A significant part of creating a great senior portrait is deciding on the best aesthetic. And while there’s a science behind which colors complement each other, the reason you’re creating an aesthetic is to make your pictures more visually appealing. So, here’s a crash course about choosing the right color scheme for your senior pictures.
Step 1: Choose A Base Color
Your base color can be based on many things - your surroundings (where you’ll be taking the pictures) your favorite color, or colors that complement your skin tone, etc. Once you have a base color following the next steps will be easier.
Step 2: Use The Color Wheel To Choose
Using your base color you can then find the complementary color using the color wheel as your guide. To find your complementary color simply find the color directly opposite the one you’ve chosen on the color wheel. This color combination is the most appealing and is going to add depth and intrigue to the image. To help with this, see more about the Color Calculator in the next step.
Step 3: Use A Color Calculator To Create A Color Scheme
Once you’ve got your two colors, you can find additional colors to add to your aesthetic or to perfect your color scheme. Simply head over to a color calculator and then generate a color scheme. A great benefit to using this idea is that you can even use different types of color harmonies to help fine-tune the look that you are going for.
Where To Use Your Colors
What’s the point of having the perfect aesthetic if you’re not able to use it? So here are some ideas of how to implement your aesthetic in your senior portrait.
1// Scenery
If you’re going to be taking pictures in a lovely lush garden, you may want to choose a complementary color as part of your outfiet aesthetic. Since green and pink complement each other, using pink as a base color may be a good starting point. So, before you think about what colors you’re going to use, it may be a great idea to decide where you’re going to have your pictures taken. That way you know what colors your surroundings will be and what colors you should choose to complete your aesthetic.
2// Props
Whether you’re choosing balloons, flowers or accessories your props are the perfect way to add those complementary colors to your pictures. This way if you’re wearing an outfit in your primary color you can add intrigue by choosing props in the complementary color.
3// Outfit
The easiest way to implement your color scheme is to add the colors to your outfit. However, you could just use a base color in your outfit if you’re planning to add the rest of your colors in props or scenery, etc.
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The entire idea around aesthetics is to create something aesthetically pleasing. Science aside, if you aren’t pleased with the look or outcome or even the colors suggested, why not create your own aesthetic? Or browse my gallery to find some inspiration?
