The Problems I face as a Colour-Blind Photographer.
Being a colour-blind photographer can be challenging because photography often relies on seeing and understanding colours accurately. Colour blindness can make it difficult to tell certain colours apart. In my case red and green, although I understand blue and yellow can also be a problem. I can see colours, I just see them differently from most people.
My main problem comes when I edit photographs. I struggle to adjust the white balance, saturation and colour tones, which can affect how realistic the final image looks. I also find it difficult to recognise when a photograph has a colour cast or when the colours do not look natural. I usually ask my son how my final edits look, and sometimes I ignore him and accept that I have a particular style.
Another challenge is choosing the right colours when composing a photograph. I find it harder to notice colour contrasts, which can affect the mood and balance of an image. In some situations, this may make it more difficult to capture the scene exactly as I imagined it.
However, colour blindness does not prevent me from becoming a successful photographer. My best solution is to view other photographers images where they have been taken at the same time in the same conditions. This is invaluable for me to calibrate my vision. I often hound friends to see their images. However, in saying this I often just ignore it as other people’s images just look insipid through my eyes. No criticism of the other photographers images, the problem is entirely mine. By developing my skills and using these tools, I can still hopefully create beautiful and professional (ish) photographs.
Although beautiful in my eye. I have developed my own style which has a dark feel and heavily saturated blacks. Some will like some won’t, that’s art.