Color Theory And Photography

Color Wheel

• http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors

• In the RYB (or subtractive) color model, the primary colors are red, yellow and blue

• The three secondary colors (green, orange and purple) are created by mixing two primary colors

• Another six tertiary colors are created by mixing primary and secondary colors

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Electronic and Pigment Based Color

(RGB) A LCD screen starts out black; light is added to the screen in differing amounts to create color. The more light from the red, green, and blue phosphors that is added, the brighter and lighter the screen becomes. Therefore, when you have 0% intensity of red, green, and blue the screen is black and when you have 100% intensity of the red, green, and blue phosphors, the screen is white.

(CMYK) When use pigments, you add differing amounts of paint to create color. The more pigment you add, the darker your color usually becomes. 0% pigment is white, at 100% pigment (or you have mixed together pigments that absorb every wavelength of visible light) you have black.

Color Properties

• Hue: The name of the color. This allows us to distinguish one color from another by name

• Value (Saturation): The lightness or darkness of a color. The most important to keep in mind: if the value of a color is wrong, then the color is wrong

• Intensity: The purity or strength of a color (affected by other hues or value)

• Tune: The darkness level of grey

• http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html

Warm and cool colors

• http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Tints, Shades, and Tones

• Tints - adding white to a pure hue

• Shades - adding black to a pure hue

• Tones - adding gray to a pure hue

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Browser Safe Color

• 216 hues that can be shown on most monitors with responsible consistency and without dithering

• http://webdesign.about.com/od/colorcharts/l/bl_colors.htm

Color Scheme

• Monochromatic Color Scheme

• Analogous Color Scheme

• Complementary Color Scheme

• http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-theory-basics.html

Complementary Colors

• Direct / True complementary• Split complementary• Double complementary• Triad• Mutual complementary

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-theory-basics.html

Color and Photography

• Color affect one another

• Color creates moods

• Using color to create a focal point

• Color harmony

• (So detailed for another 4 classes)

• Demo http://www.pbase.com/whyhuang/colours