Lessons Learned: A spice called color

In this meeting of land- and sea-based plantlife, the brighter colors of the red maple leaf and orange cedar sprig pleasantly accent the darker green of the seaweed and harbor water.

Like the fluorescent orange mooring buoys in the masts image in this gallery, the small hotter colors add punch to what otherwise would have been a much quieter, more monochrome image.

Color accents like these can be the "spice" that makes our images more interesting and lively to our visual palates. Use them tastefully on your images, as a skilled chef would garnish food to create her own unique interpretation of them, and you'll be rewarded with both personal satisfaction and the approval of your viewers.

Please also notice that in this instance, the colors were placed using the Rule of Thirds (cedar sprig at the top left intersection and the maple leaf at the lower right).

Learning basic tips, tricks and techniques helps create strong simple images that demand attention. Combining them artfully further enrichens the experience.