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| Color
Perception...
The way
we perceive color can often times trick us. A white horse
under the shade of a tree might appear white to us visually,
yet if we were to photograph that horse or read the spectral
data from it, it would actually have a blue cast from the
sky or green cast from the leaves of the tree. This is known
as Chromatic Adaptation,
the ability of the human visual system to adapt to various
light sources to preserve an objects original color appearance.
Adjacent
colors will also have an influence
on how we perceive color. |
| The green boxes in this image
appear to contain different shades of green. As you move your
mouse cursor over the image however you will see that both
boxes are indeed the same color green. This is really a color
illusion.
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Why
is this all so important? What is really important to recognize
here is that our viewing conditions,
the color of light we view our images in; surrounding color areas,
walls, ceilings, even our clothes can have a serious affect on our
perception and judgment of color. Viewing
standards have been developed to provide us with guidelines
for judging color. Standard
viewing booths for making critical color assessments are available
from a number of different manufacturers. Some color experts even
recommend painting your walls and ceilings a specific shade of gray
so that image evaluation is done in a completely neutral color environment.
The bottom line here is that you should view your final images in
the environment in which they will be displayed or under lighting
that is representative of the display environment and always be
cognizant of surrounding colors as they will effect your ability
to accurately assess color.
This brings
us to our next topic, one that is very important to understanding
and assessing good color, color temperature.
| Key
Concepts and Terminology...
For further
review of all of the material covered in this tutorial check
out this Review form
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- Chromatic
adaption is the ability of the human visual system
to adapt to different light sources to preserve an objects
original color.
- Adjacent
and background colors impact our ability to correctly assess
color.
- Color
should be assessed under controlled or standardized lighting
conditions comparable to the lighting conditions in which
the images will be displayed.
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