Mastering Color
Understanding Color
Color is a property of light. This fact has continued fascinate and inform artists and designers throughout the centuries. Webster’s dictionary defines color as ‘’a phenomenon of light or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects’’ and “ the aspect of object and light source that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation”. There are more definitions that describe the psychological complexity of color.
Color Schemes
Color combinations are grouped into categories called color schemes. A monochromatic color scheme is composed of one hue with several values. A color scheme comprised of colors that sit opposite of one another on the color wheel is called complementary. Complements heighten and accent one another. Colors that sit next to one another are called analogous.. A triadic color scheme is often based on the three primaries of red, yellow, and blue or any three colors that are equidistant on the color wheel.
There are other schemes like split complementary includes one hue and the two hues on either side of its direct complement.
The Psychology of Color
Red, yellow, and their variations are referred to as warm colors, while blue and green are considered cool colors. The difference in their wavelengths may account for part of our reactions to color. The retina contains two types of cells called rod and cones. Rods handle vision in low light, and cones handle color vision and detail. Certainly color is an important consideration in the world of advertising and packaging design.
The Relativity of Color
The way each color looks is strongly affected by what surrounds it. The principles is known as simultaneous contrast. When yellow. CMYK is the basis for the four color printing process comprised of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks. The K stands for presence of black.
More about Modes and Models
The color gamut is the visible color range of a color model. Although the eye can see more than subtractive or additive color modes can show, these two color modes are capable of holding over 16 million colors. The Bitmap Mode can have only two colors – black or white - and one channel. The Grayscale Mode contains up to levels of gray without color. Duotone mode, witch offers duotones, tritones, and quadtones. These allow for precise control of color assignment and distribution across the gray scale image.
Visual Perception
In most computer graphics, artist and designers work with a 24- bit system . In such a system, each pixel is represented by twenty-four bits of color information: eight for red, eight for green, and eight for blue. There are 256 possible values of each of these colors.
Accessing Color Options
The Indexed Color Mode contains up to 256 colors and is used in multimedia and web applications to show full color images while reducing file size. HSB stands for hue, saturation, and black (value).
Output
The way a file will be output makes a difference on how that file will be constructed. Will it be sent to a large archival inkjet printer such as an Epson for large, fine art reproduction? You’ll need a high resolution file that can be enlarged without damaging loss of detail. An Iris printer requires a 300dpi file at the physical size it will be reduced. Will you send your photographic digital files to a printing company for offset reproduction on press? Such files are often inserted into programs like illustrator or Quark or in design to with type for printing purposes.
Color Manipulations
Before the computer, graphic designers’ used duotones in the offset printing process to introduce some color into a black- and – white photograph. Instead of printing it in black ink, the designer specified two ink colors, and the camera at the printing firm created two halftone screens from the original photograph, one for each ink. A range of color in a suitable graduation instead of a flat is called gradient. Most graphics software offers excellent gradient manipulation through a series of pop up windows.
The color palette is accessed by selecting Window> color. The color Picker is accessed by clicking on the color foreground box at the bottom of the toolbox. The swatches palette allows you to create a personally defined color set from a selected color. The gradient Tool creates a graduated blend between multiple colors. You can choose preset fills that the program provides or make your own. The gradient tool is located beneath the paint bucket fill tool. Vector paths can be created using the shape tool in the toolbox. The default shape is a rectangle. Select it and hold the mouse down to see the many options beneath.
Below are to photographs which have been altered using color selector and gradient menus. The first uses color selection tool and gradient selection and the second uses gradient gray tones.