Mastering Composition: Tone & Colour

Richard Garvey-Williams reveals the secrets of composition in his updated book

- Richard Garvey-Williams

We have already acknowledged how tone and colour are important factors in helping us distinguish between figure and ground. Tonal contrasts and strong or contrasting colours are used regularly to increase the salience (level of impact) of chosen subject matter by drawing focus to it and making it stand out from its surroundings. We may even go to the extreme of colour popping, which is the process of reducing the saturation of everything other than the subject, even to the point of rendering the image monochrome except for our chosen elements. The role of colour in our compositions is, however, far more complex than this. An understanding and appreciation of how different tones and colours in an image can affect the movement of the viewer's eyes and their emotional response can further aid our ability to consciously construct meaningful images and ones with impact.

The role of tone

One fundamental principle of paramount importance is what I will call 'the light at the end of the tunnel' effect. This describes how the focus of our attention is drawn from dark to light areas.

This can be used to our advantage when the subject matter is clearly lighter than its surroundings. However, it also means that we need to be on our guard for lightly toned foreground or background objects that, even when blurred and positioned well away from the subject, may compete with or draw the viewer's attention away from the intended target.