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Sunday
Oct052008

Sunday School: Pick A Color

DateSunday, October 5, 2008 by Authorsarah-ji

 

It's no secret that I love the color red.  When I first started dating my husband, his codename on my blog was RT for Red Ted.  Some of my favorite photos of my daughter are of her in a vintage red dress.  I often take photos of red objects.  When we painted our condo, I insisted on having one room that was a shade of red.

So it shouldn't come as a big surprise that when we ended up on Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park on a very grey and somewhat misty day in mid-September, I chose to grab Cadence's ruby slippers that her dad had found a couple days prior at a thrift store in Portland.  I knew that the colors would be pretty muted on the beach, and I wanted to throw in just a little splash of a single color to add a bit of drama to the photos I wanted to take.  Of course I picked red--ruby slippers on Ruby Beach; how could I resist?  And as tiny as those little red shoes were on that magnificent stretch of black and grey stones and giant bone-like driftwood and marvelous sea stacks, I think that bit of color was just what my camera was looking for.

The next time you find yourself in a grey-tone world, find something in the environment (or put one there) that's got an eye-catching color and work that into your photo somehow.  You can make it the focal point, or just a blurry bokeh of color in the background. Maybe you have a favorite brightly hued object that you can carry around with you, and whenever you feel like your surroundings are too dull to photograph, you can add your little bit of color and capture the contrast that creates. 

How about you?  Do you have a favorite color that often shows up in your photos?  Or do you have an image where a little bit of color goes a long way?  Please share your comments and links to images!

Comment23 Comments

References (1)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    Response: Ordinary Miracles
    by Debbie Schinker at Schinker's Shutterbug Site on October 5, 2008
    Two questions were posed which I can answer with this photo, one of my favorites taken last late afternoon. “Do you have a favorite color that often shows up in your photos?” Yes - a vividly sapphire blue sky. “Do you have an image where a little bit of color goes ...

Reader Comments (23)

Hoora! First post...I guess being on the west-coast has it's benefits. Pink is the color of the month...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/somethingcheeky/2912338055/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKirsten
What a great photo! and a great question! It's odd - I have started participating in a blog activity called Pink Saturday, where people are supposed to post about pink things. Obviously, it's a lot of women posting, and some of the postings are kind of...well...uninteresting. Am I being patronizing and condescending to say that? sorry.

Anyway - even so, it has been a really fun creative exercise for me to think about what to write about that's pink. So far I've posted about shrimp, burlesque queens, as well as interesting pink houses, statues, wine and motorcycles.

I suppose if the color were something else it would also be interesting and a creative inspirational tool.

So - i say right now that Pink is a very inspirational color for me - even though I'm typically not a PINK person.

Next I'm going to post about mortadella. That's pink,isn't it?
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterg
I love the ruby shoes ... red is my fav most of the time too, but pink in my link today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanamarie31/2909023069/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJeana
Love the ruby red slippers. Was wondering how a suprise of a different color might look in an image like this. Have noticed that my photos - lately - are very 'gold'.
http://bravo.unisonplatform.com/~marciesc/index.php?showimage=543
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMarcie
I'm very blessed to be surrounded by my favorite color - green. We've got a lot of woods in our yard. I also love purple, so I tend to plant purple flowers. These are in bloom now:

http://www.mamaofletters.com/Mama_of_Letters/Camera_Happy/Pages/Nikon_D60.html#30
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commentershelli
oh I love red too!!! Blue is what stood out in these though!!
I LOVE that beach shot, (and my daughter would LOVE those shoes!!)
http://www.photoblog.com/abbeyh13/2007/09/24/129-all-i-want-is-a-taste-for-freetheme-flavor.html
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterabbey
cool photo. so the color and contrast were not created in Photoshop? how did you do this in the camera?
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterstaci
I love that idea of putting a splash of color in a rather dreary, colorless scene. Will try that.

I'm all about the pink! In my photography:
http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/10/05/life-in-focus-second-blooming/

And in my real life:
http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/08/09/pink-power/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterKacey
sarah-ji, the photo shown on margie's photos on the website i share with my sister is just for you, red, very red. we also have a red bedroom in our home, although not the one we sleep in.

http://3yrplan.typepad.com/soeursdujour/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commentermargie
My point-and-shoot can not compare to your fancy cameras, but I wanted to share ...

I love this site and all the amazing photos I get to see here.

http://airynothings.com/2008/10/05/popping-red/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterGlad Doggett
I was right near Ruby Beach in September... I spent the day at Rialto Beach, BEAUTIFUL area! I love the picture with the red shoes, they stand out perfectly against the gray.
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commentergeorgia
Here is one from me! I loved the flowers on the side of my neighbors house, but it was the side of her home. So not very interesting or insiteful. So I decided to play with the photo =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodyangel/2860118702/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJodyangel
This is perfect timing. I'm working on a post for this week about the colour red. Red makes me happy...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourcrazylife/2915347449/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAngella
sarah ~such a striking photo!

green ~ living in the south with a wild garden this palm is 13 years old:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sammymom/2884126708/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterELK
i love your photo of the red shoes - so lonely looking.

http://flickr.com/photos/shutterxdown/1368397978/in/set-72157604948510968/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterspread your wings
Assisted at a wedding on a beach on a day that it totally poured. But the bride's dress added just a splash of color to the gray day.
http://flickr.com/photos/blazeyphotography/2804933490/in/set-72157606035931468/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterBlazey
more oregon coast! this was the grayest of gray coastal days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilybeth29/2869749516/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLiz
forgot this one....lighted windows in the dusk are one of my fav things, so i guess the color is yellow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilybeth29/2648061215/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterLiz
What a neat shot!

I don't think I have a particular colour that I'm continually drawn to, but when I read this post, I immediately thought of this photo. I thought I had missed poppy season in Tuscany during my visit last summer. I was thrilled to find this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jagspace/2917061124/

xox
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterjag
This is a superb shot! And how ingenious to grab the ruby red slippers!

I favor green:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cartwheelsatmidnight/479250497/in/set-72157594338258585/

And I've always liked this one with the red cross standing out against the white building:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cartwheelsatmidnight/445406099/in/set-72157600046026769/
October 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCartwheels At Midnight/Paige

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