“Seeing Red” in Your Photos

If you have a computer that uses Windows 10, you probably have noticed the login screen that appears when you first turn on your computer. It is a beautiful mountain and valley scene, punctuated in the lower left with a red backpack. Why is that red backpack in the picture? Because it makes the whole scene much more interesting. Your eye is first drawn to the backpack and then into the entire mountain and valley scene.

The color red draws the eye. That is why stoplights and stop signs are red. They make us look and stop. They also make us stop and look! When you are walking down the street or on a hike in the woods, your eye immediately latches onto anything that is red. It is a natural animal and human reaction.

That is why it is a good idea to put red into your photographs. If you see a person in a red jacket walking away from you towards a scene that you want to photograph, follow that person and put him into the picture. It will be a much better picture. The color red breaks up the monotony of blue water, gray skies, green trees, white snow, brown sidewalks, and pink cherry blossoms as you can see in these photographs.

If you can’t find red in a scene, you can put it there by having your traveling companion wear a red jacket or a red cap or carry a red umbrella, walking off into the distance.

Put red into your photographs – it makes the viewer stop and look!