Colour Schemes

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We have been absent from the blogosphere for quite some time because of all the other things we did. One renovation rarely comes alone. The renovation of our library was followed by the renovation of our living room. The biggest challenge was to find a colour scheme. Then the new colours asked for a modernised setting and we had some fun and lot of work decluttering the room. This was not done without big discussions and quite some tension. Dina likes the Scandinavian “Hygge” whereas Master reacts allergic to furniture. We just survived this. Now we have time for blogging again. In our next blog we will present the transformation of our living room.

Lange besuchten wir nicht mehr die Bloggerwelt, da wir mit sooo viel Anderem beschäftigt waren. Eine Renovierung kommt selten allein. Die Renovierung unserer Bibliothek zog sogleich die Renovierung, Modernisierung und Entrümpelung unseres Wohnzimmers mit sich. Als das nun endlich geschafft war und wir auch, kam die große Diskussion über die Einrichtung. Das haben wir (so gerade) überlebt und nun ist wieder Zeit zum Bloggen. In unserem nächsten Blog wollen Siri und Selma euch stolz unser Wohnzimmer zeigen.

With the renovation and choice of fittings we were constantly confronted with colour schemes – and not only there. As we changed the style of our rooms Dina wanted to change the style of her photography as well as she was using a new camera, a Fuji XT3 besides her old Nikon D800. Nightlong we discussed theories about colour composition as the success of a photography largely depends on its colour scheme.

Mit der Renovierung und Einrichtung kam ständig die Frage des Farbschemas auf – und nicht nur dort. Wie wir unseren Stil im Haus änderten, so wollte Dina mit ihrer neuen Kamera, einer Fuji XT3, auch den Stil ihrer Fotos ändern. Das brachte nächtelange Diskussionen über Farbkompositionstheorien mit Masterchen, da es doch heißt, dass der Großteil des Erfolgs eines Fotos von seinem Farbschema abhängig ist.

This is what we tried out:
Hier seht ihr, was wir ausprobierten:

Female hen in our garden 2019

The green background enhances the reddish pink of the female pheasant in our garden. That’s because red and green are complimentary colours. This follows a holistic aesthetics like Goethe represents it in his “Theory of Colours” (1810). Wholeness is harmony was his credo and therefore complementary contrasts are beautiful. Green is the subtractive colour mixing of blue and yellow and this together with red represents all primary colours. Cezanne was fascinated by complimentary contrasts which he used in his pictures to enhance the colours.  

Der grüne Hintergrund bringt den rötlichen Rosaton der Fasanin in unserem Garten mehr hervor, da Grün und Rot Komplementärfarben sind. Das entspricht einer ganzheitlichen Ästhetikauffassung wie sie z.B. Goethe in seiner Farbenlehre vertrat. Ganzheit ist harmonisch war das Kredo und deswegen sind Komplementärkontraste schön. Das heißt Grün ist die subtraktive Mischung von Blau und Gelb und das zusammen mit Rot repräsentiert alle Primärfarben. Cezanne hat sich eingehend mit Komplementärkontrasten beschäftigt. Er setzte diese in seinen Bildern ein, um die Wirkung seiner Farben zu steigern.

Robin on our table

The colours are enhanced in this picture. That’s why the food pellets look like gems. Additional, the colours are enhanced by the black background. The warm brownish red of the Robbin and the cold pinkish ground don’t go together well. The picture of the Robbin is perfect in front of the black background but the ground attracts the eye of the onlooker too much. The colour of the food pellets are a too big an attraction. Therefore the eye of the onlooker doesn’t find a resting point.   

In diesem Bild wurden die Farben teilweise verstärkt, weswegen die Futterpellets wie Edelsteine wirken. Zur Verstärkung der Farbe trägt noch der schwarze Hintergrund bei. Das Rosa des Untergrunds und das Orange des Rotkehlchens wirkt auf uns unharmonisch. Der kalte und der warme Farbton passen nicht zueinander. Vor dem schwarzen Hintergrund wirkt das Rotkehlchen perfekt, aber der Untergrund lenkt durch seine Farbigkeit das Auge vom Objekt ab. Die Futterpellets wecken zu sehr die Aufmerksamkeit des Betrachters, so dass das Auge keinen eindeutigen Ruhepunkt findet.

This is an example of a desaturated background. The background colour’s power is broken which can be done by thinning it out or mixing white into it. Here the background colour is based on a similar colour as the Robbin’s reddish orange breast. That’s playing with shades of similar colours of object and background. Such graduations of similar colours by desaturation are often found in pictures of landscapes. In nature this effect is produced by fog. Such colour schemes are often used to produce a romantic mood.

Dies ist ein Beispiel von einem Hintergrund mit einer desaturierten Farbe oder auch Pastellfarbe. Hierbei wird die Hintergrundfarbe ihrer Kraft beraubt, indem sie weißgebrochen oder stark ausgedünnt wird. Diese Hintergrundfarbe nimmt das Rotorange des Rotkehlchens gebrochen auf. Dies ist ein Spiel mit den Abstufungen ähnlicher Farben bei Objekt und Hintergrund. Solche Abstufungen gleicher oder ähnlicher Farben mit Desaturierung finden wir oft in der Landschaftsmalerei. In der Natur kommt dieser Effekt häufig bei Nebel vor. Meist wird ein solches Farbschema benutzt, um eine romantische Stimmung zu schaffen.

Proud swans with their cygnets

The effect of this picture, that our Master and we Bookfayries very much like, is based on the light-darkness-contrast. Basically, all prismatic colours and white are much brighter set against a neutral black. Emil Nolde, who is seen as one of the greatest masters of colour in the art in the 20th c., used this technique by framing his pictures with black frames which made his colours very bright and vivid. In this picture the white of the swans and the orange of their beaks is enhanced by the background colour.
It’s quite special that the black background is produced by photographing and not by editing. The photo was taken at sunset with the Fuji XT3 and the 100-400mm lens. Dina was ready to pack up and go home when the swans suddenly moved to a place on the lake where trees and bushes didn’t allow any light to come through, hence the blackness. When Dina came home she was so pleased with the four last pictures with the black background that she deleted all the 156 photos taken earlier that evening. Are you good at deleting your digital pictures? 😉

Bei diesem Bild, das Masterchen und die liebklugen Buchfeen sehr lieben, wurde dessen Wirkung durch den Hell-Dunkel-Kontrast erzeugt. Grundsätzlich kann man sagen, dass jede prismatische Farbe und Weiß gegen Schwarz gesetzt, leuchtender wirkt. Emil Nolde, der als einer der größten Farbenkünstler des 20. Jh. gesehen wird, wandte diese Technik bei vielen seiner stark farbigen Bilder an, indem er sie mit einem schwarzen Rahmen versah, was deren Farben noch mehr hervortreten ließ. Auch in diesem Foto wird das Weiß der Schwäne und das Orange ihrer Schnäbel verstärkt, da sie vor einem schwarzen Hintergrund präsentiert werden.
Das Besondere bei diesem Bild ist, dass der dunkle Hintergrund fotografisch entstanden ist und nicht durch Editing. Das Foto wurde mit der Fuji XT3 und einer 100-400mm Linse aufgenommen. Dina wollte gerade alles zusammenpacken, als die Schwäne plötzlich zu einem Platz des Sees schwammen, an dem das Buschwerk und die Bäume alles Licht abschirmten. Von daher stammt der schwarze Hintergrund. Als sie nach Hause kam, war sie so zufrieden mit dem schwarzen Hintergrund, dass sie alle 156 Fotos, die sie zuvor aufgenommen hatte, löschte.
Wie haltet ihr es denn mit dem Löschen eurer digitalen Aufnahmen?

Klausbernd Vollmar in the little terns hide, 2019

In contrast to the last picture, the dark background in this picture is a result of editing. The photo of Klausbernd was taken in the doorway of a shed. In portraits the dark background enhances the colour and structure of the skin. Different to the swan-picture the background isn’t a pure black (actually a pure black doesn’t exist in pictures) but this shade of black picks up the colour of the skin what makes the picture harmonious. Therefore many painters like Caravaggio used shades of a black in which the colour of the object is represented.

Im Gegensatz zum vorigen Bild ist hier der dunkle Hintergrund durch die Bildbearbeitung erzeugt worden. Das Foto von Masterchen wurde in der Türe zu einem Schuppen aufgenommen. Bei Portraitaufnahmen betont der dunkle Hintergrund die Farbe und Struktur der Haut. Anders als im Bild der Schwäne ist der Hintergrund nicht rein Schwarz (reines Schwarz gibt es eh nicht), sondern der Schwarzton nimmt dezent die Farbe der Haut auf, was das Bild harmonisch wirken lässt. Viele Maler, wie z.B. Caravaggio, benutzten deswegen Schwarztöne, in die die Farbe des Objektes eingemischt wurde.

Marsh Ponies in the Broads

Finally, this photo of the two Norfolk Marsh Ponies was given a slightly more striking look with the green background blackened out. What do you think?

Diesem letzten Foto der beiden Marsch Ponies wurde ein auffälligeres Aussehen gegeben, indem der grüne Hintergrund geschwärzt wurde. Was meint ihr dazu?

Painters use their palette. It helps photographers as well to reflect their colour scheme. Ideally, photographers reach an individual colour scheme that immediately let the onlookers know who produced it. Like or friend Paul Keates who helped Dina with her new camera, inspired her to try new ways in photography and to go for a bolder colour scheme. 

Wie der Maler seine Palette wählt, so hilft es auch der Wirkung einer Fotografie, wenn der Fotograf sich über sein Farbschema Gedanken macht. Im Ideal kommt man zu seinem individuellen Farbschema, das bei jedem Bild seinen Produzenten erkennen lässt. Das kann man gut bei unserem Freund Paul Keates sehen, der Dina nicht nur beim Umgang mit ihrer neuen Kamera half, sondern sie auch inspirierte, neue Wege in ihrer Fotografie zu gehen und mutigere Farbschemata auszuprobieren.

With colourful greetings from the sea
Mit bunten Grüßen vom Meer

The Fab Four of Cley

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© Text and illustrations, Hanne Siebers and Klausbernd Vollmar, Cley next the Sea, 2019

 

192 thoughts

  1. Ich hatte mich schon gewundert, wo ihr vier geblieben seid. Da habt ihr ja interessante Farbideen herausgearbeitet. Ich hoffe, Hanne ist mit ihren neunen Farbschemen zufrieden.:-)
    Liebe Grüße aus dem etwas zu heißen Berlin von Susanne

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Liebe Susanne,
      wir sind nicht verschwunden, sondern waren sehr emsig. Zu der Renovierung kam noch, dass unser Garten ständig nach Aufmerksamkeit ruft. Da es angenehm warm ist, nicht so heiß wie bei dir, wächst alles, als ob wir in Tropen seien. Über das Farbschema unseres Wohnzimmer werden wir das nächste Mal bloggen.
      Liebe Grüße vom sommerlichen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

  3. Fine pictures, Dina! Keep up the background experiment! The swan photo is truly a great one, and the horses a close second! I’m glad that I resisted the enhanced Robin image before reading your text!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good afternoon, dear Peter,
      we love those background experiments and trying saturating and desaturating colours. For the time being we prefer black backgrounds. We are just studying the history of portraits and the effect of backgrounds there.
      Great that you like the swan and the horse photography.
      Wishing you a wonderful week and thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Excellent and very appealing photos, and thank you for the interesting and accessible lesson on color composition. The Caravaggio treatment seems very apt for a “Renaissance man,” and I’m sure Klausbernd must appreciate his portrait.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Robert,
      you are right, Klausbernd is more than happy with his portrait. He admires Renaissance men and loves Lucas Cranach’s portrait of Melanchthon.
      Thanks for your comment which is much appreciated.
      Have an easy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Sue,
      we love the dark background images most as well. With some objects a neutral grey background is effective too. Our Bookfayries love a grey background for objects with lots of unbroken yellow.
      Wishing you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Happy Summer Solstice to you as well!
      Indeed, black is the colour of secrets and deep mysteries what one can best see in the Buddhist iconography.
      Thanks and cheers
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • “Nothing is all & all is nothing” we like this. That’s exactly how we think about black.
      During the middle ages the cult of the black madonnas was very popular and black madonnas are still to today worshiped today for their healing powers. It’s the darkness where life comes from, it’s the river mud of the Nile, and under the soil the seedling starts to grow. In symbolism black was mostly seen as the mystical side of the female (the Anima-archetype).

      Liked by 5 people

    • When I wrote my book about the colour black (it’s available in German only) I came across a very well researched book by Ean Begg “The Cult of the Black Virgin”. Inspired by him, I travelled to all these places especially at the river Maas in Belgium and was astonished how popular these madonnas still are. There are big pilgrimages to those statues nowadays.
      If you can read German, you might have a look at my book “Das Geheimnis der Farbe Schwarz” which was published by 3 different publishers in Germany and Switzerland.

      Liked by 4 people

    • Unfortunately, my dear Klaus, among all the languages I know, German is absent! I’ll be looking forward to your English translation! Black Virgins made me curious. I will research about them. Thanks for this useful information! And good luck with your researches! 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • What a pity, my dear Maria. Well, I don’t speak French and English is quite a foreign language for me.
      I find the colour black very interesting because it’s so ideologized. There are quite some connections between the assessment of black and feminism.

      Liked by 3 people

    • Dear Maria,
      for a professional author it only makes sense to have a book published if will travel a lot, book signings, talk shows, lectures etc. I did all this worldwide and I am happy being retired and don’t have to travel anymore. I travelled half a year yearly between lecturing and writing for about 30 years. This makes a book sell. Now I am happy with blogging, giving interviews and sometimes do some lecturing. But most of the time I am lazily enjoying life 🙂 🙂
      By the way, my books are translated in more 25 languages.

      Liked by 2 people

    • What a marvellous experience, dear Klaus! Please, share with me the link to your written heritage. I suppose you have touched plenty of interesting topics in your works. I have only articles by now, published in Italian. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • !!!! I have paid attention to it! You have made a great job. What way do you analyze dreams? Does it come from your own perception or based on some philosophy or approach? Have you heard of Milorad Pavic, a great magic realism fiction Serbian writer? His books are certainly translated in German. Have a look. 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • How I analyse dreams, well, first of all I see the dream as a text. I analyse this text in a linguistic way. At the same time I try to read it symbolic. From the famous schools of psychology I tend to be Freudian, a structuralistic Freudian 😉
      Unfortunately, I didn’t come across Milorad Pavic. I will look out for his books. Thanks for making me aware of him. 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • How curious! I’m very happy to learn that you deal with this sophisticated art of dreaming. It is such an ancient craft! As well I’m glad that you have not heard of Pavic 🙂 It is always a pleasure for me to tell about him. He writes about dreams more in his epic ‘Dictionary of the Khazars’ & in ‘Landscape painted with tea’,,,however his other works are full of useful information & riddles!

      Liked by 2 people

  9. The Master in all his splendour, enhanced by the talent of Dina’s exceptional handling of her new camera. Brilliant selection of pictures with some great comments on colour composition. Another very enjoyable reading. Thank you guys.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you so much, dear Frederic, for your kind words.
      Our dear Master likes his picture very much. It’s the best picture that was taken of him.
      Dina is now VERY happy with her new camera. Paul helped her a lot and she is an ambitious student.
      Dina and our Master are now studying colour effects together which is such a fun. We are always amazed how different those effects are depending on CMYK or RGB. Most of the influential colour theories are mainly about pigment colours – as our Master’s books – but not so much about the colours of the light like on screens.
      Wishing you a great week and all the best for Marie Noël that she gets better soon
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Dear friends, good to see you back again.
    You certainly are making a statement with your colour schemes, it looks absolutely great. Good to see that Hanne is enjoying her new camera and that she has got a friend that help her. Paul Keates photos look stunning, wow.
    I must admit, I thought the first Robin looked quite nice with the pink ground and the green pellets. I get your point, it’s too much distraction from what you obviously want to show. I have a long way to go, but it’ll will be more than interesting to see your future colour displays. I know what your old living room looked like, now what have you come up with …? Looking forward to your next blog post!

    We have some lousy cold and wet weather 😏up far North lately, but I’m not looking forward to going back to Germany and the current heat wave there. 🥵
    Take care and enjoy your beautiful garden and the Norfolk cost.

    Klem
    Per Magnus x

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Good afternoon, our dear friend Per Magnus,
      as we wrote to Frederic (above) we are just playing with the effects of colours of light. Most of the people are thinking of surface colours when they think colour. Besides colours of light we are also studying colour harmonies. That was, of course, important when we painted walls and beams, window frames and skirting boards of our living room. But about this we will blog the next time.
      By the way, do you know the German saying “Grün und Blau ziert eine Sau”? That goes back to classic colour theories like Goethe’s saying that neighbouring colours on the colour circle are to be avoided in their combination. We mentioned Goethe and the Impressionist concerning the complementary contrasts. Already the middle ages liked especially the contrast of red and green. Have you come across `mi parti´? A medieval fashion of complimentary colours of the right and left side of your clothing – mainly red and green. Funny that one doesn’t find this in modern fashion.
      Here the weather is fine, sunny with sometimes a shower and fortunately not at all that hot like in Germany.
      KLEM
      xxx
      Love
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Wonderful things can be done with photos, but you have to take a decent photo in the first place. I really like what you have done with the photos, and I’m sure your home renovations reflect the same pleasing colour combinations and style. Well done.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good evening, dear Anneli,
      of course, you need a decent photography to start with. The most harmonious colour scheme doesn’t help if the object isn’t photographed well. You are absolutely right!
      Well, the photos are more bold than the colour combinations of our living room. In the living room you want to relax and happily stay for a longer time. You look at a picture on the screen for a much shorter time and pictures you see in the net are competing for attention. Therefore one has to be much bolder in the colour combinations on blogs and other social media.
      Thanks and wishing you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  12. Great to see you back. Dina is on wonderful form, with her superb photos. The white horses and the Robin are two of the best nature photos I have ever seen.
    And of course, your philosophical musing on the atmosphere of colours is exactly right too. 🙂
    Love from Beetley, Pete and Ollie. X

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Pete,
      you are so kind 🙂 🙂 We are really moved. Thank you very much.
      Dina and our Master are much more working together now what makes both happy. Practice and theory happily united 😉 Funnily enough that started with the renovation of our house and soon we talked about colour schemes for rooms and photography as well.
      With lots of love from the sunny sea xx. It was quite hot today and very humid but now it’s beautiful, sunny, warm and not so humid anymore. We suppose you had a similar weather.
      Take care, have a great week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  13. Hi Fab Four,
    lovely to read from you again.
    Isn’t it amazing to see people you know learning, growing, and advancing in an activity that the person love so very much. Good on you, all four of you. This is obviously not a work done only by Dina-Hanne. It’s easy to see the influence of Kb and the colour theory behind it and you made me curious to see the work of Paul Keates – he certainly knows how to handle colours in fine art photography too.

    Next week I start my holidays, almost four lovely weeks in my stuga. Much of the time will be spent repainting the cottage, this time the inside. There’s always something to do, but this time I’m really looking forward to some practical work. And your next blog post! 🙂

    Wishing you all a wonderful summer.

    Kram, Annalena x

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good evening, dear Annalena ❤
      we should think of visiting you again. We all love being in Sweden and it's too long ago we have been there. When you write about your stuga we are getting envious and our Master misses Stockholm.
      This working together really helps us all. Klausbernd and Paul are friends as well and learn from each other too. On one hand hand, Paul likes bold colours and on the other he went regularly to Japan and has a minimalistic approach as well. With this minimalism he meets our Master's taste who still likes Mondrian and de Stijl. And all three love to muse about effects of colour and colour combinations, about what's beautiful and why.
      Well, you have to visit us again and taking part in our discussions like in the olden times.
      With lots of love
      xxxx
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  16. I’ll have another go. Your site won’t accept my comment! I love those last three pictures in particular, and the commentary that goes with all of them. Thank you for these wonderful images.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Interesting, Margaret. I had the same problem, had to try three times before WP accepted my comment. WP has many changes lately …

      Liked by 3 people

    • Dear Margaret,
      we met this problem on other WP sides too. We hate it that WP changes some background structures all the time. Our Apple-Emojis are not any more presented in a correct way as well. But fortunately you got your comment published.
      We have to admit we love the last 3 pictures best as well. The dark background is very effective with most pictures – we think.
      Thank you VERY much for commenting – trying to get through to us.
      Wishing you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • Dear Sarah
      we are VERY sorry but we suppose we can’t do anything that will help. Sometimes we hate WP – oh dear.
      Thank you very much for taking the effort of three times trying.
      All the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  17. Some really fantastic picture of the creatures around you, DIna, and I’ve missed you for some time. Not having seen you for a couple of months at least I can see why since I’m no longer listed as a community member at your blog?
    However, you still figure as a ‘follower’ of mine when I check the WP listings? Are you ending a ‘beautiful friendship’, or has something gone awry? But, of course, re-organizing your living quarters would indeed take
    some time. I understand! And there are indeed other things than blogs in this world of ours?!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Hi,
      Dina is just out photographing the wildlife in our garden. We suppose, she will answer you tomorrow.
      We absolutely agree there are more things than blogs in our world – so true!
      With greetings from Norfolk to Norway
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Ah, the power of colour, of depth, of contrast to speak to our hearts. Dina – you bring the world alive and add the nuance of mythology that resides within. It is a joy to see the posts by Fab Four of Cley appear on my screen. I am with you. Much love and many many hugs coming across the pond to my dear friends. The boys send their warmest greetings.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Clanmother Rebecca,
      you touch an important point we were discussing with Paul lately: every picture is a symbol for something more than it shows on its surface. Latest since the beginning of the 20th c. art is not documenting an outside reality any more but showing something behind this reality or the deeper structures of the outside reality. Art as in artistic photography creates a reality of its own. Seen it like this it’s always symbolic.
      We are very happy to read from you as well. We are sending big hugs xxxx to you and your family. You have to visit us again!
      With love from the little village next the big sea
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  20. Good to see you again, guys! And what a joy to read you. Your photography is better than ever, Dina.
    To suggest that colour is of utmost importance to photographers would be a grand understatement. Discussions dealing with the fundamentals of photography typically address exposure, composition, lighting, etc., but the topic of colour sometimes fails to make an appearance. Anyway, it was only a minor topic in the local camera club a couple of weeks ago.
    I think colour can be equally as important to the success of an image as composition and exposure, and the stakes may be even higher depending on what genre you work within. Landscapes don’t look good too oversaturated, but the details in this pictures are awesome. Love how you have treated them all, interesting to get some photo critique on the Robin.
    Hugs from London.
    Sarah x

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Good evening, dear Sarah,
      thank you very much for your great commentary 🙂 🙂
      In the camera club here as in reading about photography on blogs most of the discussions are about technique or sometimes about composition but hardly ever about colour. That’s strange because of seeing a picture its colour immediately speaks to you first subconsciously and then consciously. It determines if you like the photograph or not. We agree, oversaturated colours in landscapes look usually horrible. If we look at the use of colour in social media the colour editing is often overdone. Too much editing has a tendency to destroy colour harmony. How we use colour has a lot to do in what we are believing in.
      We suppose, basic is the question why we take a picture and what do we want to express with it. Unfortunately, in digital photography this question is often forgotten. Mass overdeterminates quality and reflections like about colour in pictures.
      Hugs from the North Norfolk coast
      xxxx
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  22. I don’t think there’s anything not to like in this wonderful gallery. You know how to get it right in- camera, you don’t need to use software to “fix” a not perfect picture for you. Great job!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Paul,
      thanks a lot for your kind words 🙂 🙂
      Dina feels honoured.
      With warm greetings from Church Lane
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
      Dina is just out on the allotments to take pictures.

      Liked by 2 people

  23. Wonderful images!

    On Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 11:23 AM The World according to Dina wrote:

    > Dina posted: “We have been absent from the blogosphere for quite some > time because of all the other things we did. One renovation rarely comes > alone. The renovation of our library was followed by the renovation of our > living room. The biggest challenge was to find a co” >

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  24. “The green background enhances the reddish pink of the female pheasant in our garden. That’s because red and green are complimentary colours. This follows a holistic aesthetics like Goethe represents it in his “Theory of Colours” (1810). Wholeness is harmony was his credo and therefore complementary contrasts are beautiful. Green is the subtractive colour mixing of blue and yellow and this together with red represents all primary colours.”

    I’m afraid you’re mixing your palettes! In light – paint pigments behave differently and so I am ignoring them – there are Subtractive and Additive colours.

    The Additive colours are the familiar primary colours Red, Green and Blue of photography, the Subtractive colours as used in printing etc are the complementary colours Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (often with added blacK). Do not confuse the two systems.

    These are the laws of physics: what writers and artists – and indeed psychiatrists – make of colour is altogether a different matter, of course, though still ultimately bound by the immutable laws of physics.

    Sorry to be a pedant but understanding this stuff was part of earning my living back in the day…

    Dick

    >

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good morning, dear Dick,
      oh dear, you got here something mixed up. Let’s get that straight: Looking at colour has two aspects, first how colour is produced and second how colour is perceived. The production of colour follows the laws of physics, it has to do with the interferences of electromagnetic waves. That’s how different natural or artificial lights reflect of surfaces. Today this is mostly manipulated by editing with Lightroom or Photoshop. The other side of colour is perception. Latest since Oliver Sacks we know that the perception of colour is learned. We go from differentiating light and darkness to be able to distinguish yellow and blue and later red and green. In this respect red and green – it doesn’t matter if they are light or pigment colour – are complimentary. How we perceive colours has to do with physiology of perception on one hand and art history on the other. Now we are coming to Goethe’s “Theory of Colour”. First of all, Goethe’s experiments are mostly based on light colours. In contrary to Newton he looked through prisms and later through felspar. Years ago we were invited at our Master’s birthday to the Goethehaus at Weimar and could repeat Goethe’s experiments with the prisms he used. Anyway, one sees the light colours green and red as complimentary. That’s why we see red on green or green on red on the screen never clear but shimmering.
      Seen it from physics, the light colours red and green add together to yellow. But here we speak about perception – Goethe called his chapter (6. Abteilung) concerning perception “Die sinnlich-sittliche Wirkung der Farben” and at the end of his “Theorie of Colour” he writes about the differences between his standpoint and Newtons “Opticks”. Heisenberg from the standpoint of quantum mechanics called Goethe’s reflections the best discourse about colour that was ever written – if I remember it correctly in his book “Der Teil und das Ganze”.
      To go deeper into it would go to far here but I can recommend the book edited by Werner Spillmann “Farb-Systeme 1611-2007” (Basel 2010). For the physiological point of view I can recommend “Die Natur der Farbe” by Klaus Stromer and Ernst Peter Fischer. Mixing colours and complimentary contrasts are chemical reactions (key and lock) of the huge molecules of optin which are read in in the brain. Somewhere in my library I have a brilliant book about these chemical aspects how perception of colour takes place. If you are interested I’ll have a proper look.
      Greetings from Church Lane to High Street
      Klausbernd 🙂
      Greetings to Guni too

      Liked by 3 people

  25. The first Robin image is beautifully illuminated against the dark background. The food pellets didn’t detract at all for me. The Swan image was outstanding and again wonderfully illuminated against the gathering darkness. The horses are amazing against the black background. Yes, they wouldn’t look the same with the green background. I really enjoyed studying these images and your info on each one.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Isabella,
      thanks a lot for commenting 🙂 🙂
      Great that you like our post. We wanted to show our reflections behind these pictures or, seen it from the other side, how Dina prepares her photoshootings.
      All the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • Dear Tish,
      these Norfolk ponies are really unicorn-like. Unicorns who left their horns – it’s their kind of mould 😉
      Our Master’s portrait is GREAT, isn’t it – even he likes it!
      Thank you very much for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • Liebe Ulli
      Genau! Das haben wir uns auch gesagt.
      Ein Bild ist ein Bild und nicht mehr und nicht weniger. Reales Leben sollte nicht mit seinem Abbild verwechselt werden. Zwei verschiedene Welten …
      Wir finden deinen Gravatar toll!
      Herzliche Grüße vom kleinen Dorf am großen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • Good morning, dear David,
      thank you so much for your kind commentary 🙂 🙂
      As Sally writes in her commentary above we try to combine texts and pictures in a way that one helps the other. It’s normal for us as Dina is a photographer and our dear Master is a writer and Siri 🙂 is our fairy-philosopher and Selma 🙂 is our picture-fairy.
      Wishing you a happy day
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 4 people

  30. A very informative and interesting post – and I love your images, Dina! I feel it would have been great to learn so much more in photography! The photo of Klausbernd is just so sensitive, and the ponies are sublime.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Good morning, dear Leya,
      wow, we had just a big storm that filled immediately all our empty water butts.
      Klausbernd loves Dina’s portrait of him and Siri 🙂 and Selma 🙂 love it as well. We all especially like all the pictures with the dark background. You notice that Dina went to a birding course. Afterwards we discussed that she has to find her way of bird-photography. Especially our dear Master doesn’t like all these bird-pictures that are just documentary but nothing more.
      We wish you a happy day and thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  32. This really was a tutorial in color. So glad to see you back. Renovating is hard, time-consuming, thoughtful work. Glad you managed it and have come out with some magnificent photos. The ponies look as though steam is rising from them!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Indeed, our renovating was more time consuming than we expected. We are so happy that it is done now.
      Thank you so much for liking Dina’s photos 🙂 🙂
      As some visitors commented here: Those ponies are a bit like unicorns, aren’t they? Unicorns without horns.
      Wishing you a wonderful day
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • Guten Tag, lieber Peter,
      ja, das ist der Einfluss von der `Vogelschule´, die wir alle vier besuchten. Wir nahmen an einem Kurse über 4 Wochen teil `Birding for Beginners´. Dina ist wirklich ein Naturtalent Vögel zu erkennen und zu bestimmen. Aber, ehrlich gesagt, die interessantesten Vögel finden wir die in unserem Garten. Da entwickelt sich Dina zur `Franziska von Assisi´, indem mit den Vögeln spricht und sie zu ihr kommen, ihre natürliche Scheu überwindend. Für die Aufnahmen hilft ihre neue spiegellose Kamera, die fast kein Geräusch beim Auslösen macht.
      Wir freuen uns auch wieder zurück zu sein 🙂 🙂
      Mit lieben Grüßen von Nord-Norfolk in den Norden Kanadas
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

  36. The photographs in this post come across as especially vivid, which I reckon a good thing,
    Recently in processing photographs I find myself favoring a darker tonality than has been typical for me. To what have I been responding? Who knows? I think there has to be more to it than just a desire for novelty.
    When I visited Guatemala a long time ago I couldn’t help noticing in Mayan clothing that the native culture rejoices in combinations of many colors that the Western world generally rejects as clashing.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Steve,
      we just bought some fabric from North Africa for our living room. Like the Maya clothing this combines colours we would never think of combining. Very bold colour combinations.
      Where does the favour of darker tonality come from? I present some ideas: First of all it has to do with relaxation. That’s a physiological effect. In the cones, the heap of cells in our eyes, is the light sensitive chemical rhodopsin (RHO). As lighter the colour is as more RHO gets destroyed. Dark colours don’t produce much action in the eye and that’s one reason why they act in a relaxing way. Another reason could be that dark colours are connected with deeper insights therefore the black and blue Buddhas are seen as the guardians of the deeper insights. They are the ones connected with the death of the ego to make you free for real compassion (in meditating). Seen it from Jungian psychology the darker colours are connected with the female archetype, the `anima´. Jung writes, as older a man gets as more important his female side gets.
      These are just some ideas. Maybe you can relate to them.
      Thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  39. Thank you for sharing those beautiful shots. The swans are the obvious winner. There couldn’t be a better portrayal of parental attitude and the magic of new life. The Marsh Ponies are pretty indeed, wish we could have seen the blue eyes of the one more distinctly albino. The male portrait too is quite a stunner. Strong, intimate, intriguing – a face-scape. All of your photos, if you allow me to comment a little further, away from the topic of colour – especially the first one of Madam Pheasant – reveal a particular magic: the wonderful offering nature makes to us in its myriad forms, to the
    observer, the photographer, the artist and the way you have captured what was offered to you, reflecting the aspect of magic in it as you see it – the free giving of nature on the one side and the creative act of receiving on your part – that I see expressed in your photography. Once the mechanical thing is done with a little or more of background editing – you and your tool are stepping back: what remains is not yours any longer except for just the little swing of a signature … There is a humbleness in it that is so convincing. Does that make sense? I hope it does. But thanks anyway for sharing. We always enjoy seeing through your eyes (and lens of course) what the world around you is offering.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Thank you very much 🙂 🙂 Your commentary makes sense, of course! We absolutely agree that humility is important when photographing and editing. There is always the danger to forget about this humility when taking pictures. Because of the the danger that photographing is just like this tendency in our society that we want have something, that we want to hold and own the fleeting moment. This is typical for most of the photographers publishing a lot of photos.
      These two different attitudes reminding us on Erich Fromm’s “To Have and to Be”.
      All the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  40. Fab Four of Cley,
    So good to see you back and educating us as usual. It is amazing just how much a person needs to learn to arrive at a perfect picture – and to think, I consider my pictures great if I don’t chop off the heads of my subjects! 🙂 Each one of Dina’s is superb, even when she says that it’s not quite right. I could never accomplish such images.
    I hope this note find each of you well and happy. May you all enjoy a wonderful week.
    GP Cox

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear GP Cox,
      what a kind commentary again 🙂 🙂
      Well, the world of pictures is a reality of its own with all the complexities of every reality. Colour is one aspect, form another or composition. In a way every reality can be seen as language with its grammar and vocabulary. One could look at the different colours as the vocabulary and the colour combinations under the aspect of grammar. Anyway, our dear Master likes to look at colour in this way.
      Thanks for asking, we are very well and happy and enjoying our new designed rooms. We hope, you are well and happy too.
      We wish you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  41. I found this post totally fascinating. I learned so much in your explanation of colours, and the photos are not just good to look at – they connect the viewer in an emotional way. Plus I love photos of faces! I have been very short of time lately, otherwise I would like to read every comment and your reply. This post seems to have struck a chord with many people.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Gwendoline,
      WOW, what a kind commentary we very much appreciate 🙂 🙂
      We like artistic pictures. Like all artistic pictures these pictures are based on our talks about the history of pictures, about the language of colours and about symbolism. We experiment with different ideas. Dina does the photography with the help of our dear Bookfayrie Selma 🙂 and our Master together with our clever Siri 🙂 is in charge of the philosophical and aesthetical aspects of pictures. That might sound very intellectual but – as you perceived it – our aim is to touch the viewer in an emotional way.
      With kindest regards from the sunny coast of North Norfolk
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

  43. How delightful to see you all again and what an interesting post. Colour is something I could not do without, I live in a very pale house, but keep imagining the walls painted deeper colours. One day. Meanwhile I enjoy the colours in my garden – if only I could take photographs like Dina! And yes, deleting digital images is a problem. Taking less in the first place would be helpful!
    (And the Master’s portrait is like an Old Master painting – now that one should be printed out and a place on a wall found).
    Have a lovely week fab 4 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Dear Jude,
      it’s fun blogging again and communicating with friends about topics we are thinking about.
      In our next blog you will see that we went the other way round. From coloured walls we went to pale ones.
      Indeed, our Master’s portrait is like an Old Master painting. We learned a lot about colour and photographing people from the old masters. We all stay in this tradition or to quote Newton we stand on the shoulders of our forerunners or how he phrased it in 1675 “standing on the shoulders of giants”.
      By the way, we already have a brilliant photo by our friend and Dina’s teacher Paul hanging in our new library room. That’s absolutely different, a black-and-white picture. Oh dear, we can tell you, it was quite a fight to hang this picture there. But our Master said that’s therapy. You wouldn’t believe it but to place our Master’s portrait on one of our walls would be the Dina’s first picture on our walls.
      Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

    • Dankeschön 🙂 🙂
      Wir lieben es, uns über Farb- und Symbolwirkungen Gedanken zu machen. Das ist neben dem Büchersammeln unser größtes Hobby.
      Zu ihrer Kamera wird Dina sicher noch selbst schreiben.
      Herzliche Grüße vom kleinen Dorf am großen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you so much, dear Jo 🙂 🙂
      Dina does a lot for her photography. She has a brilliant personal teacher for photography and editing, clever Bookfayries 🙂 🙂 who know a lot about the history of art and our dear Master, who is a specialist for colour effects. She reads a lot about photography and loves it to try something new with her cameras or in using editing.
      Wishing you a happy day
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  46. Amazing pictures and really art with these different colour enhancements. There is so much more to photography than just clicking.
    Wit deleting, sometimes you need to be ruthless in deleting and finding the perfect picture lets you delete the for you not perfect ones. With digital photos we sometimes do too many anyway.
    Greetings form London to you four!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Ute,
      there is so much to photography, it seems to be endless …
      We are always amazed how you can organise all your pictures that you will find a certain picture immediately again. We have the same problem with our book collection – to keeping it orderly. Deleting photos is like sorting out books, really a challenge but it has to be done.
      Greetings from the sea
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • You are very welcome, dear Anne.
      We are happy that you like Dina’s photography and our explanations as well.
      Wishing you a wonderful rest of the day
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  48. Ich finde ebenfalls, dass sich Fotograf*in über Farbenlehre Gedanken machen sollte, um die Prinzipien zu verinnerlichen. Dann fotografiert man auch intuitiv danach oder bricht gekonnt mit den Regeln.
    Für mich sind die gezeigten Bilder untereinander nicht vergleichbar. Sie sind daher alle auf ihre Art und Weise wunderschön. Und selbst der Stilbruch des Rotkehlchen lässt einen das Bild länger als eine Sekunde anschauen, einfach weil man sich fragt, was irgendwie anders ist. Und ist es nicht das Ziel, den Betrachter in den Bann zu ziehen?
    Die Pferde wirken für mich freigestellt, der Bruch zwischen schwarz und weiß entspricht nicht der Realität, dennoch. Genau deshalb scheinen die Pferde zu schweben.
    Tolle Arbeit, Chapeau!!
    LG aus dem irre heißen Hannover 😊

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Habe herzlichen Dank.
      Das halten wir auch für wichtig – speziell in den sozialen Medien mit ihrer Bilderflut – den Betrachter zum Verweilen zu bringen. Und ihn zum Innehalten zu verführen, ohne diese aufdringlichen Schockeffekte wie verrückte Farbverstärkung und sternenhafte Sonnen, die seit einiger Zeit überall erscheinen, und ähnliche Scheußlichkeiten. Naja, das ist die Herausforderung der fine art photography. Überhaupt ist die Frage, wie weit man sich von der Realität abwenden kann, ohne dass das Bild auf Unverständnis stößt.
      Das freut uns, dass dir Dinas Arbeit gefällt.
      Herzliche Grüße von der leicht kühlen Küste (21 Grad C) ins heiße Hannover
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  49. Color and the emotional response it evokes is so interesting. I especially like the portrait with the black background. I am a terrible nondeleter of digital
    Pics, thinking there might be something redeemable at a later time? Who knows. Good to see you in the blogosphere today

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Ruth,
      thanks a lot for commenting 🙂 🙂
      We love the portrait best as well. As one of our dear visitors here wrote it reminded her of the old masters. It’s a bit like Rembrandt, how he set faces against darkness.
      We are book collectors as well. The same problem of sorting out arises there too. But sometimes we think that the limitations of space have their good aspects. You have be clear what you really want and need.
      All the best from the coast of North Norfolk
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • Indeed, it is. On the other hand one has to take many photos to get a really good one.
      Thank you very much for liking Dina’s photography.
      Wishing you a relaxing evening
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  52. Dina’s having fun with the new camera! It has been an inspiration, I can see – and it’s good to tie that in to your discussions about color for the house. The information is very clearly illustrated with these photos.I’m partial to the portrait of Klausbernd and the second Robin photo – especially after seeing those sweet little birds in person recently.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Bluebrightly,
      thanks a lot for your kind comment 🙂 🙂
      The robins in our garten like to be around people like most of the robins. Recently Dina moved her camera in our conservatory to watch and photograph young Black Birds. She tries to tame them.
      We wish you a fast recovery.
      With lots of love
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • I’m not recovering from anything that I can think of, except maybe that I miss being in Europe sometimes – that’s where I saw your Robin. We have them too, but ours are different. I loved hearing your Blackbirds singing, too….and I got to see storks in Germany on their nest. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Oh dear, I am very sorry that I got that wrong. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa …
      We live in the largest British reserve for birds and seals. Birding is very important in our area. But we are more interested in the `normal´ birds in our garden like Robins, Black Birds and the finches and tits.
      Wishing you a great weekend
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  54. So glad you are all back! And such super photos Dina 👏👏 The bird pellets do look like gems … and it is a gem of a photo too! Wish I was as game with colour … Does Dina use photoshop? Silly question right … Love the new camera

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good morning, dear Julie,
      Dina uses Photoshop as well as well as Lightroom. All the pictures are edited with these two programmes.
      Thank you very much for liking Dina’s photography. She loves her new camera very much.
      Wishing you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  55. While I understand photographers’ attraction to black and white images, and try my very best to learn to appreciate them, it’s color that I love. I suspect I know at least some of the reasons for my personal preference, but in the case of Dina’s photos here, the black and the white are rich and sensuous, and deeply appealing. It was interesting to read the text, and begin to understand how color, even in slighter ways, has enriched the apparent absence of color.

    On another subject, I was intrigued by your mention of the Black Madonnas. We have a few of them here in Texas, including one at a Spanish mission in Goliad. I wrote something about it, as well as its connection to Loreto, here. I think you’d enjoy seeing the image of the Madonna that I included.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • First of all, thank you very much for the link. I had only read about these Black Madonnas in Texas. Great to see a photography of this Madonna in Goliad. Like a lot of those Black Madonnas she isn’t really black.
      I love black and white images because taking the colour away from the photography is a kind of alienation. This alienation effect – or V-effect as it is often called – makes it look more graphic and more `arty´. To desaturate colours I like as well. But not every picture looks better in black and white. We just experiment with Dina’s portrait studies. Some people look more individual in black and white and for some people it doesn’t fit. They have the tendency looking too old or too hard in black and white.
      Thanks for commenting 🙂 🙂
      Wishing you a happy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    • Dear Jacqui,
      we can tell you, if you start renovating and modernising one room then the next room cries for renovation too. We didn’t foresee this. So we were busy renovating more or less all through June. I took us especially long to find fixtures, fittings, accessoires we all like. But this is all done with the effect that we can’t decide in which room we want to read and write.
      And, of course, it doesn’t end with the inside. Now the garden has to look fine as well.
      Anyway, now everything looks like we wanted it to look. Siri 🙂 and Selma 🙂 made us sign a typical Bookfayrie-contract that doesn’t allow any renovating and carrying around furniture for the next 6 years. Our dear Master happily signed immediately.
      Thanks and cheers
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  58. Hallo Ihr Lieben,
    schoen, dass Ihr nun wieder da seid, und das gleich auch noch mit so ganz wunderbaren Fotos der lieben Dina! Zu ihrer neuen Kamera hatte ich ihr, so glaube ich wenigstens, schon gratuliert. Was mich aber interessieren wuerde: was hat fuer die Fuji gesprochen, da sie dafuer doch eauch neuen Objektive braucht? Nikon hat ja auch zwei Spiegellose auf dem Markt, und dafuer haette sie doch – mit einem Adapter – alle ihre Objektive weiter verwenden koennen.
    Ich bin nun wirklich gespannt auf Dinas weitere Fotos.
    Liebe Gruesse aus einer kleinen Stadt im weiten Texas ins kleine Dorf am grossen Meer,
    Euer Pit

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Guten Tag, lieber Pit,
      zur Kamera schreibt unsere liebe Dina besser selber. Wir leidgeprüften Sherpas können nur sagen: Großes Plus, die neue Kamera ist sehr viel leichter.
      Dina hat einen tollen Fotolehrer, der ihr ständig `Nachhilfeunterricht´ gibt. Ihr macht das sehr viel Spaß. Zur Zeit arbeiteten sie beide an einem Portrait von einem Freund von mir, das perfekt geworden ist. I am impressed!
      Dina hat ihre Nikon nicht beiseite gelegt. Sie fotografiert mit beiden Kameras. Portraits macht sie wohl aber am liebsten mit ihrer neuen Kamera.
      Wir haben schöne sonnige Tage, gerade die richtige Temperaturen, mittags gerade um die 30 Grad C und morgens und abends zwischen 22 und 25 Grad C und das noch mit einer milden Seebriese.
      Mit lieben Grüßen ins heiße Texas
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
      Dina wird später schreiben. Sie hat gerade Fotounterricht.

      Liked by 1 person

  59. Ahhhhh yes homes and renovations 😜 but not doubt beautiful 👍 just like the little birds and I love the ponies I love horses … enjoy the summer days and relax too the Fab Four of Cley 🤓 smiles and joy your way ~ Hedy ☺️

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good afternoon, dear Hedi,
      oh dear, meanwhile we renovated, decluttered and modernised one more room. “No no more renovations for the next years!” was our dear Master’s demand yesterday.
      Thank you very much for your good wishes. We are enjoying our garden, well, Dina and Selma just cutting a long hedge, our Master is trying topiary, well, trying …
      We wish you a wonderful relaxing summer with lots of sun and happyness – full power being in the Here and Now 😉
      Finest Bookfayrie dust and big smiles from us
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  60. Beautiful images and well explained colour theory following them. I enjoyed looking at the photos and read the text. Good luck with finding the right colour scheme for your living room. But when you write that Master reacts allergic to furniture, what does he want? Tatami mats?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good evening, dear Otto,
      thank you very much for liking our post. At last, our living room is done. About its colour scheme we will write in our next post.
      When we Bookfayries moved in here with our dear Dina our Master had nice carpets and these oriental brass tables like trays with 3 too short legs. He did everything lying on the floor, he wrote his books in this position, he still reads in this position, and he had meditation cushions for sitting. But that drastically changed with Dina and us. We even have one eccentric and one big sofa. But we fought with full power Bookfayrie-magic for that cosy sofa. And now everything is sorted, we are happy and our dear Master as well.
      What he wanted: a lot of empty space in a room.
      The Fab Four Four sending you warm greetings from hot England
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  62. Großartig!!! Habe nur keine Worte für diese Bilder, sie bringen mich nach innen, in die Stille, wo dann wieder ganz viel ist…
    Freue mich schon auf die weitere Beschäftigung mit Farben!
    Habe Ferien, es fühlt sich nur noch nicht so an, erst gibt es ganz viel Liegengebliebenes zu erledigen und gleichzeitig vernünftige Pläne für Zukünftiges zu visualisieren.
    Ich beschäftige mich mit dem Kinderbuch “Die Schnecke und der Walfisch”, es wird ein Kita-Lernheft für Erzieher(innen) geben, so Gott will und ich es schaffe, 20 Euro pro Seite, das ist ok, für eine Schreibanfängerin ohne Erfahrung.
    Das Buch “Dumm geboren-und dann ganz viel getanzt” hat gerade einen ersten Satz: Das Opfer-Täter-Retter-Gedopse ist nicht mein Lebenstanz…
    Gestern ist mir ein weiterer Buchtitel eingefallen: “Mach´s Maul auf!”
    Hier zeigen sich zu rettende Tauben, Mauersegler, viiiiiiele Eichhörnchen, Schnecken, ab und an die Meisen…
    Bald habe ich einen gaaaaaaanz tollen Gravatar!
    Jetzt schicke ich euch ein Foto aus Nachbars Garten…per whats app…
    Fühlt euch geherzt und gebusselt von
    Pia

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Guten Morgen, liebe Pia,
      da drücken wir dir kräftig die Daumen und unsere Feenflügelchen für dein Schreiben.
      Wenn dann alles Liegengebliebene fertig gemacht ist, genießen deine Ferien.
      20 € pro Seite, hmmm, das habe ich ja noch nie gehört, dass ein Schreiberling per Seite bezahlt wird. Das ist zwar nicht gerade dicke, aber für den Anfang besser als nichts. Verkaufst du mit den 20 €/Seite dein Copyright? Das ist ja ein völlig unüblicher Vertrag. Lies dir genau durch, was du mit der Bezahlung wirklich verkaufst. Be careful! Achte darauf, wie groß die 1. Auflage seien wird, wie werden Folgeauflagen vergütet, wie steht’s mit Verkauf des Copyrights an Dritte, was man Secondary Rights nennt? Wenn du ins Schreiben einsteigen möchtest, sind dies u.a. Punkte, die du klar, professionell regeln musst.
      Auf deinen neuen Gravatar sind wir sehr gespannt.
      Habe ein wunderschönes Wochenende
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Liebe Pia,
      bei dem tollen Wetter bauen wir gerade eine Mini-Terrasse am Eingang zu unserem Bibliotheksraum.
      “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft” – genau diese Ruhe benötigen wir jetzt beim Zuschneiden der Bohlenbretter.
      Alles Liebe dir vom sonnigen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  64. Wonderful photographs and interesting thoughts on colour and composition. We have just returned from the beautiful Isle of Colonsay in Scotland and will be here in Norfolk for the rest of the summer. Hope to see you sometime. All the best from Norwich. Laurence

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Laurence,
      thanks a lot for liking our post 🙂 🙂
      We have to meet soon and you have to tell us about Colonsay. All our renovations are finished now. Just mail when it’s convenient for you. We will tell Siri 🙂 and Selma 🙂 to have a word with their friends, the weather fairies, that they will make great weather for us.
      All the best from the coast, warm greetings to Jackie and you from us
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dankeschön. Ich finde die Wirkung von Farbharmonien sehr spannend. Während meines Zweitstudiums führte ich viele Versuche dazu durch – aber das ist lange her.
      Liebe Grüße vom Meer
      Klausbernd 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  68. The photo of Klausbernd is stunning, and the dark background is well done. The portrait of the ponies is fascinating. Love the swam family image especially. 🙂
    Thank you for sharing with us.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hi, dear Amy,
      what a coincidence, we just got this picture of Klausbernd, our dear Master, up in our library next to Dina’s portrait.
      Thank you very much for liking Dina’s pictures 🙂 🙂
      Wishing you a happy rest of the week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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