How to Get Fantastic Colors

When it comes to photography, I’ve had people ask me, “How do you get those great colors in your images?” This is something any photographer can get, especially when you are asking about my sunrise/sunset photos, but it’s not easy to get unless you go after it.

There are two times a day when you have the best chance for awesome colors, sunrise and sunset, which is why these times are called the “magic hour” or the “golden hour”. Most people work in offices, drive back and forth to work and then live in their homes. If you are not outside, you are not going to catch these “magic hour” periods and get those fantastic colors.

Sunset in Laruens County, Ga

 Photograph is a career/hobby where you have to be outdoors if you want the best colors and you have to be ready all the time. Scout a good location and make sure you are there early you might even want to bring your tripod but it’s not necessary unless you want to do long exposures.

Sunset over an abandoned Pawn Shop

 If you use an iPhone, like I do, there is actually a Magic Hour app in the App Store that will let you know exactly when “magic hour” will occur each day so you can be out there and ready. I also just found out as I wrote this article that they make a companion version of the app for my Apple Watch as well, which is nice as I tend to keep my notifications on my phone silenced as I get so many. On the Apple Watch, I can have it vibrate my wrist and let me know.

Sunset in Stateboro, Ga

Now, one other thing to keep in mind is the “magic” colors don’t happen every day, so don’t be discouraged. Nature works on it’s own schedule and even if you go out this evening and there are no awesome colors in the sky, keep going out there, they will come. One of the biggest things you need to learn as a photographer is patience. If you don’t have patience, then you are not going to do well in my areas of photography, especially shooting people, nature or sunrise/sunset. All of these parts of photography require patience as I am sure most of the professors here are AI will agree.

Now get out there and find that fantastic color!!!

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Make Great Images in Bad Locations

One of the things I frequently recommend to students is don’t let your creativity become stale. What I mean is don’t use lame excuses like “If only I lived near Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, then I could make fantastic images!”

The thing is, if you lived near one of these remarkable places, then all you would do is take the same clichéd images we’ve all seen over and over again. A truly great photograph is taken anywhere that a skilled photographer happens to be.

Don’t be upset when I say you live in a bad location, but I have photographers frequently complain that they have nothing to photograph. It doesn’t matter if you live in Flint, Michigan, smoggy Los Angeles, California or a country town in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania as I did growing up, all making great images requires is opening your eyes. Open eyes even in the crappiest of locations leads to brilliant work and growing your skills as a photographer.

One of the biggest keys to taking great photographs anywhere is look for color in everything. Even a drab location has brilliant colors of some kind, such as neon signs, your camera will highlight these colors in low light, so shoot them at night time. Another interesting place to shoot is a local mall with varied lighting, your camera will accentuate the differences between tungsten, fluorescent sodium and metal halide light, which are invisible to our eyes.

Strawberry I shot Macro at a local Strawberry Farm near my home.

Look for objects out of place such as an old soda can sitting in a gutter along the street that still has brilliant colors. Make photos that highlight whatever it is that catches your eye, an old tire swing still hanging in a tree, a dilapidated barn in an empty field or a rusty old car that sits in the woods. Photography is about being able to “see” it’s not about the camera. The strongest photo is one that expresses itself most clearly, often the strongest photos have the least in them.

So, get in your car, drive around your area and look for things that stand out, look for details. If driving around doesn’t inspire you, go for a hike and take your camera along, there are always great images to be made in nature, especially if you have Macro capabilities.

Night time is another great option, grab your tripod and go make some long exposures, even the most boring street contains great images waiting to be made. Use a short tripod and a wide angle lens for some dramatic angles. Position along the street on a sidewalk and do long exposures of cars driving by, the taillights make for really awesome light effects, almost like the cars are moving at warp speed.

Shooting night time, long exposure along Hwy 78 in GA

Your studio is also a great place to make images and express your creativity. I am building my studio in the second master bedroom of my house this coming week. Many photographers create their own realities in their studio, anything from miniature cities or towns to model railroads and many other ideas can help you make fantastic images and spark your creativity. Great images come from within so get our there and get those creative juices flowing.

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