Colour balance


When a colour dominates its immediate surroundings in terms of hue, intensity or value, it can create imbalance. If we visualise colour in terms of weight, we can readily imagine that an area of dominant colour is "heavier: than an equal area of subordinate colour. In developing a balanced colour scheme, it is important to take into account the 'weight' of each colour, as these diagrams illustrate:

Colour balance fig one: These two colours have the same intensity, but the blue colour is darker in value. Even if equal areas of both colours are used, blue will be dominant.
Colour balance fig two: Even if two colours have the same value, they can still be unbalanced if there is a difference in intensity of colour. Here the darker colour dominates.