Colors and its impact in photography

I want to make a series of articles on the main colors and its impact on photography starting with violet. I am trying to include the painting’s history and colors in renaissance time. I also endeavor in the optics part, science, nature, and general belief of a particular color.

The single beam of light that passes through the prism turns seven colors. It is commonly known as VIBGYOR or Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. These colors make an important impact in our daily life. They make an automatic impression in our minds when we observe a photograph. Let’s discuss the colors based on VIBGYOR and their impact on photography with a series of articles.

We can distinguish the color into two broad categories. Warm and cool. The warm colors are more active and get extra attention from the viewers in a photograph.

Cool colors are more subdued and gentle. The photographers generally use these colors as background with a subject in warm color and make a seamless relation of the colors in a composition.

Though there is no hard and fast rule in photography and a photographer can easily break the conventional rule and produce a marvelous composition in front of the world.

Cool color – Violet

It is the rarest color that can be found in nature. Violet is closely associated with purple. It is a spectral color. Spectral means a color that is evoked in a typical human by a single wavelength of light in the visible spectrum, or by a relatively narrow band of wavelengths, also known as monochromatic light. purple is a combination of red and blue colors. Common people perceive purple as violet.

In Western cultures (North America and Europe), purple is the color of royalty, and is often used for the cloaks and robes of kings and queens in modern movies. The color purple is often associated with wealth because purple dye was historically expensive to produce.

In Thailand, purple is worn by a widow mourning her husband’s death. Additionally, in Latin America and South America (specifically in Brazil) purple indicates mourning or death.

In Japan, the color purple signifies wealth and position. Historically in Japan, only the highest ranked Buddhist monks wore purple robes.

In Africa, purple is also a symbol of royalty and wealth.

In India, violet is the color of royalty and wealth. It is also the color of wisdom and peace. Violet has been used as a symbol of power and luxury for centuries.

Violets have a strong sense of optimism, imagination, and quirkiness. The sage hue is a wise choice for those looking for guidance due to its experience and enlightened nature. There is always room for growth, and the more we learn, the more we grow. Violet’s versatility as a compassionate color makes it difficult to accept. The color violet represents wisdom, sensitivity, and spirituality, as well as creativity. Violet clothing and jewelry would be worn by royals and wealthy families as a symbol of wealth. It has flaws, in addition to hypersensitivity and narcissism. There are numerous hues of violet that are popular and well-liked.

Violet color and optics

In optics, Violet is at one end of the spectrum of visible light, between blue light, which has a longer wavelength, and ultraviolet light, which has a shorter wavelength and is not visible to humans. Violet encompasses light with a wavelength of approximately 380 to 435 nanometers.

Generally, it can be observed in the flowers, a few times at sunset, orchids, birds, etc. Based on Wikipedia, Violet retained its status as the color of emperors and princes of the church throughout the long rule of the Byzantine Empire. Violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the Virgin Mary were often portrayed wearing violet robes.

Importance of violet color in 15th century

The 15th-century Florentine painter Cennino Cennini advised artists: “If you want to make a lovely violet color, take fine lacca, ultramarine blue (the same amount of the one as of the other)…” For fresco painters, he advised a less-expensive version, made of a mixture of blue indigo and red hematite. violet represents royalty, luxury, vanity, extravagance, etc. In the Roman Catholic church, violet is worn by bishops and archbishops.

In Hinduism, violet is used to symbolically represent the seventh, crown chakra (Sahasrara). The pan-European movement Volt Europa and its national subsidiary parties use violet in their uniforms. At present, Violet flowers and their color became symbolically associated with lesbian love. Some countries’ flags also hold the violet color as loyalty, dignity, and so on.

Violet is unusual enough and that takes a photograph an extraordinary look and feel. Generally violet and purple are associated with mystery, creativity, royalty and wealth. Lighter shades of purple convey serene and comfy in the viewers’ mind. At present it is used in beauty products photographic composition. Incorporate purple to make a design look more luxurious and wealthier or a lighter purple to show romance and mystery. A rarity of nature, it symbolizes magic, mystery and spirituality. A balance of red and blue, purple can cause unrest or uneasiness, and it’s a favorite color for adolescent girls.

You might be interested to read the articles on photographic elements like line, shape, texture, color.

Acknowledgement: various websites related with color and violet, pexels