Panama City & Pensacola, Florida, Autumn Colors

Location:: Pensacola, Florida
Season:: Autumn
Date of Photo:: Oct 2021
Fonts used:: Limelight Fraunces Libre Franklin
Blog Posted:: Jan 2026
Blog Updated:: Feb 2026

This palette is inspired by an end-of-summer visit to the Florida Panhandle; Panama City and Pensacola Beach. My neighbor was telling me about the sugar-white, quartz sand ... I had never seen sand like this before and was pumped to experience it.

The dramatic natural scenery created by the emerald-green, turquoise waters and incredible sunsets... I'm only showing a small sample of it here.

Electric Blues

Panama City Beach dusk photo with soft pastel colors in the sky and water reflecting the sunset light. — Sun going down gives a near-perfect vertical gradient from cool cyan into lilac haze.

Blurred version of the photo to better see blocks of color — Sun going down gives a near-perfect vertical gradient from cool cyan into lilac haze.

Cyan–Lilac Sky: #5e9dcc; #95b6cb; #9fa1ae; #928a9f; #766e9c

Electric Water: #2d4f8a; #3c5a9c; #4c6b9f; #5882a3; #6c94b0

Reflective Sand: #2d3c79; #515785; #59516a; #7f7389; #857a94

Violet–Rose Dusk

Violet–Rose Sky: #383f63; #664f70; #8b6c8d; #af8094; #c38c93; #fda288

Horizon & Sea: #997c7d; #7f5f5f; #6c595f; #55536a; #46415e

Shoreline Dusk: #112042; #1b2c5b; #3e4078

Panama City Dusk

Atmospheric Dusk: #979390; #aa9f93; #a68b7b; #978478; #8c7370; #64686e; #3e464d

Gulf Water: #121514; #253033; #424242; #444c53

Fire & Ash Dusk

alt — whaaat ... srsly bro. That sky was lit.

Fire Sky: #7c2c20; #9b4139; #bb4632; #c8482f; #e15522

Ash Cloud: #42363a; #474544; #585654; #543232; #4c242d

Coastal Dune Pastel

alt — Softer, pastel-y colors of the sky. Cool hues coming from the dunes and 'sea oat' wild grass.

FLA Chill Bands: #8694a2; #a1b0b6; #d0afa6; #c7b4ad; #a9a3a9; #c8c3ba

Sea Oat Dunes: #446381; #526b85; #627994; #243932; #323832; #1d2417

Lilac Dusk Field

alt — This composition interested me: the subtle warm hues and the cool, dark band of contrast.

Lilac Sand To Sky: #766f7f; #9a8f9a; #a88089; #b67174; #615d71; #424355

Dark Line contrast: #424355; #36201e; #241a12

Pensacola Shells

alt — I had to re-take this photo - thought I had a pic of a bunch of these shells on the 'native' sand ... but, no - gotta settle for my concrete drive.

Shell warm hues: #7e2921; #c45a17; #b96a67; #a9666a; #cb9e72; #e2d3bd; #d7c9c7

Shell cool hues: #6f8192; #7d8a91; #8b939c; #b4bdbe; #c5ced2

Shell darks: #0d1210; #212a2c; #525b66; #3b404c; #333f3d

Color Matrix

Here are all the colors combined, from lightest with highest luminance to mid-tones, then to dark saturated and dark near black.

#c5ced2
#b4bdbe
#c8c3ba
#e2d3bd
#d7c9c7
#c7b4ad
#d0afa6
#cb9e72
#fda288
#c38c93
#95b6cb
#a1b0b6
#a9a3a9
#aa9f93
#a68b7b
#a88089
#e15522
#b96a67
#b67174
#af8094
#9fa1ae
#979390
#978478
#9a8f9a
#928a9f
#997c7d
#8c7370
#c8482f
#bb4632
#a9666a
#5e9dcc
#6c94b0
#6f8192
#8694a2
#8b939c
#857a94
#7f7389
#766f7f
#c45a17
#9b4139
#5882a3
#627994
#526b85
#615d71
#64686e
#7d8a91
#766e9c
#7f5f5f
#7c2c20
#7e2921
#4c6b9f
#446381
#424242
#525b66
#515785
#59516a
#664f70
#6c595f
#543232
#4c242d
#2d4f8a
#3e4078
#3c5a9c
#474544
#585654
#444c53
#424355
#3e464d
#42363a
#46415e
#1b2c5b
#383f63
#2d3c79
#3b404c
#333f3d
#323832
#243932
#253033
#1d2417
#36201e
#112042
#212a2c
#121514
#0d1210