Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop

On Light, Color, Shape, and Gesture

The late painter and designer Josef Albers said that “shape is the enemy of color.” By that he meant that when shape is in the presence of color, we tend to remember the shape and not the color. In this sense, shape isn’t necessarily a friend to color. But if you understand how to control color—regardless of whether the photograph is color or black and white—you will have complete mastery of the images you create. The key is to find a way to cause shape to become color’s unwitting ally, and thereby make color a “shape” that the viewer will remember.

This is easier said than done, of course. What you need is a catalyst to make shape and color work in harmony. And this is where pattern comes in.

Patterns are ...