White, black and shades of grey

White - when using white, try using

off-white

Black - when using black, try using

dark colours/shades of greyJet black looks quite artificial - it’s not around us in

nature. Some artists never use black but mix it from other colours

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASisley-Bridge_at_Villeneuve-la-Garenne.jpg

Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne, 1872, by Alfred Sisley (1839 - 1899)

Fine ArtMany of the Impressionist painters avoided black

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGeorges_Seurat_012.jpg

Bridge of Courbevoie, 1886-87, by Georges Seurat (1859–1891)

Varying black and white

Using off-white and different tones of black (e.g. dark grey) may still give the impression you are using black and white but the effect is

softer:

M O T I V A T I O N

Which example above uses pure white and jet black, and which uses off-white and dark grey?

1 2

M O T I V A T I O N

Black, white, grey and colour

Black, white and grey are neutral colours and therefore it is easy to place colours next to them

M O T I V A T I O N

1 2

M O T I V A T I O N

Removing colours changing saturationYou can open an image in Photoshop and de-saturate colours (i.e. make them greyer). Select Image > Adjustments > Hue, then select the colour from the

drop down menu, and slide the saturation to the left:

In the photo on the right, the background has been

greyed out by de-saturating the green and yellow tones. Notice the

grey still harmonises with the girl’s dress and

colour tones

Summary questions

Look around you and if something looks pure jet black or brilliant white, ask yourself is it really?

Identify anything that has grey combined with

colour: is it harmonious?

Open an image and de-saturate the background so the foreground becomes coloured