Color
Color guide: palettes, grading and contrast
Color is the first thing a viewer perceives, even before understanding what's in the image. It's also what ties an image most to a brand: a repeated palette makes a profile or campaign recognisable.
There are three layers of decision: the palette (which colours), the grading (the overall tone, warm or cool) and the intensity (saturation and contrast).
Palettes
A palette limits the colours that appear. Earth tones convey naturalness, pastels softness, black and gold luxury, corporate blue seriousness. Choosing a palette is the fastest way to make several images look like the same series.
/••••••••Natural earth tones
Uses a palette of browns, ochres and earthy greens…
/••••••••Soft pastel palette
Uses soft, low-saturation colors for a delicate…
/••••••••Black and gold luxury palette
Pairs deep black with metallic gold for a luxury color palette.
/••••••••Clean corporate blue palette
Dominates the image with a clean…
/••••••••Neutral editorial colour
Keeps a neutral, desaturated palette…
/••••••••Bold colour blocking
Organizes the image into flat blocks of pure color…
Grading and temperature
Grading is the image's overall tone, like a film filter. Warm feels close and nostalgic; cool feels distant and modern; teal & orange is the classic of commercial cinema.
/••••••••Warm colour grade
Grades the image toward warm tones…
/••••••••Cool colour grade
Grades the image toward cool tones…
/••••••••Teal and orange grade
Grades shadows toward teal and highlights toward orange…
/••••••••Cinematic film colour
Reproduces the soft, slightly desaturated color typical of cinema film stock.
/••••••••Bleach bypass colour grade
Creates a gritty cinematic grade with reduced saturation…
/••••••••Sepia toned image
Tints the entire image in brown sepia tones…
Black and white, accents and contrast
Removing colour focuses attention on shape and light. A single colour accent on a neutral background directs the eye exactly where you want. High contrast adds energy; low contrast, calm.
/••••••••Black and white image
Converts the image to a clean black-and-white photographic treatment with tonal…
/••••••••Black and white monochrome
Removes color entirely, leaving the image in black and white.
/••••••••Two-colour duotone
Reduces the image to just two colors…
/RedAccentSingle red accent
Keeps the rest of the image neutral, reserving red as the single color accent.
/HighContrastColorHigh colour contrast
Boosts color contrast, with very dark shadows and strongly lit highlights.
/••••••••Muted Colour
Reduces colour saturation into a quiet…
Common mistakes
- Asking for two palettes at once: the tool blends them and neither survives.
- Listing loose colours (“blue, red, green”) instead of a palette with intent.
- Changing palette in every piece of the same campaign.
Example combination
Earth palette and lots of air for a furniture brand.
Composition (Pro code: with Pro you see which one it is and can copy the combination)"Design chair in an empty room" Lighting (Pro code: with Pro you see which one it is and can copy the combination) Color (Pro code: with Pro you see which one it is and can copy the combination) Style (Pro code: with Pro you see which one it is and can copy the combination)-4:5