Choosing Colors

I am always looking for inspiration to get my creative juices flowing. One of my favorite ways to get charged up is to look at photos for color ideas. My daughter loves to take micro photos of flowers and plants, which yield some lovely color variations. I like to take photos of scenery or people, which can give me some interesting color combinations. Here is one photo we took the other day during a walk.

There are a few different color combinations I can make based on just this photo. The first way might be to use variations of the flowers' coloring. Another ways is to use colors from the different objects in the photo to get a wider variety of colors. Another way is to select a couple of shades from a few objects. Here are three different color combinations I made using the three ways mentioned.

Color Combination #1

This color combination uses colors just from the main flower.  The first two colors are from the petals and the other three are taken from the center. I love that a green pops up in there even though it isn't obvious looking at the photo. A photo editing program with a "dropper" lets me pick colors directly from the photo. I can then fill the boxes with my selected colors. I think these colors would work well for a spring or summer project. Or I might use these colors just because they are happy and joyful.

Color Combination #2

This color combination was taken from mostly from the background rather than the flowers themselves. The two greens are from the leaves and stems. The two grays are from the rocks. The golden yellow is from the center of the main flower. I love grays and yellows together as a color combination. Adding a splash or two of green is a great way to change it up.

Color Combination #3

This color combination includes a variety of sources for the color selection. The central flower gives two colors, gray and yellow. Another color is taken from the leaves. A fourth color is selected from the background rocks and a fifth color is taken from tiny purplish pink flower even farther in the background.


So with one photo I've created three color combinations that I can use in any of my creative projects. An art journal page, a mixed media piece, a knitted or crochet project or possibly a handmade card could all use any of these color choices.

Which color combination would you use? Do you like to get color inspiration from photos? I'd love to hear your color inspiration in the comments.