Color #

Somewhere between gamma rays and radio waves, we find the light we can see. Color (visible light) is a small portion of what we call electromagnetic energy:

In photography (and especially when discussing photography in the digital realm), you will hear color described using various nomenclature such as RGB, CMYK, LaB, etc…You will also graphically see the range of colors represented various ways:

Various graphical representations of “Color”.

Without getting too scientific, we will simplify it a bit here:

Color consists of 3 attributes:

• Hue
• Saturation
• Value

HUE #

Hue is the actual color. The blue in Blue, the red in Red, etc…

Hues: Red, Blue, and Yellow respectively

SATURATION #

Saturation refers to the intensity or purity of a color (hue). Saturation can also refer to the “pop” or “dullness” of a particular hue.

Saturation: 100%, 65% and 30% respectively. The less saturated a color is, the more white it becomes and appears to be more dull.

VALUE #

Value. Also commonly known as brightness or lightness. The value is the luminescence of a color. Typically value is reduced by the addition of black. The lower the value of a color, the darker the color is.

Value: 100%, 65% and 30% respectively. The lower the value, the darker the color.

You will notice that changing one attribute of color such as value, can also have an impact on the other two aspects such as saturation and even hue. We will explore this more as the semester progresses.

With these basic elements, we can begin to figure out how to use them in our photography.