[BadassFractal]

Do you guys know of any solid guides on how to use and mix and match colors in photography and video making to evoke certain specific emotions? It's easy to find materials on entry level color theory "here are complementary colors, here is a triad etc" but I haven't been able to find a good resource on how to use those coloring choices to influence viewer reactions. Seems like something everybody in the visual arts eventually has to master but also seems very undocumented, like a black art.

[jacobolus]

The links between colors and emotions are (at least somewhat) culturally specific and subjective. There have been some efforts to classify specific cultures’ associations and preferences which you can find in a search of the academic literature. It’s hard to find much rigorous material on the subject though.

You can of course also find many artists and art teachers with grandiose personal theories about the subject.

My recommendation is to just put the time and work into learning your own personal preferences, by doing your own color exercises. For some design-y ideas about exercises to try see e.g. Josef Albers’s book. For photography, the best training IMO is to just make and look at lots of pictures.

[theoh]

I'm in the field (recent MA in art).

Colour theory, beyond the important concept of complementaries, is very unscientific. I'm not aware of any credible, rigorous scientific findings about colour and emotion that are actually used by artists. (I'm not saying that no credible research will ever exist: see links here https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/the-science-behind... )

Painters (etc.) choose and apply colour in an intuitive way. Some artists are known as "colourists" for their skill in orchestrating colour effects. The way to learn is to look at that kind of work and absorb the aesthetic.

[BadassFractal]

That's been my experience as well when trying to learn from artists who do this. As you said, they most often will simply follow their intuition built over many years of trying different things and learning what seems to cause what kind of result. It'd certainly be neat to shortcut that process, I don't think there's anything magical about it, it's just that people have likely never had to bother.

[fenomas]

I once worked in a room full of graphic designers - which was pretty educational - and quite often their process for this was simply: (1) spend some time searching for images that evoke the feelings you're going for, and then (2) pick out a palette of colors from the images you've collected.

[Baeocystin]

Take an art history course. Pay close attention to how the artists that Western culture* holds up as ideals used color.

There are no shortcuts. Emotionally evocative use of color is 90% cultural, and the only way to learn how we in the West interpret color use is long-term study over time, the same as learning to interpret literature, philosophy, or sculpture.

(*assuming your intended audience is Western. You'll still want to at least touch on other major systems as well to increase contextual knowledge.)

[jfoutz]

It's non obvious. I really enjoyed this a few years ago [1]. I'd suggest looking up color correction in movies. There are more blogs about that, and due to the nature of the media they focus on the really effective stuff first. If there are cars, make the brake lights red, and all the same red. Make taxis that iconic yellow, even if they aren't that specific yellow in the shot.

Heavy handed, but if you're doing advertising where the best you can get is a fraction of a second, those heavy techniques will serve you well.

[1] http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-ho...

[ryandrake]

I honestly prefer the "Marissa Mayer" method[1] of A/B testing 41 shades of blue in order to experimentally determine which one produces the best results. If you have even the slightest ability to test at scale this makes the most sense to me.

1: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/business/01marissa.html

[kuldeepk]

I recently saw this cool video talking about colors in storytelling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgFcNUWqX0

[cmurf]

Psychophysics is the scientific area of study for this. But much of it is learned, and is effected by culture, generation, location. It's quite complex.