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PHOTOGRAPHY |
Color film, transparencies, negatives and photographic paper are coated with color dye layers that act as filters to stop various amounts of color light from passing through. Since these color layers can control light passing through them, the photographic process makes use of the "subtractive" system of color mixing. |
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY PAPER
How do the color layers in a photo mix to form a full range of colors?
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| CYAN | |
| MAGENTA | |
| YELLOW |
The 3 color layers are 3 photos of the same scene. The amount of color in each layer matches the amount of each color of the 3 primary colors in the original scene. The cyan, magenta and yellow layers subtract color from the light that you use to view the photo. Since the layers are transparent, all 3 layers can be seen at the same time.
Look at the image above. Notice that the white portion represented by the frost on top of the apple has no color in any of the layers. What you see as white is really the paper backing of the photograph showing through, since no light is being subtracted in that part of the picture.
You can see that the green in the image of the leaf is formed by the combined colors cyan and yellow in those two layers. The red of the apple comes from the layers for magenta and yellow. If all three layers had the maximum amount of color in each, then that area would look black. All light would be subtracted (absorbed) in that case.
All other
colors are made by variations in the amounts of color in each of the three
layers. For example, each layer can range from a very deep
color to a very pale shade. Some photos may have many different
colors and shades of color. Some colors may be bold and others
hardly noticeable, but
there are still three basic color layers.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographic processes are becoming more and more digital. Digital photography does not require film. Digital photos also make use of a limited number of colors to produce a full range of color images. Digital cameras mostly rely on light sensitive chips that separate an image into its basic colors for processing electronically. For the most part, cameras utilize the red, green and blue colors of the "additive" primary colors.
Digital photography can be displayed electronically on screens and monitors. These screens and monitors most often use the "additive" primary colors of red, green and blue.
Digital photos can also be printed out on paper using a color printer or even scanned onto color film or paper. In that case, the "subtractive" color system of cyan, yellow and magenta is used. For more about color digital printing, select the "printing" topic from the contents on the left.
| All images are original graphics or photography
by Robert Truscio © 1997- 2009 (All rights reserved) |