Why do colours in nature not clash?

Question

Colours in everyday life can clash. You've seen that red and yellow screaming at each other. Why do these colour miss matches not happen in nature?

Answer 1

Nature has a set colour box, pigments that are available in nature, so they have what artists refer to as a limited pallet.

Clashes are due to colour dogma, we know when something is natural, so it looks right.

In some cases, ie under water photography, because we aren't visually used to seeing the colours so they can look unnatural, until we get used to them.

Our brains/eyes look for things out of the ordinary as they are a potential threat, hence strong visual marking of poisonous animals.

This is really a question to ask physics and psycology people as well.

Answer 2

They do clash sometimes. For example, a nature photographer often spends considerable time in "setting up a shot", and some of the things he looks for is color balance and composition. However, it's true that "clutter" is something more likely to be seen in a city than in the wild, and this would include color clutter. Clutter is when you have too many disparate shape and color elements in a view, in which there would be too many categories the mind subconsciously attempts to create to make sense out of the picture, which is why a typical commerical street with strip malls and signs looks terrible. Even though nature "looks complicated", in fact the range of shapes and colors is more limited. It's kind of like school uniforms, which some people like as being "easy on the eyes". All the trees, for all their variability, do sort of look simliar, and all the mountains, craggy or not, have a certain simliarity, and that's true of colors in the wild. It looks "easier on the eyes", because our minds aren't seeing a lot of things that need to be classified separately.

Answer 3

We use different standards when we judge nature and when we judge living rooms etc. I guess this is because we are looking for different things. Just think of a well decorated room now imagine the trees and garden painted like that . . . .yuch! We are used to Nature and its wildness; it is part of its charm. Start looking at sunsets. Every now and again you get a really garish vulgar one. But we don't mind we say things like 'Wow if you painted that no one would believe you!'

Living rooms and dresses aren't restful like that and they don't have the capacity to change (like skies and gardens). Also a dress is meant to support the appearance of the wearer not dominate it. A room has to be acceptable if it remains unchanged for several years maybe.So I guess we have developed principles which fit that situation. Thasswot I think.

Answer 4

Colours match if there frequencies are the same. Light Orange + yellow,for instance.

Answer 5

this is mostly because creatures/plants have natural camoflage so they do not get singled out and eaten.

However there are some poisonous insects which have bright reds to clash with their surrounding to tell predators that they are poisonous.

Answer 6

perchance with the help of organic determination we developed in this variety of fashion that we come across the international round us to be aesthetically harmonious. "Geezah", love that newt! ;-) **EDIT** "shirleyk", does that by some ability mean that say, the volume fifty six makes extra experience than the volume 7? What about adverse numbers? Irrational numbers? communicate about a only subjective theory!

Answer 7

A wasp has a nice clash of black and yellow

Answer 8

Nature tends to mix complimentary colors. It's harmonious look is probably the basis of our tastes when it comes to choosing color and deciding which colors go well together.

Answer 9

I'm looking at a very red male cardinal against a blue sky.

Answer 10

because all colours in nature blend together. its all to do with surviva. if things stood out the chances are, they'd die.