Color Splash Photography – Highlighting the Scene with a Pop of Color
Discover color splash photography: a striking editing technique that combines black-and-white imagery with a single colored element to draw the eye and enhance the composition.
The color splash technique involves desaturating an image while keeping one or more selected areas in full color. The result is a black-and-white photograph in which a colored object becomes the focal point of the composition.
This process guides the viewer’s eye and emphasizes a graphic, architectural, or symbolic detail. It plays with visual contrast and amplifies the reading of the scene by adding a deliberate aesthetic or narrative touch.
In the examples below, I’ve applied this technique to iconic or geometric urban subjects: a red ramp leading to a modern lobby, a purple light column framed in concrete, or even the Eiffel Tower in yellow standing out against a desaturated city background. Each color splash offers a reinterpreted view of the scene with a bold graphic approach.
For a different creative approach to Paris, explore this series of iconic photographs of Paris monuments.
This technique, often associated with artistic intention or visual storytelling, has roots in the history of street photography and some practices of contemporary photomontage.
Here are a few examples below.
Click on the photos below to view them full screen.
About the author: Sebastien Desnoulez is a fine art photographer with a passion for visual contrasts and creative post-processing. His work explores graphic minimalism, urban aesthetics, and inventive storytelling through color and form. Discover more in this collection of iconic photographs of Paris.
All the photos displayed on this website are copyright protected © Sebastien Desnoulez. No use allowed without written authorization.
Legal notice
Tags
