The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

RICH

Eye-catching means strong—in contrast, for example, and in color—and is a kind of instant gratification (and has its parallels in other sensations, such as taste and smell). Rich colors punch and are anything but subtle, and most people enjoy them, at least for a while. The word “rich” gets its meaning across well enough, but understanding it means knowing something of how we perceive color. The natural way for our eye and brain is by three qualities: hue, saturation and brightness. Hue is what most people simply call color (blue or red, for example), saturation goes from gray to intense, and brightness goes from black to white. Here and on following pages, I’m showing color as a cylinder of hue (going round, like spokes of a wheel), saturation ...