Clashing colours

There are so many different ‘rules’ of design that it’s easy to become discouraged, and to think it’s all much more trouble than it’s worth. But there’s one very simple rule that can make a difference to everything from photography to magazine layouts: if things are meant to be different, make them very different, and if they’re meant to be the same, make them the same. As we mentioned earlier, contrasting colours, which are opposite (or close to it) on the colour wheel, can produce strong visual contrasts, while harmonious colours, which are next to each other on the colour wheel, produce pleasing, restful images. The problems start when you combine colours which are neither similar nor opposite.

When they work...

There’s a bit of a paradox here. Quite often you’ll find that colours that don’t combine well on a printed page can work very well together in nature. Take our example of a bright red/orange nasturtium bloom against a dark green leafy background; as you can see this works very nicely, producing a strong colour contrast and a vibrant image. Below it, however, is a title bar in green with red lettering. Ouch! That doesn’t work at all. As we said, red letters appear to ‘jiggle’ against the background, and despite the colour contrast they’re still not that easy to pick out. These contrasting examples demonstrate why, sometimes, you have look for other ways to emphasise colour contrasts to make them work, and not treat colour theory as a set of rules you have to follow slavishly.

Strongly-contrasting colours can produce very different results. In nature, green and red can work harmoniously, but see how the red text clashes with the green background.

The background colours in this shot clash horribly. The pink and mauve are too far apart on the colour wheel to harmonise with each other, yet not far enough apart to contrast properly.

... and when they don’t

Here’s an example of colours that definitely don’t work. The pinks and purples that make up the bulk of this image aren’t adjacent on the colour wheel, and they aren’t opposites either. They have similar brightness, and they take up a similar proportion of the frame. You’ve got two colours of similar prominence and strength both fighting for attention, and not working at all well together. It’s often only when you see photographs on your screen, or in a print, that you realise the colours don’t work – and by then it’s too late to go back and do anything about it. One solution is to ‘cheat’ in your image-editor by subtly adjusting one of the colours, so that it harmonises with the others or provides a direct contrast; you can do this in Photoshop or Elements by tweaking colours selectively in the Hue/Saturation dialog, or you could try the Replace Color dialog in Photoshop.