Analyse Your Value Contrast

Following on from my post on COLOUR CONTRAST, this post will look at VALUE CONTRAST which more is known about as it is closely linked to colour analysis when looking at light and dark seasons - but this is looking at VALUE. The difference when we focus upon VALUE CONTRAST is that we are looking at the difference between your lightest and darkest natural features and then matching your outfit to this contrast level.

It is interesting that when you put a light colour next to a dark colour, both of them appear more intense - the light lighter and the dark darker making a very striking statement. HIGH VALUE CONTRAST are dramatic and convey power, confidence and authority - typified with black suit and white shirt, or a policeman’s uniform.

A MEDIUM CONTRAST outfit has a noticeable difference in depth but not extreme. It expresses professionalism and is appealing to the eye without shouting out “look at me!”

A LOW CONTRAST outfit has little or no difference between the depths of colours. This gentle combination can appear elegant and approachable, but it can also appear dull and uninteresting - you need to work at making the combination of hues, the garment design, fabric interest or accessories in the outfit really interesting to create a point of attraction and personality.

Your physical characteristics determine which value contrast you are, I will use myself as an example. I never wear white or light colours, and rarely wear black especially near my face. It is no surprise that when I check my features by changing my photograph into mono and comparing it to a grey scale - I come out as a LOW VALUE CONTRAST.

Here is the photo of COLOUR VALUE from the last post and a mono VALUE CONTRAST image :

The mono version of me looks really flat apart from my eyes having a bit of depth. When I was in my twenties my hair was dark brown and my skin was fair, but as I have aged my natural pigments have faded - naturally mid grey now and softer skin tone the dark brown hair ages me. When winter seasons with dark hair start to go grey or white, they lower their VALUE CONTRAST which is why they will start to avoid striking black and white combinations and combine black with silver or colours instead - or even stop wearing black near their faces and use charcoal instead.

To find out your value contrast:

This is a grey scale. You compare your skin, eyes and hair in your mono photograph to the grey scale like this -

Now it’s time to do a little maths - take your highest number - mine is a 6, and take away the lowest number - mine is a 3. 6-3 = 3. This is my value contrast number. My clothes should not be more than three values apart.

So if I had a very dark outfit on , let’s say at a value of 1, them my lightest colour in the outfit would be 1 + 3 = 4. If I had a white outfit on at value 10 then 10-3=7 which would be my darkest colour in this overall light outfit.

In fact, looking at where my features fall on the value scale, I am always going to be focussed on the medium ranges of values if I want to compliment my natural values - but as a guide it is useful to remember to only keep three values apart. On the few occasions that I do wear very dark colours I know that I need to put medium-dark colours with the outfit.

If you have a difference of 0-3 when you look at your values, then, like me, you are a LOW VALUE CONTRAST.

If you have a difference of 4-6 between your values then you are naturally a MEDIUM VALUE CONTRAST.

If you have a difference of 7 or more between your values then you are naturally a HIGH VALUE CONTRAST.

Once you have worked out your contrast level, then just think about which level of values are your most flattering.

This is particularly useful when choosing prints. So many clients are nervous about choosing prints, but if you know your value contrast and colour contrast you already have a guaranteed formula to give you a starting guide.

The first woman has HIGH VALUE CONTRAST and can easily pair black and white.

The middle photo has LOW VALUE CONTRAST - and apart from the wow small piece of contrasting yellow, the large items are low contrast.

The final photo has dark eyes and light hair so a MEDIUM VALUE CONTRAST and the blouse print is perfectly matching the features.

Back to my original photos from the colour contrast post, but now in monotone -

I think you will agree with me that in the first image the black culottes are too dark, and I only get away with them because the medium colours near my face help to stop a stark contrast with the black keeping my VALUE CONTRAST low. The print in the middle overall is medium depth but is more contrasting than my features - the sunglasses actually help give me more depth in my face (handy cheat), and finally the dark jeans are a bit too dark for me but are slimming on my bigger bottom half - the jacket and scarf near my face are in the right contrast for me and I think I just about get away with it. So difficult to be perfect, but the general guide does help.

I hope you have enjoyed the post and are tempted to use the grey scale to work out your VALUE CONTRAST.

Please let me know if you have a go, or would like anymore examples to help.

Anni x