Surreal Colour Schemes.

I wanted to experiment with different colour schemes and how they could effect the mood and overall appearance of the piece. To do this I first researched into the theory and psychology of colour, including Picassos blue and rose periods. I them created a colour palett using possible colour schemes and starting points that I was personally drawn too, and discussed the feelings created by these colours.

After I had decided my basic colour scheme I then used found imagery to experiment with before experimenting with my own photographs. To do this I used photoshop. 

I first selected the image I wanted to use and created a new layer in Photoshop which I filled with a block colour, this layer was dragged below the photograph and would become the background colour.

Once I had filled my background colour I then added the image over the top. I created a third layer which was also filled a block colour which contrasted against the existing background. I then used the colour range tool to select the background of the image and highlight this. Once the background of the image was selected I deleted it to reveal the block colour layer below creating a new background. 

Whilst the outline of the image was selected I also selected the top layer (colour block) and deleted everything selected around the outside. This left the outline of the subject filled in the chosen block colour on top of the coloured background I had created. 

Finally I selected the layer mode that I felt would work best which allowed the image below to show through the later mask on top of the existing photograph. 

For this particular sample I used the layer mode 'soft light'.

I then experimented with a slightly more pigmented layer mask, by choosing a darker shade of pink over the top of the existing image. 

I also perimeter with reversing this colour scheme choosing a pink background and a green/blue layer mask. 

Finally I decided to experiment with layering photographs over the top of each other, for this I used two different layer masks and two copies of the same image. I moved these slightly apart so they were not exactly aligned allowing the two different layer masks to show. 

For this sample I moved the layer masks as well as the images so they layer masks did not align completely giving a more abstract effect. 

This involved separating the different layers slightly so that different parts of the layer masks and images showed.