[Majik Imaje]

Understanding color theory will make your photographic jounrney much easier if you understand some simple basic principles

Even though you have a high tech camera that has white balance buit in and photoshop's power of a "click" or two to fix "color (s)" is not enough.

You must understand HOW COLORS WORK. with each other. This is essential to learn if your ever going to understand the "Art" of photography.

Red Green Blue are primary colors you see the "sliders" in photoshop RGB -

each of these three colors has a "compliment" or secondary color.

the opposite of red is cyan

-- - green is magenta

- - blue is yellow

This is COLOR "theory" but it is easily proven in a variety of ways.

This is photo color theory, not watercolor or oil color theory those have "different primaries"

If I take a round piece of blank cardboard flat, circular and divide it into thirds, and paint each third one of the Primary photo colors.. R, G, B.

those three colors,, when I spin that circle what "color" will you see??

Black is not.. .. a "color". it is the ABSENCE OF ALL COLOR(S)

WHITE is the presence of ALL color(s) PRIMARIES / OR secondaries.

This can be simply illustrated by using Lights.. in any 3D program.

Using a program called 3D studio max a red light and green and blue light were created and aimed or pointed toward the center of any surface. The unedited results of what happens when you mix light is obvious.

Spin that cardoard.. and your gonna see..WHITE.

WHERE the primary lights overlap, the secondary colors are present and visible.

Learing HOW to use COLOR(s) and their compliemnts or secondaries in Juxtaposition with each other will produce the most pleasing eye popping results using COLOR.

Photoshop is the norm.. ha! I am different, I use Painter because I like the color wheel.. and many other features that adobe doesn't have. don't be fooled there are a GREAT many other image editing programs that can do just as good of a job. far cheaper.!




So to sum it all up if your print is too yellow / move the blue slider

if your print is too magenta (pink) move the green slider

if your print is too Cyan (turquoise) move the Red slider.

UNDERSTANDING these six colors and how they function with each other is simple to learn .. the only problem you might find. is that when you MISTAKE blue for cyan or cyan for blue...

[Dabhand16]

Nice explanation Majik, and well laid out.

I am a bit colour blind. I only found out when in chemistry at school, my titration results were all over the place! When this was diagnosed, I found out that 9 out of 10 men are red/green colour blind to some extent. This fact has for some reason always stayed with me.

I have to say in general it does not affect me too much, BUT colour processing, both wet and in a computer can give me problems. I have the most difficulty when colours are very dark or very pale.

You can imagine that fine tuning of any colour images is therefore a bit of a lottery for me, and this might be the unconscious reason I've always liked working in mono.

If you have any comments on this problem I'd like to see them. Perhaps there is some software out there that could scan an image and give a colour balance result - I'll keep looking.

[Majik Imaje]

KAPTAIN KODAK makes

Cp & CC "FILTERS"

Cp = color printing

CC = COLOR CORRECTION

so you want CC filters.. they used to be in the Kodak Color Darkroom guide

Here is how they work.

each "card" has four slots with CC filters in these slots on this one card

the four slots MIGHT BE.. Yellow.. in +10 + 20 + 30 + 40 yellow

10 is lighter than 20 etc.. 40 is deep yellow.

is your print too blue ?? now hold the card in front of your print.. and "flip" it into view of your image and "flip" it out of the view of your images.

The intent is to let you see. which density of yellow you need to SUBTRACT from your filter pack to make the print look correct..

so if a print is too red.. your going to use Cyan filters.. to cc the print..


you MUST HAVE A good strong foundation in Color Correction Techniques outlined by the Kaptain of Kewl Kolors l..Kodak !

[Dabhand16]

Thread moved to this forum as it seems more appropriate.