The Relation of Colors and Emotion in Photography

Color is often overlooked in photography. The colors in a photo can greatly affect the impact or the emotional value of the user. Have you ever come across a photograph with funky color combination with loud backgrounds? Have you ever noticed that if the colors arent complimentary they can give you an eye twisting headache?

Different colors invoke different emotional values and each value depends in which part of the world you are in. Some colors have a positive effect and some can convey some negative emotions. Here are Colors and their percieved emotional value for your reference.

Red:
Positive: Sense of power, strength, action, passion, sexuality
Negative: Anger, forcefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, intimidation, conquest, violence and revenge

Yellow:
Positive: Caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring time
Negative: Criticism, laziness, or cynicism

Blue:
Positive: Tranquility, love, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation, comfort, loyalty and security
Negative: Fear, coldness, passivity and depression

Orange:
Positive: Steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, and cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy
Negative: Ignorance, inferiority, sluggishness and superiority

Purple:
Positive: Royalty, sophistication, religion
Negative: Bruised or foreboding

Green:
Positive: Monëy, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing, and responsiveness
Negative: Envy, greed, constriction, guilt, jealousy and disorder

Black:
Positive: Dramatic, classy, committed, serious
Negative: Evil, death, ignorance, coldness

White:
Positive: Pure, fresh, easy, cleanliness or goodness
Negative: Blind, winter, cold, distant

A Photo should tell us a story and they should communicate what the photographer wants to tell us.. logic and emotion play a big role in our understanding of a photograph but eventually emotion will win over the logic..most of the time.. we are purposefully trying to invoke a specific emotional response that will increase the enjoyment of your photos. So if given a chance… pick your colors carefully.

Would you eat at the Pek Pek Carenderia?

I havent received any interesting forwarded mail in a long time… I dont know who the original sender is but the picture that was forwarded was pretty amusing.. the question that came with the photo was… Gusto Mo Bang Kumain Dito? This photo was so pefect for my only in the Philippines images..

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