Colour and Value Contrast - A Day Trip to the Red Cliffs near Arbroath

Where better than Arbroath to capture some high colour contrasts between the red/orange cliffs and blue sky on a sunny day along the coastline. These complementary colours came out nicely in some of the photographs and accomplish some strong images. Along with the colour  I also paid close attention to the compositional elements by following the rule of thirds and other aspects in many of the pictures. This also helped create aesthetically pleasing images by proportioning the colours to each other.

Colour Contrast

The left image has a very high colour contrast due to the sunlight shining on the abbey. The orange bricks jump out from the bright blue sky in the background. The right picture on the other hand has a much lower saturation and comes across much more balanced and united. A further difference is that the left image is dominated by warm colours whereas the right image is dominated by cold colours. 

The white snow in the right photograph creates a fairly strong value contrast though and keeps the image from turning too calm/harmonious.

Composition

In the two images below core features were composed on the thought lines of the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds helps organize compositions and guide the eye. In the left picture the lines form a border on the horizon and vertically it separates the land from sea.

The right picture especially uses the horizontal line to divide the upper third from the lower third. As the lower is very dynamic and the top third in contrary very balanced and calm.  

The dynamic impression of the photograph beneath is created through diagonal lines, patches and varying spaces between shapes and creates a sense of activity.

High Value Contrast

The two images beneath have both a high value contrast as well as colour contrast due to the complementary colours orange and blue.