How to match colours and tones from paintings in your photography

By Alfonso Calero | 11 July 2023

I'm lucky enough to travel to Japan regularly, and for many years I have been collecting various books on Japanese art.

I am especially drawn to Hanga (woodblock prints) from the Edo Period (1603 and 1868). This style of art is known as Ukiyo-e.

In particular I like Ando Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) and Hasui Kawase (1883 - 1957) and their use of colour palettes and compositions, and I've found incorporating these into my photographs captured in Japan quite satisfying.

If you're interested in trying this for yourself with artworks you like, here's a few things to help you on your way.

As a starting point, I research and collect as many images I like in Pinterest and via books from the library.

Once you've got a mood board together, you can take a screenshot of the paintings you like and use this to find out the five main colours used in their palette. Apps like Color Harmony (available for Android and Apple) can help with this.

From there, it's then a matter of either shooting a similar composition to your subject, or capturing something else entirely, and then matching the colours from the painting to your photo.

You do this through applying similar colours in Lightroom in the Colour Grading section of the Develop module (by adjusting the Midtones, Highlights and Shadows) to get close to the gamut of colours used.

Below are samples of some prints that I have found similarities in my own exploration of locations in Japan.

Left: 鯉 (Koi) Kenrokuen, Kanazawa. Right: Suido Bridge and Suruga Hill By Ando Hiroshige.

Left: 紅葉 (Autumn Leaves) Kenrokuen, Kanazawa, Right: Artwork by Kawase Hasui.

Left: 桜 (Sakura) Lake Kawaguchi, Right: Mount Fuji by Hirose Kawase.

Alfonso Calero is a professional photographer based in Sydney, Australia. Over the past 20 years, Alfonso has photographed everyone from politicians to artists and everything from exquisite food to amazing landscapes. See more of his work at alfonso.com.au, book a 1-on-1 photography course with him, or join his workshops to Japan.