The American photographer Tony Sweet has a very useful piece of advice for photographers who attend his landscape photography courses (I haven't by the way - I heard this on an Alain Briot podcast), and the advice is 'always photograph red'.
Red is such a powerful colour that just a hint in an image will transform the whole balance of the composition, as the eye is naturally drawn to this part of the visible light spectrum
Therefore you have to be careful how much you use and where you put it, a bit like adding chillies to a casserole, too much and everything else is overwhelmed.
I had to be careful with this photo of the Grand Hotel, on the pier at Llandudno, in case the red clothing in the foreground was too much and drew too much attention away from the hotel.
I reckon I've got the balance about right, with the red garments adding just the right amount of seasoning to the image without taking attention away from the hotel.
Who said taking snapshots was easy!
Filename - hotel market 02.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 1/60sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Llandudno, North wales
This image - 525x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.
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