Colour Theory

[madmonkeyholly]

Hi Everybody,

 

For my A Level I have todo a page on Colour Theory,

 

The help sheet says : Colour Theory, you will need to know about the physics and psychology of additive and subtractive colour, because using coloured light can affect the percieved colour of an object.

 

Can someone help, I have no clue what it means, been looking on the internet and its very confusing. Is anybody able to explain what colour theory is and what I should know about it. Plus any good websites which might explain simply

 

 

 

Thank you very much

[J Pearce]

I'm currently writing some resources on colour theory within lighting design, below are some of the sources I am using:

 

http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/1BB.html

 

http://ilovemedia.es/proyectos/color-mixing/

 

http://cs.brown.edu/exploratories/freeSoftware/catalogs/color_theory.html

 

 

 

Additive colour mixing is adding different coloured light. Subtractive colour mixing removes certain colours, either by stopping them reflecting off materials, or by absorbing them in the path of light. By experimenting with the web apps above you should be able to build an understanding of the relationship between the two.

[paulears]

Well - there is a ton of information available, but in essence, I'm going to assume you are not doing a lighting option of some kind, and this is more of a generic piece of work. The key feature is that if you shine lights onto something, then by adjusting the amount of each one you should be able to create any colour in the visible spectrum. So a bit of primary red, a lot of primary green will add together to give a yellowy green - hence additive mixing. If you work on the premise that white light is actually a mix of all the possible colours (as in individual wavelengths) it's very similar in concept to white noise, which is the mix of every frequency of audible sound. If however, you use a piece of gel - let's say red. This isn't really a red gel at all, it is a piece of material that removes the blue and green parts of the spectrum, leaving what appears to be red.

 

The primary colours of light are red, green and blue. If you add these together, with separate lights pointed at a white screen, red and blue produce magenta, blue and green give cyan and green and red produce yellow. These new colours are called secondary colours. Red, green and blue of course produce white.

 

If you speak to a painter, or fabric specialist, they'll have their own set of primary colours, cyan, magenta and yellow - and these combine to produce their secondary colours which of course are ............. Clever. The difference is simply that we see paint as a reflection of the illuminating light. Yellow paint reflects light, it doesn't pass it through. Colour theory is usually shown by intersecting circles of colour - with white at the centre, and C, M and Y in the areas where two colours intersect . Now you can do a bit of Googling and get the details of wavelengths and transmission factors and the tough stuff!

[Tomo]

You might start with a simple Google search:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=colour+theory

 

Second hit is Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_theory

 

If you have specific questions then we may be able to help, but "tell me about colour theory" won't really get answers you can use.

 

Perhaps you could start from what coloured light actually is (the physics) - light waves/particles of differing frequency/energy, and consider how a coloured filter (subtractive) must actually work.

- Lee Filters have wavelength/transmission graphs for their filters that might help you visualise it.

 

But really, you should talk to your tutor about this first.

As you don't know what it means, they are best placed to help you start in the direction they would like you to go in order to succeed in the course.

[Jivemaster]

Well you could probably explain colour theory at Honours level in physics psychology and ophthalmic optics combined!

SO at A level you will not be expected to have a full understanding!

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColorChecker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_chart

http://www.ae5d.com/macbeth.html

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-macbeth-colour-checker-chart/p1011490?cm_mmc=googlebase-extension-_-colour-management-_-colour-management-_-gretag-macbeth-colour-checker-chart_1011490&utm_source=googlebase-extension&gclid=cnezuvtkhlycfczhtaodwr4ajq

[Rigger]

I remember learning this aged 9 when I got my first Sinclair ZX Spectrum and my dad explained the colours to me as I'd never heard of cyan or magenta.

 

Off topic sorry

 

 

[Jivemaster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamerism_%28color%29

 

Colour is the psychological response to various mixtures of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation striking the eye, it can be changed by reflection or transmission.

[Andrew C]

There was a programme about a year back (may have been Horizon) that showed how not having a word for a colour, influenced your perception of it. Worth trying to find a copy in your school physics dept.

 

I can't remember much detain, but they showed a wheel of almost uniform browns, and a guy from a north African tribe pointed out the different one without hesitation. He was then shown a similar wheel but with a blue (or green, can't remember) segment, and just didn't see it. Quite bizarre.

[p.k.roberts]

There was a programme about a year back (may have been Horizon) that showed how not having a word for a colour, influenced your perception of it. Worth trying to find a copy in your school physics dept.

 

I can't remember much detain, but they showed a wheel of almost uniform browns, and a guy from a north African tribe pointed out the different one without hesitation. He was then shown a similar wheel but with a blue (or green, can't remember) segment, and just didn't see it. Quite bizarre.

 

 

To help your search it was "Horizon: Do You See What I See?" and it was broadcast on BBC2 on 8th August 2011.

 

As general background reading, I would heartily recommend "The Beauty of Light" by Ben Bova

[musht]

Monitor your reading from uses Additive Colour, if you look at it with a magnifying glass picture is made up Red Green and Blue dots , all of them together make white.

 

If you printed whats on your monitor out and magnified the picture, would find it`s made from Cyan, Magenta and Yellow dots Subtracted from the white of the paper to give you the specific colours.

 

Samoiloff effect is extreme version of how coloured light affects perception of colour:

 

http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/lighting-design/samoiloff-effect-colour/

 

http://www.colorcube.com/ has some excellent articles and makes a great puzzle.

 

It is a confusing subject...

[Andrew C]

To help your search it was "Horizon: Do You See What I See?" and it was broadcast on BBC2 on 8th August 2011.

Which I have a copy of here. If your school has an ERA licence, I can legally* do them/you a copy if they don't have one.

 

 

 

* Before anyone kicks off!

[Oldradiohand]

It's also worth having a look at how the eye works - red, blue and green are primary colours because the eye has receptors that "see" three different overlapping spectra based in the low, medium and high frequency bits of the visible spectrum. Any colour will excite the receptors in differing amounts which the brain perceives as "colour".

[madmonkeyholly]

Thank you everyone for all your help I know have a basic knowledge and have nough information todo a page on it for my portfolio.

 

Thank you Everyone

[Whiskers]

Try to borrow any book by R W G HUNT, then sit back and marvel.