THE POWER OF Unleash Your Creativity! COLOR

Has it ever happened to you that three artists have created works especially for you? And that a specialist teaches you to read the secrets of color?

Well, it's happening. Right here. In this magazine. For you.

We created a fun and bold challenge so that you can learn a lot about the strategy of one of the most powerful phenomena in our life, art, and profession.

Colors constantly and inevitably influence us, generating sensations and emotions all the time Just as certain music generates nostalgia and other music activates us, color makes us travel through emotions, most of the time without us realizing it.

For this very reason, getting to know the expressiveness and strategy of color in depth is the best way to master the resource that not only determines the expressive climate of your photographs but also conditions how the viewer and client read and interpret your works Three great photographers made themselves available to take on a big challenge: to create three photos based on a prompt based on the use of color.

To make it more interesting, and because we are infinitely creative, I proposed to each one something that would take them out of their comfort zone. They put their creativity and knowledge at the service of the prompt, and that's how the three series that I am going to present to you were created while we discover the great power that colors have in the conceptualization, expressiveness, and reading of images.

Sylvie Pabion Martín's was tasked with playing with monochrome. A monochrome image is one that has only one color. This is a great challenge because the chosen color, being unique, determines the expressive climate of everything created. In turn, the need for certain variations in an image must be generated in this case from the diversity of shades (within the same color) and luminosity.

Her images could be the metaphor for the healthy and vital presence of nature in our lives, formed with a crescendo narrative, thus telling the story of an expansion

In the first photo, whose serenity recalls a Renaissance painting, a woman delicately presents some asparagus She could be any of us, linking us with nature and all that it offers The green color of the presented asparagus expands throughout the series, cementing the vegetables and fruits that appear in a beautiful way as the protagonists of the story

It is a story marked by serenity, as the green color is of a cool temperature and cool colors generate a sensation of calm in the retina

So, how is the sensation of expansion generated if the climate is rather serene? Beautiful question! If you observe the series, you will see that from the first to the third photo, the amount of vegetables and fruits increases, while they are arranged in a progressively more expansive way: from the asparagus in the hands, to the ordered and even concentrated presentation on the plate, to the display of fruits and vegetables throughout the table

The interesting thing is that this compositional characteristic would not work entirely if it were not accompanied and enhanced by the treatment of color

Look again at the series and observe how from the first to the third photo, there is an increasing presence of luminosity and saturation.

Luminosity is the degree of light or darkness of a tone The entire series has a dark background that orders and highlights the lighter elements. Clarity generates a sense of expansion, which is why you feel that the vegetables and fruits separate from the background and "approach" you, standing out and catching your attention.

The increase in luminosity is accompanied by a slight increase in the saturation of green tones. With saturation being the degree of purity of the color, in the second photo and much more in the third, the sensation of increasingly greater vibration is generated

The sensation of expansion generated perceptually is what creates the story conceptually

And a detail that we cannot fail to mention! Let's see if you had noticed it! Part of the possible richness in monochrome images lies in the variation of shades within the chosen color: from the first to the third photo, we observe a slight transition from green-cyan to green-yellowish tones The essential detail is the green-cyan tone of the ribbon that ties the asparagus, which stands out in relation to the other greens that tend to be warmer A detail that marks the beginning, crowned by the final display

This is how decisions about the use of color create expressiveness and concept. Everything that happens in the images is crucial, but if this is not well accompanied by the strategic use of colors, there is no way to express what is desired.

Laura Becerra Ortiz, had to play with adjacent colors. These colors are close in the color wheel, so their perceptual effect is one of continuity. What expressiveness can this perceptual quality generate?

Laura explored creative possibilities through compositions where the beautiful and playful forms of some eggplants stand out, playing to ascend to the sky, to be the hoop of a mysterious woman, to be eggs in some hidden nest.

She chose a wide range of adjacent colors, making the violet of the playful protagonists blend smoothly with the blue and cyan of the fabrics and the green of the background, feeling that everything fits, that everything is part of the same.

But then, how does the artist manage to repeatedly bring our attention where she wants it?

Of course, with light, but also, the secret for the eggplants to stand out lies in the fact that the violet is slightly warm Warm colors generate a sense of restlessness in the retina The slightly magenta violet of the eggplants thus draws attention among its cooler neighbors

Thus, the playful atmosphere generated by the photographer's creativity is enhanced by that touch of a slightly warmer tone in an environment where cool colors prevail.

This is combined, of course, with the punctual lighting that generates dynamism through its diagonals and, in turn, presents the protagonists connoting theatricality and mystery.

Jullianne Medeiros was tasked with playing with complementary colors. These colors are opposite each other on the color wheel, so their perceptual effect is one of contrast. What sensations and stories can this color quality generate?

We could create many possible stories based on the encounter between these three images that are as surreal as they are everyday. With multiple interpretations, what is clear is that this series combines creativity with vitality

In this challenge, it is the contrast between yellow and blue that determines our experience Tonal contrast implies a contrast of temperature, and when this happens, we feel the presence of very different sensations that correspond to the difference between warm and cool colors.

Another fundamental aspect is that when there is a temperature contrast, it is the warm color that directs us

The effect of lemon, whether we like it or not, is invigorating. The interesting thing is that its color, yellow, has the same effect since it awakens our retina, being warm and luminous

That is why we feel so much vitality in this series, while we cannot stop looking at everything that is yellow, which stands out against the cool blue background, much calmer and which, if we talk about spatial color effects, optically recedes in relation to yellow, both for being cool and dark

The central photograph leads us to explore each element, being able to enjoy some variation of tones, some a little more orange, thus differentiating the various yellow elements.

On that table, everything that is developed in the lateral images is arranged, both the protagonist lemons and the mysterious being on the left, who with their action is imbued with vitality

Three great photographers exploring the possibilities of color

Infinite play with an infinite resource. And above all, power. The power to convey the sensations, emotions, and stories that we want

I hope this journey has inspired you, and I bid you farewell, asking you to play like when you were a child, without fear, because our creativity combined with the right resources and strategies are the gateway to feel all the power that we came to unfold in this world.

The color is in your hands!

S p e c i a l G u e s t