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Before&After
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i U X
How to cool
a hot photo
When your photo can’t be changed,
surround it with cool color.
Continued 
Continued 
How to cool a hot photo
0472
Before&After
BAmagazine.com
®
i U X
How to cool a hot photo
When your photo can’t be changed, surround it with cool color
Whew! You can almost feel the heat. Reds,
oranges, yellows and golds radiate from
every molecule; even the water is hot. San
Diego, that famously balmy city, never looked
like this in real life. But our assignment is
to create a brochure cover for an upcoming
conference (or for any event in which the city
itself is part of the attraction), and this hot,
monotone skyline is the photo they want.
So the challenge is, how do we cool it off, so
visitors won’t come expecting to swelter? The
answer is found on the color wheel between
ice blue and yellow, in the turquoise blues
and verdant greens of springtime. Watch.
Cool
Warm
Cold
Hot
The color wheel is an
artificial device that’s
good but not perfect—
colors in nature aren’t
so evenly distributed—
whose purpose is to
show color relationships.
Also on the wheel are
values (dark-light) and
temperature.
 2 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo
0472
Before&After
®
How to cool a hot photo
3 of 12
BAmagazine.com
i U X
First step: Find the color palette in your photo
Every photo has a natural color palette; first step is to find it and organize it. Zoom in
on your photo, and you’ll be astonished by how many colors you see.
First, reduce the photo to a
manageable number of colors;
the easiest way is to create
a mosaic using Photoshop’s
Mosaic filter (Filter>Pixelate>
Mosaic). Working from the biggest areas (sky, skyline, water)
to the smallest, extract colors
with the eyedropper tool. For
contrast, pick up dark, medium
and light pixels of each color.
Then—this is important—sort
your selections by color and
each color by value (dark to
light). This lets you see every
color in relation to the others.
It’s obvious just by looking that
this palette is very narrow.
Sky
Skyline dark
Skyline light
Water
 3 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo
0472
Before&After
®
How to cool a hot photo
4 of 12
BAmagazine.com
i U X
Locate your colors on the wheel
To find compatible colors, we first need to know the relationship of our colors to
others on the wheel. Working by eye (the wheel’s not exact, remember), locate your
swatches by hue (color) and value.
Tint
Hue
All the colors in this image are in the yelloworange, orange-red range, quite unusual. The sky
is somewhat yellower, some shades are darker
than our chart, but this is the zone.
Shade
 4 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo
0472
Before&After
®
How to cool a hot photo
5 of 12
BAmagazine.com
i U X
What we know
Our photo is full of colors in the orange range, and very warm. Orange’s opposite—
or complement—is blue, the coldest color. Let’s start there.
Tints and shades
Color is made darker or lighter by adding black (a shade)
or white (a tint). Because they are color neutral, black and
white do not change the hue. As a result, any one color
plus its own tints and shades always coordinate naturally.
Such a palette is called monochromatic. Blue and orange
are opposites, or complements, as shown above.
A color in common
Adding yellow to blue yields the cool range; these
are the colors of water, new growth, springtime.
They are peaceful colors, tranquil and refreshing.
As with a monochromatic palette, all hues that share
a color— blue, in this case — coordinate naturally. Any
color in this range will work with any other.
 5 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo
0472
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Share the love!
E-mail this article!
Color the brochure
It’s time to take that hot photo and submerge it in cool colors. For depth, coolness and
beauty, two colors are better than one, and three colors are better than two.
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Ice All blue monochromatic palette is very cold and has very
high value contrast with yellow-orange. Blue and orange have
no color in common and therefore have high color contrast, too.
High contrast normally equals high energy, but here the conservative dark blue (think winter) mitigates that somewhat.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
 6 of 12 
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How to cool a hot photo
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i U X
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Cold Moving toward yellow is a cool mix of blues and
greens; the greens share warm yellows with the photo, while
the blues provide the ice. Blue dominates, keeping the overall
effect cold. The colors shown here have similar value and
therefore low contrast.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
 7 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo 0472
Before&After ®
How to cool a hot photo
8 of 12
BAmagazine.com
i U X
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Cool Closer to yellow, the palette is warmer still. These are
the colors of springtime, cool and refreshing— but with sun in
the sky! Green dominates. Green has a lot of yellow in common
with the ­photo, yet the aqua blue keeps the effect cool.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
 8 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo 0472
Before&After ®
How to cool a hot photo
9 of 12
BAmagazine.com
i U X
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Warm Here, all the colors are yellow-green, a mono­
chromatic palette that has the most color in common with
the photo and yields the warmest ­image; it doesn’t really
cool the skyline very much.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
 9 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo 0472
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How to cool a hot photo
BAmagazine.com
10 of 12
i U X
Tone down the color
Less saturated colors (more black or white and less hue) yield quieter, more “professional”
palettes. Quantity matters; the more of a color, the greater its influence.
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Analogous (side by side) tints with
very low contrast are soft and
touchable. Think baby products.
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Photo stands out against light
tints, which recede. Yellow “city”
color connects head to photo.
CitiPlan
CitiPlan
2010
2010
sandiego
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Dusty, dark-light monochrome is
handsome; identical opposite corners act as a frame.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Low-contrast green-blue and light
blue harmonize; light green and
white cool the headline.
 10 of 12 
How to cool a hot photo 0472
Before&After ®
How to cool a hot photo
BAmagazine.com
11 of 12
i U X
Article resources
CitiPlan
CitiPlan
1a
2010
2010
1b
sandiego
7
8
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
6
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
14 C65 M40 Y0 K0
9
10
7
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
11 12 13
14 15 16
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
4
C100 M60 Y0 K45
5
C100 M60 Y0 K25
6
C30 M15 Y0 K0
7
C100 M0 Y40 K0
8
C100 M0 Y90 K0
9
C100 M0 Y40 K45
CitiPlan
10 C60 M0 Y100 K10
sandiego
11 C60 M0 Y100 K45
2010
7
17 18 19
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
9
16
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
9
16 C60 M0 Y25 K0
18 C25 M0 Y10 K0
Color
12 C60 M0 Y100 K0
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
15 C60 M0 Y55 K0
17 C12 M0 Y20 K0
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
2010
5
2010
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
CitiPlan
4
sandiego
1 (a–c) Helvetica Neue 25 Ultra Light
a) 41 pt, b) 72 pt, c) 33 pt
3 Helvetica Neue 35 Thin | 8/8.5 pt
5
2
3
Typefaces
2 Helvetica Neue 75 Bold | 8/8.5 pt
sandiego
1c
CitiPlan
19 C3 M31 Y80 K0
Color wheel
Before & After’s color
wheel is an abbreviated
version of the model
in Bride M. Whelan’s
book, Color Harmony 2,
a digest-size reference
work that also includes a brief introduction to color theory and plenty of
color examples with CMYK mixes. It’s
strength is its brevity. Very handy.
13 C35 M0 Y60 K0
14 13
 11 of 12 
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Before & After magazine
Before & After has been sharing its practical approach
to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world
has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &
After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
John McWade Publisher and creative director
Gaye McWade Associate publisher
Vincent Pascual Staff designer
Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer
Before & After magazine
323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678
Telephone 916-784-3880
Fax 916-784-3995
E-mail [email protected]
www http://www.bamagazine.com
Copyright ©2006 Before & After magazine
ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved
You may pass along a free copy of this article to others
by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you
may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections
for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and
let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your
Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com.
For all other permissions, please contact us.
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Warm
How to cool
a hot photo
Cool
Hot
How to cool a hot photo 0472
The color wheel is an
artificial device that’s
good but not perfect—
colors in nature aren’t
so evenly distributed—
whose purpose is to
show color relationships.
Also on the wheel are
values (dark-light) and
temperature.
Cold
When your photo can’t be changed,
surround it with cool color.
1 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Whew! You can almost feel the heat. Reds,
oranges, yellows and golds radiate from
every molecule; even the water is hot. San
Diego, that famously balmy city, never looked
like this in real life. But our assignment is
to create a brochure cover for an upcoming
conference (or for any event in which the city
itself is part of the attraction), and this hot,
monotone skyline is the photo they want.
So the challenge is, how do we cool it off, so
visitors won’t come expecting to swelter? The
answer is found on the color wheel between
ice blue and yellow, in the turquoise blues
and verdant greens of springtime. Watch.
0472 How to cool a hot photo

First step: Find the color palette in your photo

Water
Skyline light
Skyline dark
Sky
Every photo has a natural color palette; first step is to find it and organize it. Zoom in
on your photo, and you’ll be astonished by how many colors you see.
First, reduce the photo to a
manageable number of colors;
the easiest way is to create
a mosaic using Photoshop’s
Mosaic filter (Filter>Pixelate>
Mosaic). Working from the biggest areas (sky, skyline, water)
to the smallest, extract colors
with the eye­dropper tool. For
contrast, pick up dark, medium
and light pixels of each color.
Then—this is important—sort
your selections by ­color and
each color by value (dark to
light). This lets you see every
color in relation to the others.
It’s obvious just by looking that
this palette is very narrow.
Locate your colors on the wheel
Tint
Hue
Shade
How to cool a hot photo 0472
To find compatible colors, we first need to know the relationship of our colors to
others on the wheel. Working by eye (the wheel’s not exact, remember), locate your
swatches by hue (color) and value.
2 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
All the colors in this image are in the yelloworange, orange-red range, quite unusual. The sky
is somewhat yellower, some shades are darker
than our chart, but this is the zone.
0472 How to cool a hot photo

What we know
How to cool a hot photo 0472

A color in common
Adding yellow to blue yields the cool range; these
are the colors of water, new growth, springtime.
They are peaceful colors, tranquil and refreshing.
As with a monochromatic palette, all hues that share
a color— blue, in this case — coordinate naturally. Any
color in this range will work with any other.
Our photo is full of colors in the orange range, and very warm. Orange’s opposite —
or complement — is blue, the coldest color. Let’s start there.
Tints and shades
Color is made darker or lighter by adding black (a shade)
or white (a tint). Because they are color neutral, black and
white do not change the hue. As a result, any one color
plus its own tints and shades ­always coordinate naturally.
Such a palette is called monochromatic. Blue and orange
are opposites, or complements, as shown above.
Color the brochure
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
3 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Ice All blue monochromatic palette is very cold and has very
high value contrast with yellow-orange. Blue and orange have
no color in common and therefore have high color contrast, too.
High contrast normally equals high energy, but here the conservative dark blue (think winter) mitigates that somewhat.
It’s time to take that hot photo and submerge it in cool colors. For depth, coolness and
beauty, two colors are better than one, and three colors are better than two.
0472 How to cool a hot photo

0472 How to cool a hot photo
CitiPlan
2010
Cold Moving toward yellow is a cool mix of blues and
greens; the greens share warm yellows with the photo, while
the blues provide the ice. Blue dominates, keeping the overall
effect cold. The colors shown here have similar value and
therefore low contrast.
Cool Closer to yellow, the palette is warmer still. These are
the colors of springtime, cool and refreshing— but with sun in
the sky! Green dominates. Green has a lot of yellow in common
with the ­photo, yet the aqua blue keeps the effect cool.
How to cool a hot photo 0472

sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
4 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com

CitiPlan
2010
Warm Here, all the colors are yellow-green, a mono­
chromatic palette that has the most color in common with
the photo and yields the warmest ­image; it doesn’t really
cool the skyline very much.
CitiPlan
CitiPlan

sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Tone down the color
CitiPlan
Less saturated colors (more black or white and less hue) yield quieter, more “professional”
palettes. Quantity matters; the more of a color, the greater its influence.
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
2010
sandiego
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
2010
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
How to cool a hot photo 0472
Low-contrast green-blue and light
blue harmonize; light green and
white cool the headline.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Dusty, dark-light monochrome is
handsome; identical opposite corners act as a frame.
5 of 6
Before&After | www.bamagazine.com
Photo stands out against light
tints, which recede. Yellow “city”
color connects head to photo.
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
Analogous (side by side) tints with
very low contrast are soft and
touchable. Think baby products.
0472 How to cool a hot photo

1a
CitiPlan
8
sandiego
2010
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
7
CitiPlan
CitiPlan
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
10
7
sandiego
2010
9
CitiPlan
2010
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
sandiego
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
14 15 16
CitiPlan
11 12 13
sandiego
2010
5
Article resources
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
6
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
5
CitiPlan
2010
Typefaces
1 (a–c) Helvetica Neue 25 Ultra Light
a) 41 pt, b) 72 pt, c) 33 pt
2 Helvetica Neue 75 Bold | 8/8.5 pt
3 Helvetica Neue 35 Thin | 8/8.5 pt
8
7
6
5
4
C100 M0 Y40 K45
C100 M0 Y90 K0
C100 M0 Y40 K0
C30 M15 Y0 K0
C100 M60 Y0 K25
C100 M60 Y0 K45
Color
9
10 C60 M0 Y100 K10
11 C60 M0 Y100 K45
12 C60 M0 Y100 K0
13 C35 M0 Y60 K0
14 C65 M40 Y0 K0
15 C60 M0 Y55 K0
16 C60 M0 Y25 K0
17 C12 M0 Y20 K0
18 C25 M0 Y10 K0
19 C3 M31 Y80 K0
Color wheel
Before & After’s color
wheel is an abbreviated
version of the model
in Bride M. Whelan’s
book, Color Harmony
2, a digest-size reference work that also includes a brief
introduction to color theory and plenty
of color examples with CMYK mixes. It’s
strength is its brevity. Very handy.
Before & After magazine
Before & After has been sharing its practical approach
to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world
has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &
After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
John McWade Publisher and creative director
Gaye McWade Associate publisher
Vincent Pascual Staff designer
Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer
Before & After magazine
323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678
Telephone 916-784-3880
Fax 916-784-3995
E-mail [email protected]
www http://www.bamagazine.com
Copyright ©2006 Before & After magazine
ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved
You may pass along a free copy of this article to others
by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you
may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections
for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and
let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your
Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com.
For all other permissions, please contact us.
How to cool a hot photo 0472

1b
1c
2
3
4
CitiPlan
2010
sandiego
14 13
sandiego
9
sandiego
16
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
9
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
17 18 19
Conference Guide
Convention of City Planners
August 16–20, 2010
www.cp06.org
2010
7
Subscribe to Before & After
Subscribe to Before & After, and become a
more capable, confident designer for pennies
per article. To learn more, go to
http://www.bamagazine.com/Subscribe
E-mail this article
To pass along a free copy of this article to
others, click here.
Join our e-list
To be notified by e-mail of new articles as
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0472 How to cool a hot photo