Warm vs Cool

[Brandon Whiteside]

Can anybody elaborate on what feelings shooting warm (more orangy) and cool (blueish) unknowingly establish in a viewer's mind? What other ways can feelings be established into a person's mind without them knowing?

[Paul Bruening]

Can anybody elaborate on what feelings shooting warm (more orangy) and cool (blueish) unknowingly establish in a viewer's mind? What other ways can feelings be established into a person's mind without them knowing?

 

Here are some common associations of color temperature: You've already stated the dominant one- Warm and cool. These are emotive labels that are used in place of what would seem more technically correct. At its base imagine how you would feel sitting in a field in the moonlight and being cold and alone. Then imagine sitting next to a fire and being warm and safe with the company of others.

 

In art school we were taught that cools recede and warms assert. If you were looking at a canvas full of cool colors, the canvas would emotionally fall away from you. If it is successful painting it should draw you in with it. If you stand in front of a canvas with warm tones, the painting will come off the canvas (emotionally speaking) toward you. I've used this technique by painting nudes and portraits with slightly warmish tones and the BGs in coolish tones. It really does make the subject pop off the canvas.

 

There is no proof of any of this. It's in that category of Bandwagon where the idea is true only because enough people agree it is.

[Frank Barrera]

Can anybody elaborate on what feelings shooting warm (more orangy) and cool (blueish) unknowingly establish in a viewer's mind? What other ways can feelings be established into a person's mind without them knowing?

Faber Birren wrote an interesting book on this subject called COLOR & HUMAN RESPONSE. Its a little dated as it was published in 1978 but there are a great many idea to ponder for someone interested in color, light and their effects on human experience.

 

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