Ahead of starting Part 3 of the course about colours, I am reading The Essential Colour Manual For Photographers, which expands on the information provided in the course materials.
A lot of this material is concerned with processing, and therefore beyond the scope of what I want to achieve right now, although I am gradually experimenting with processing, it is more luck than judgement!
I found the introduction interesting: it dealt with using either warm or cold colours with same image to convey a different atmosphere. So just because you shoot in a certain light, the final result does not have to be conveyed that way. The book also deals with altering white balance to achieve a different or stronger effect e.g. using daylight when shooting sunsets to achieve a warmer feel. I already usually shoot on cloudy white balance as I prefer the warmer effect than the blue cast of the daylight setting.
Of particular interest was the treatment of colours to send signals, for instance red may represent danger so we may react to a certain image in a particular way because of the colours. In addition, red will usually stand out, even if it occupies a small area of the frame, so care should be taken that it is the red object that should have prominence in the image. I also noted that a low ISO is better for colour saturation.
The sections on harmonious, contrasting and complementary colours reflected the course materials as I expected. I noted though the advice given on composing the colour boundaries along the third lines to achieve maximum effect.
Of the photographers represented here, I particularly enjoyed looking at the images of flowers by Andrea Jones, on pages 174-175. I like the abstract qualities and the fact that they become studies of colour rather than shape. I noted that she prefers to shoot in the morning as the lighter is softer.
I will definitely come back to this book when I get further down the road of learning processing as it has some great tips and advice.
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