Portrait photography tip: Use complementary colours

Wednesday 4 October 2023, 16:08 by Elja Trum | 2,880 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Using colour well can take a portrait photo up a level. This applies to clothing, but also to the background in your portrait photo. You can use complementary colours to create a pleasing whole.

Anouk - f/7.1, 1/160s, 500 ISO @ 42mm
The complementary colour of yellow/orange is blue, for example. People often have somewhat yellow/orange skin. That is why a blue background works very well with portrait photos.

Below you can see a colour wheel. The complementary colours are opposite each other in the wheel. If you have a particular colour in your photo, the colour opposite it in the colour wheel is a good colour to combine with it in your photo.


You can create the colour combination through clothing or a background, but also by using flash with a colour filter.

Would you like to learn much more about using colour in your image? Then be sure to check out the Colour Theory and Color Grading course on Photofacts Academy.

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