Briefly, primary colors are the ones that you cannot get by mixing other colors, and these are blue, red and yellow.
Secondary colors instead, are those that you get by mixing two primary colors. And finally we come to the pivot point of this article: the complementary colors.
When it comes to complementary colors in photography, we always refer to a pair of colors: a color is defined as complementary to another one, if it is opposed to it on the color wheel.
This means that they are clearly opposite to each other and, when used in the same composition, they create a sharp contrast effect.
When mixed, on the other hand, they create a gray.
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What are complementary colors used for in photography?
They are very useful when it comes to balancing contrasts.
Depending on how you choose to balance the colors, you can make a photo a static or dynamic one.
What does it means?
If, for example, you take a photo in which there are two complementary colors, you get a result that is static, but at the same time of great contrast.
If instead you have two complementary colors, but one tends to prevail on the other, then this will evoke a certain dynamism, as if there was some kind of movement.