The Value of Contrast
This handy-dandy little strip is called a gray scale and gives a tool for talking about how light or dark a color is (although my watercolor instructor generally calls out colors on a scale from 1 to 10, with darkest black being 10).
Take the young lady pictured. If you were describing her to someone, wouldn’t the first thing you mentioned be her dark hair? About a level 2, wouldn’t you say?
Contrast can be achieved in any of the three color characteristics: hue, value, or saturation; but value (light or dark) is what I believe we notice first.
How that relates to getting dressed:
- The hair is the basic frame for the face. The garment that completes the frame, as illustrated in my previous post Focus on the Face, should be roughly the same color value as the hair.
- Two colors worn near the face could repeat the color value of the hair and skin, especially in a high contrast combination such as is shown here.
- In my case, hair and skin are nearly the same value, so mimicking the values of my skin and eyes (as in the new profile picture) is more interesting.
- Alternatively, when wearing just a color that approximates the skin tone, combine it with white or black.
BTW, don’t you think her glasses flattering on her?
cool post, Rebecca. I am thinking a lot about this now, and am really getting it finally. I am like you; pale hair, pale skin, pale eyes pale lips. I’m a washout basically. I look good in lighter values of things I suppose, with dark to add emphasis. Like punctuation.
You know what REALLY helps you see this? Black and white photography. If you have that function on your camera or PC, you can see if you like your contrast levels, etc. This same principal helps me in color too. Sometimes I get dressed, have my kid take a photo, then I realize, “Oooooh, I need an ANCHOR of dark at the bottom here,” or something similar like that.
You’re right about black and white photography: in our painting class, we start with five weeks of only black and white. After that, we can use a black and white copy of a color picture to help get the values right in a color picture.
But why does everybody online think I have pale eyes?
a) Because unless one has an eye-fetish, eyes are hard to notice in photos unless they’re quite close-up and/or portrait lit, particularly with the distraction of glasses, and
b) People expect fair eyes in the fair-skinned and -haired.
Anyhow,
c) yes, she has nice glasses, and
d) this is probably why I’ve been gravitating more and more to very strong jewel tones in recent years - boldly colored hair (emphatically red) and eyes (emphatically green).
Interested in that last bullet item - it makes sense when I visualize it, but I can’t figure out why.
Why I wear darker rimmed glasses: to counter-act the glasses causing the dark brown to disappear.
What color glasses I’d get if I had your coloring? Grape! My daughter with the auburn hair and soft green eyes was looking for purple glasses a few years ago, but ended up with kind of a copper color with sparkles. Still fun!
On the last one, I think it’s just the contrast setting the garment apart from the face, but maybe there’s more to it.
Rebecca you have a very light value overall, but your dark eyes add some contrast - but because it’s such a small percentage of you - rather than being a high contrast, it lowers your contrast down to medium (or low contrast, but with tiny splashes of high contrast, to harmonise with your eyes).
Rebecca - that’s so funny. Purple *is* a good color and I wear a ton of it, though it would be the wrong choice for glasses for me (too conservative - I’d feel like I was wearing a costume) unless maybe it was very dark. I don’t wear my glasses often, but my frames are copper.
Imogen - thanks. That makes sense. Now I just have to think through how that fits with what I wear.
MellaDP - I guess we’ve established what color glasses people with your coloring should get.
I still don’t get why American Girls doesn’t offer a doll with red hair and green eyes. That, to me, seems a “standard” combination. Oh well!
Rebecca, I ALWAYS noticed your brown eyes, never mistook them for blue.
I went to a wardrobe sale at a Hollywood studio today. It was a zoo, but yours truly was FIRST in line at 6:30 a.m. so had my pick. I ended up spending ten bucks on a gorgeous Isabella Fiore bag and I also got three sparkly brooches. The clothing was just too over whelming. And too small!!! I better post about it. What an experience!
What fun, Karen! I wish I could have been there to go with you!