Photo 72 Foothill College Kate Jordahl for design “Color, with its infinity of relationships, is baffling; its finer harmonies, like those of music, can be grasped by the appreciations only. Not by reasoning or analysis.” Dow, pg. 161

“If one says “” (the name of a color) and there are 50 people listening, it can be expected that there will be 50 in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.” Albers, pg. 3

“Color establishes mood faster than any other element you can place into an image.” duChemin, pg. 43

Color Vocabulary Wavelengths What is made up of; appear because surfaces absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others. name of color in spectrum (example ) Intensity purity of hue (for example, a color is mixed with and makes a desaturated hue.) Also called Saturation. Value Brightness of the color as we see it in relation to others colors in scene; also called Luminance Color contrast When non-adjacent colors appear near each other in the scene; gives the “appearance” of great contrast even when the two colors reflect the same amount of light. Color contrast is more important in than reflected light contrast. Color When adjacent colors appear near each other in the scene Warm Colors Red, , , ; warm colors will seem to come forward. Cool Colors Blue, , , ; cool colors will seem to recede. Additive Primaries Called additive because each adds its color to the total of white light; this is used in photographic processes. White light = Red/Green/Blue Subtractive Primaries Called this because total equals ; this is used in painting and pigments. Black = Yellow, Magenta and Cyan Analogous colors Color adjacent to one another on the ; Analogous colors will tend toward harmony Complimentary colors For every additive primary there is a complimentary color, one that contains all colors except that additive primary. (cyan, magenta & yellow); complimentary colors will contrast. Cyan = Blue + Green Magenta = Red + Blue Yellow = Red + Green

1 Photo 72 Foothill College Kate Jordahl

Assignment: Color Inspiration Chose one color from the following list. Make 40 photographs with this color in every photo. The color can be used as accent. (Think "Red Balloon" or Charlie Cramer's Tree from lecture.) The color can also be used as subject. (Joe Decker's Moon.) You should work with complimentary and analogous colors. Post your 15 best images in flickr and share the link in the discussion and the assignment CHOOSE ONE: Blue Red Green Cyan Magenta Yellow Violet Orange Turquoise

Resources: Albers, Josef. Interaction of Color. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. (1963.) Barr, George. Why Photographs Work: 52 Great Images: Who made the, what makes them special and Why. Santa Barbara: Rocky Nook, 2011. Bruck, Axel. Practical Composition in Photography. New York: Focal Press, 1981. deChemin, David. Vision & Voice: Refining your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Berkeley: New Riders, 2011. Dow, Arthur Wesley. Composition: A series of exercises in art structure for the use of students and teachers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. (1920). Freeman, Michael. The Photographer’s Eye. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2007. 2