remem

ber), lo

cate you

r sw

atches b

y hu

e (colo

r) and

value.

All th

e co

lors in

this im

ag

e a

re in

the

yello

w-

ora

ng

e, ora

ng

e-re

d ra

ng

e, qu

ite u

nu

sua

l. The

sky

is som

ew

ha

t yello

we

r, som

e sh

ad

es a

re d

ark

er

tha

n o

ur ch

art, b

ut th

is is the

zon

e.

Shade

Hue

Tint

Be

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w to

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A co

lor in

com

mo

nA

dd

ing

yello

w to

blu

e yie

lds th

e co

ol ra

ng

e; th

ese

a

re th

e co

lors o

f wa

ter, n

ew

gro

wth

, sprin

gtim

e. Th

ey a

re p

ea

cefu

l colo

rs, tran

qu

il an

d re

fresh

ing

. A

s with

a m

on

och

rom

atic p

ale

tte, all h

ue

s tha

t sha

re

a co

lor—

blu

e, in th

is case

—co

ord

ina

te n

atu

rally. A

ny

colo

r in th

is ran

ge

will w

ork

with

an

y oth

er.

Tints a

nd

sha

de

sC

olo

r is ma

de

da

rke

r or lig

hte

r by a

dd

ing

bla

ck (a

sha

de

) o

r wh

ite (a

tint). B

eca

use

the

y are

colo

r ne

utra

l, bla

ck a

nd

w

hite

do

no

t cha

ng

e th

e h

ue. A

s a re

sult, a

ny o

ne

colo

r p

lus its o

wn

tints a

nd

sha

de

s alw

ays co

ord

ina

te n

atu

rally.

Su

ch a

pa

lette

is calle

d m

on

och

rom

atic. B

lue

an

d o

ran

ge

a

re o

pp

osite

s, or co

mp

lem

en

ts, as sh

ow

n a

bo

ve.

Wh

at we

kn

ow

O

ur p

ho

to is fu

ll of co

lors in

the o

range ran

ge, and

very warm

. Oran

ge’s op

po

site—

or com

plem

ent—

is blu

e, the co

ldest co

lor. Let’s start th

ere.

Co

lor th

e b

roch

ure

It’s tim

e to take th

at ho

t ph

oto

and

sub

merge it in

coo

l colo

rs. For d

epth

, coo

lness an

d

beau

ty, two

colo

rs are better th

an o

ne, an

d th

ree colo

rs are better th

an tw

o.

Ice A

ll blue m

onochromatic palette is very cold and has very

high value contrast with yellow

-orange. Blue and orange have

no color in comm

on and therefore have high color contrast, too. H

igh contrast normally equals high energy, but here the conser-

vative dark blue (think winter) m

itigates that somew

hat.

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Co

ld M

oving toward yellow

is a cool mix of blues and

greens; the greens share warm

yellows w

ith the photo, while

the blues provide the ice. Blue dom

inates, keeping the overall effect cold. The colors show

n here have similar value and

therefore low contrast.

CITIPLA

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AND

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Co

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ugust 15–18, 2006 w

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Co

ol C

loser to yellow, the palette is w

armer still. These are

the colors of springtime, cool and refreshing

—but w

ith sun in the sky! G

reen dominates. G

reen has a lot of yellow in com

mon

with the photo, yet the aqua blue keeps the effect cool.

Be

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Wa

rm H

ere, all the colors are yellow-green, a m

ono-chrom

atic palette that has the most color in com

mon w

ith the photo and yields the w

armest im

age; it doesn’t really cool the skyline very m

uch.

CITIPLA

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AND

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Analogous (side by side) tints w

ith very low

contrast are soft and touchable. Think baby products.

Photo stands out against light

tints, which recede. Yellow

“city” color connects head to photo.

Dusty, dark-light m

onochrome is

handsome; identical opposite cor-

ners act as a frame.

Low-contrast green-blue and light

blue harmonize; light green and

white cool the headline.

Ton

e d

ow

n th

e co

lor

Less saturated

colo

rs (mo

re black o

r wh

ite and

less hu

e) yield q

uieter, m

ore “p

rofessio

nal”

palettes. Q

uan

tity matters; th

e mo

re of a co

lor, th

e greater its infl

uen

ce.

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ascu

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Before &

After’s color

wheel is an abbreviated

version of the model

in Bride M

. Whelan’s

book, Color H

armony 2,

a digest-size reference w

ork that also includes a brief intro-duction to color theory and plenty of color exam

ples with C

MY

K m

ixes. It’s strength is its brevity. Very handy.

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