Colours are one of the few important aspects of photography. It attracts the viewer, evokes emotions, gives a sense of distance, environment, atmosphere, time of the day and even an era of time.
I'd like to categorise some of my portraits in terms of colour. Although, it is something that I have trouble with, I admit. Sometimes we decide on a colour in our minds or see a colour we want to replicate, but it is never the same. It's sort of like a blueprint to each individual artist. The rosy brown clouds in the sky during dusk, not the usual golden hour nor is it too dull, it's a nice blend of magenta warmth with a solitary brown. Or the tinge of green in blue surrounded by yellow who sort of tricks you that it is yellow or is it? For more of my model photography works, visit Our momento.
Though those are colours during given circumstances or locations, colours are tricky. From the environment to the props and what colour you add into photoshoot pre-production, to the calibrated monitors and post-production editing and where you were during the time of edit.
It all comes down to characteristics of colour, that is, hue, saturation and brightness but I do feel that colour contrast influences our perception as well (how yellow is yellow beside blue). I did not research too much about it but I did read a little and this article https://www.britannica.com/science/color/The-perception-of-colour explains the experience, that is, simultaneous colour contrast and chromatic adaptation. Colours relative to one another, be it side by side or foreground & background.
It is quite important during that split moment while an individual (colourist) is editing a colour, it is always changing, hence they really need to see the 'true colours' or it is advised to step back and come back to the image in a while. To adapt and be decisive with colours is a skill that requires some time even for a trained eye to master. Therefore they are the experts, because, at the end of the day, it really depends on how well the individual knows and appreciates their choice versus what to show to their audience. All these might not even be an issue because without a before & after reference to colours, the audience (except those who saw the variations) will never judge the final image's colours to itself and that ironically, is another relative matter. I might go more in-depth on these topics in my blog sometime in the near future.
I try to go for a subtly saturated colour palette. However, I do recognise all the beauty of colours and will be developing myself in more visually harmonious colours along the way.