Story Spins in Colour – Visual Story Toolbox Knowledge – Basic Colour Systems
As a human you are made of light and colour.
As a visual story creator, it is a goodvibe to have an awareness and knowledge of light and colour.
Sunlight provides us the nourishment here on Earth that enables our survival by way of the magnificent Earthly agriculture that can be cultivated and harvested.
You can cultivate and harvest a good deal of visual wealth and impact by having a repertoire of understanding about colour and light.
The intention of this post is to provide yet another toolbox thrive for your visual storytelling acumen.
The more you know, the further you can go! #yayseuss
When you take a prism and shine a light upon it the prism will refract the light into a rainbow or what you could refer to as the visible spectrum:
RED – ORANGE – YELLOW – GREEN – BLUE – VIOLET
COLOUR SYSTEMS
There are two basic systems for organizing and mixing colour:
ADDITIVE & SUBTRACTIVE
ADDITIVE COLOUR SYSTEM
Most often used in theatrical lighting, when two different coloured spotlights overlap they create a third colour to spotlight upon the performer on the stage/screen,
This is what is called ADDITIVE COLOUR MIXING
As in the image example above, the red light is adding its wavelength to the blue light and a magenta colour is produced.
A colour wheel is a goodvibe to organize colours and see their relationships to one another.
The primary colours in the ADDITIVE COLOUR SYSTEM are RED, GREEN and BLUE
Combining two primary colours produces the other colours needed to complete the colour wheel.
The ADDITIVE SYSTEM IS THE MIXING OF LIGHT
RED + BLUE = MAGENTA ( similar to purple with a reddish hue)
GREEN + BLUE = CYAN (similar to turquoise with a greenish hue)
RED + GREEN – YELLOW
On the colour wheel, colours that are found opposite one another on the colour wheel are called complimentary colours.
The colours that make up the complimentary pairs in the ADDITIVE SYSTEM are
SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR SYSTEM
This system is used in the MIXING OF PIGMENTS, which includes dyes and paints.
The SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR SYSTEM is a more familiar vibe because mixing paints in school learnings or painting rooms can be universal to those fortunate to have education and a domicile to make their own.
It Offers Simplicity.
As simple as mixing one can of paint to another.
When red and yellow paint are mixed together the end result is orange.
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Almost everything in our real world has been painted, dyed or pigmented using the SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR SYSTEM.
The SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR SYSTEM is used in photography, lighting and lens filters, paints at paint stores, dyes used for fabrics, rugs, printing inks for publications, books and newspapers, wall paints, cars, appliances and all colours you find in our beautiful NATURAL WORLD>
THE SUBTRACTIVE SYSTEM COLOUR WHEEL
The primary colours on the SUBTRACTIC SYSTEM COLOUR WHEEL are magenta, yellow and cyan.
Combining two primary colours produces other colours needed to complete the wheel.
As in the previous example, colours opposite one another on the wheel are called COMPLIMENTARY COLOURS.
On the SUBTRACTIVE WHEEL the complimentary colours denote the consistency this system has with its counterpart, the ADDITIVE SYSTEM.
See here below:
Basic colour theory can be commonly misunderstood when it is conveyed.
Colour identification is subjective and people, given their individual perceptual acumens have different ideas in mind when describing a colour. This leads to a large and dynamic range of colours as being “primary”
Most people are taught the primary colours are RED, GREEN, YELLOW and/or BLUE because they look primary which compels the exclusion of MAGENTA and CYAN.
Coloured filters used on camera lenses and theatrical lights engage the SUBTRACTIVE colour system.
These are “gels” which are coloured glass or acetate sheets.
Filter colours get mixed subtractively by layering colour filters on top of one another. This kind of mixing is the same as when paint is mixed. IE. Overlapping CYAN + MAGENTA = BLUE.
If more than two colours are used, then it creates a black effect or no transmission of colour whatsoever. This is explained by observing that when three or more colour filters are stacked upon one another, the third filter subtracts the wavelengths of the other two, leaving no LIGHT at all.
The theories and systems for colour mixing artist’s colour vary to great degree.
This post and the next part of the colour series posts are to identify, organize and control colour in the photography of Film and video productions.
Your visual storytelling toolbox of colour Intel is a thrive that will most definitely serve you as an impactful and dynamic visual story creator.
Part Two of Colour Comprehension in Visual Storytelling will cover the Basic Components of Colour.
Having understanding is key to expansion. Not just in film making, but in life too, through relationship.
The more you are aware of and the more knowledge you contain, the more expanded creativity you, as a visual storyteller, can yield.
Knowledge is Power. Have fun with it!
