Color is the very heart of the vast majority of today’s photographs. The colors that we include in the frame have a profound effect on the success of our images. There is a psychology to color: certain colors evoke certain moods. Some colors visually recede, while others “pop” from the frame. Color creates mood, it tells a story, and can make moments recorded in a frame appear truly lifelike—or it can be used to make a scene appear more of a fantasy. It also affects your clients’ skin tones. Though these points serve to underscore the importance of color in our images, it’s a pictorial aspect that has not received the attention it deserves—until now.

In this book, one of the industry’s top celebrity, portrait, and fashion photographers, Hernan Rodriguez provides an in-depth look at everything your every wanted to know about color—from basic color theory, to the psychology of color, to the use of color filters for enhanced color results, to the effect on your clients’ skin color, to using color for specific portrait applications, and more. Rodriguez also explains how various lighting sources—from flash to continuous light to natural light—will impact the way that color in your scene will be rendered in the final print/product. You’ll also learn important strategies for controlling color from capture to post-production (the latter will include lessons on creating desaturated looks, enhancing color using Photoshop’s Curves and Selective Color tools, creating cross-processing effects, and using third-party actions to amp up your artistry). Armed with these discussions, you’ll come away with a brave new attitude toward color—and a full understanding of how you can use it to make photographs that please your clients and reinvigorate your own love of capturing images.