Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute’s top nature photography instructor

Chapter 4. Not everything’s black-and-white

Color is a powerful creative tool, if you know how to use it.

The color of nature

Reds make our heart beat faster, greens have healing properties, blues calm us, yellows give us hope, browns and grays make us sad. Of all the visual elements, color is perhaps the strongest. Often a spot of color is the reason a photographer stops to take a picture. It catches the eye. Our reaction to color is instinctive; it’s wired into the brain, part of how we interact with the world (FIG. 4.1).

Figure 4.1. These weren’t ...