Colours into tones in black-and-white

Colours into tones in black-and-white

This is final exercise in the colour chapter looks at conversions from colour into tones in black-and-white.

The exercise outlines the steps for carrying this with both film and digital cameras.  The traditional film method for carrying out this exercise involves working with black-and white film and using strongly coloured filters, such as red, green, blue and yellow. The filters then allow certain colours to pass through the lens but block others. An example offered to illustrate this is a red rose shot against a blue sky. The result of using a red filter would be it allows the light from the rose to pass through but will block most of the blue light from the sky.

As I shoot digitally I am following the digital instructions that are follows

• Set up a still-life arrangement that includes the colours red, blue, green, and yellow.
• Include a piece of grey card.
• Take one photograph.
• Use processing software to convert the image into black-and-white.
• Experiment with the different pre-set black-and-white conversions and colour sliders to adjust the colour levels in the image.
• Produce 5 photographs from the colour original, a replication of a black-and-white without any filters, a yellow filter, a red filter, a blue filter and a green filter.

I selected a small selection of colourful crayons, doodles and balls for this still-life and arranged them on top of a piece of grey paper beside a window. I then took the single image require, shooting in Raw format. I then began exploring my processing software, Photoshop Elements 11 (PSE11), to decide the best way to proceed with this task. As PSE11 doesn’t have a HSL/Grayscale option I opted for the Enhance> Convert to Black and White command, which offers a selection of six black and white conversions. Each of the black and white conversions uses a different amount of red, green and blue colour channels to produce a specific look. There are also red, green, blue and contrast sliders that can be adjusted to increase or decrease intensity. I chose not to use the contrast slider for this exercise and worked with the black-and-white presets and the three colour channel sliders as follows.

Original

‘Portrait’ preset

I selected the ‘portrait’ black-and-white preset . There is very little difference to note here between the colours. Both smiley face balls look to be of a similar hue as do the flower doodles.

Red- ‘vivid landscape’ preset

To mimic a red filter I selected the ‘vivid landscape’ black-and white preset as this had the highest level of red. I then increased the red slider to +72. This has had created very high contrast, rendering the red ball almost white while darkening the blues to an almost black. I found it interesting to note that this has also brightened the yellows in the image to white. I did a quick check on http://www.rapidtables.com/web/color/Yellow_Color.htm and noted that the RGB code for yellow is 255, 255, 0. Thus by adjusting the red levels in the image I also adjusted the yellows.

Blue- ‘vivid landscape’ preset

The ‘urban/snapshots’ black-and-white preset had the highest level of blue however it didn’t show a great deal of tonal difference between the red and the blue. I increased the blue slider to +100 and decreased the red to +4 make the blue lighter and yellow and red darker.

Green- ‘portraits’ preset

To mimic a green filter I opted for the ‘portraits’ black-and-white preset and experimented with adjusting the three sliders. The green was increased to +98 and the red decreased to +8 and the blue decreased to +14 resulting in lightened greens and yellows and bold reds and blues.

PSE11 does not have a yellow slider in the Concert to Black-and White command therefore I was initially unsure as to how to replicate a yellow filter. After a little thought and experimenting I decided to work with red and green colour sliders in line with yellow’s RGB code (255, 255, 0).

Yellow- ‘vivid lanscape’ preset

I began in the ‘vivid landscape’ black-and-white preset and experimented with red and green adjustments. The photograph above has red increased to +2 and green to +45 which shoes the yellows to be white, the reds and green to be a similar tone and the blues to the darkest.

While the levels of contrast in the black-and-white conversions in this exercise are quite harsh it does illustrate quite clearly how colour can be converted to black-and-white with very different effects, emphasising some colours while suppressing others. This is something I would have found extremely beneficial to understand before carrying out the exercises and assignment for Part two-Element of Design. However, I think the knowledge that I have gained about colour in this chapter, particularly how digital colour is formed, has helped me to understand the principles behind this exercise.

http://www.rapidtables.com/web/color/RGB_Color.htm

Colour Relationships

Colour Relationships

As discussed in the previous entry, colours, which sit across from each other on the painters colour wheel, are considered to be complementary and a result, they appear to the eye to balance each other in a satisfying way. Red is complementary to green, orange to blue and yellow to violet.

The hues vary in brightness from light, yellow to dark, violet. German poet and playwright J.W. von Goethe determined the generally accepted brightness values as

Yellow 9

Orange 8

Red 6

Green 6

Blue 4

Violet 3

(Freeman, 2005, p98)

The brightness values influence the ideal balance proportions of the three complementary pairs. For example, red and green each have a brightness level of 6, so are considered to be balanced at a ratio of 1:1. However, orange has a brightness level of 8, which is twice as bright as blue, thus the ratio is 1:2. This allows blue to occupy twice the area of orange to compensate for its lack of strength. Similarly, yellow is three times as bright as violet thus, violet should occupy three times more space than yellow.

Ideal proportion of how much colour occupies the frame–

Red: green        1:1

Orange: blue     1:2

Yellow: violet     1:3

This exercise is in two parts. Part One asks for one photograph from each combination of primary and secondary colours, which is composed to closely match the rations listed above. (3 photographs)

 Part two asks for three of four photographs, which features colour combinations that appeal to me. They can be combinations of two colours or more. The objective is to show that there is no single ‘correctness’ to complementary colours. Look at the colour balance in these photographs and study its effect.

 Part One

Red: Green

Red and green have equal luminosity and combine harmoniously, when they are pure and exact, to proportions of 1:1. When viewed together as unadulterated hues, red and green exhibit optical vibration. Freeman (2005, p94) describes optical vibration occurs along the edge between two intense colours that contrast in hue but have similar levels of brightness. The effect is that the edge seems to fringe or vibrate, which can be irritating to look at but is also eye-catching and dynamic.

For this photograph I selected a robust-looking red flower, a warm colour set against a background of green foliage, a cool colour. This gives the impression that the red is advancing while the green recedes. I looked at this edges where the red and green meet to note if there was any evidence of optical vibration, but did not see any fringing. I think this may be because the saturation of the hues varied throughout the image.

red: green 1:1

red: green colour balance

I cropped this image slightly at the top of the frame and at the left hand side to make the colour proportions closer to 1:1.

Orange: Blue

As orange is as twice as bright as blue there is little optical vibration to be seen, making this combination of colours more comfortable to look at than red and green. They also have the strongest warm/cool contrast of temperature of the three primary and secondary colour combinations. Freeman (2005, p88) describes this contrast as a contrast of sensation as there is a sensory association between colour and temperature, humidity and time of the day.

Freeman (2005, p125) notes that reflective surfaces can pick up on the tones and colours of the environment. I took this photograph at Dubai creek side in the late afternoon. I think the warm glow of the low sun reflecting on the coloured glass has made the orange appear stronger. Although the colours in this shot are not pure I think harmony is still achieved through the warm/cool contrast.

orange 1: blue 2

orange 1 : blue 2

The colours in the image below are a lot stronger, particularly in the painted cart. A slight crop has been applied to make the proportions adhere more closely to the desired ratio of 1:2.

orange 1: blue 2

orange 1: blue 2

Yellow: Violet

This combination contrasts the brightest and darkest colours in the spectrum. Goethe placed a brightness value of 9 on yellow and a value of 3 on violet meaning that violet needs to occupy three times more space than yellow to be balanced. As noted in the course text, the rarity of violet in photographic subjects made this combination a challenge to find.

It took several outings for me to find a subject that would be a close(ish!) match to the colours. I spotted these shop facades while walking in Bur Dubai, an area of Dubai. On returning home I realised that the ‘violet’ in this shot was probably closer to a magenta/orchid hue. I also had to apply a heavy crop for the ratios to be close to 1:3.

yellow 1: violet 3

yellow 1: violet 3

Still, I think the brightness and darkness of the colours are evident enough to show contrast. The tight framing also made me consider what active framing and passive framing as discussed by Shore (2007). For some pictures the frame is relatively passive, it is simply where the pictures end. When viewing a picture with a passive frame, the viewer knows that the world continues beyond the edges of the frame, but is content with what is “inside”. For other pictures the frame is more active; the structure of the picture begins with the frame and works inward. The edges of the frame are activated, and we are very aware that the world continues beyond the boundary of the photograph. On consideration, I think the framing in this shot could be considered active.

The image below is another example of a yellow/violet combination at a ratio of around 1:3. The framing was better here which meant no cropping was required.

yellow 1: violet 3

yellow 1: violet 3

Part Two

Part two asks for three of four photographs, featuring colour combinations that appeal to me. I should look at the colour balance in these photographs and study its effect.

 Image One

I took this photograph on a visit to nearby gardens. I liked these colours together as they are all desaturated and this, to me, made the colours and plants appear delicate. The greens are paler than a pure green with hints of yellow. The pinks are very light, almost white in a few areas.

green, pink, brown

green, pink, brown

Freeman (2007, p123) notes that brown is, technically, a heavily desaturated red. He describes it as a classic broken colour, with earthy connotations. The brown here also contains greens and pinks, giving it a khaki-coloured look.

Both the pink and brown have originated from red. This colour wheel I found at http://creativecurio.com/2008/05/the-color-wheel-and-color-theory/ helps illustrate how adding white could create the pink and the brown by adding grey or black.

Red is opposite green on the colour wheel. Freeman (2005, p96) notes that harmony with opposite colours lies in successive contrast. Successive contrast is where the eye reacts to a strong colour by creating it’s complementary, the after-image, after exposure. By supplying the opposite colour the eye creates a balance. Therefore there is a balance of complementary colours, albeit muted, in this image.

 

Image Two

This image shows a row of glass bottles featuring the painters’ primaries red, blue and yellow. The colours are not pure but still have high levels of saturation (with the exception of the light blue on the left of the frame). I noted the levels of saturation on Photoshop as follows R = 95%, B = 91%, Y = 75% and the LB = 27%.

yellow, red, blue

As noted in Freeman (2005, p96) any colour combination that is symmetrical around the middle of the colour wheel has a potential blend that is neutral, therefore balanced. This can apply to groups of 2, 3 or 4 colours. The red, blue and yellow symmetry can be seen below.

yellow, red, blue

red, yellow, blue balance

Yet, as I discussed earlier each colour varies in brightness; red = 6, yellow = 9 and blue = 4. This would mean that the colour proportions that are conventionally considered to be harmonious would differ from those above as blue would occupy the most space, followed by red and then yellow with the least. I did consider cropping the right hand side of the frame to reduce the yellow area. However as Freeman (2005, p99) notes, adhering strictly to the colour harmony rules and principles can create a mechanical, predictable effect thus some imbalance can be good to add dynamism.

Image Three

I took this image in the glass house of a botanical garden. It is a good example of colour harmony through spatial contrast. When one colour is very small in the frame, the proportions become irrelevant as the small area of colour becomes a colour accent and the eye is drawn to it. Freeman (2005, p110) notes that it is paradoxical that sometimes a small colour accent gains more perceptual strength from its location. I placed the large pumpkin slightly off-centre to be moderately dramatic without being too extreme. I also placed it low in the frame to mirror the way it grows, at the end of a tendril, sitting on the ground. The two small orange flowers on the left hand side of the frame make the elements dynamically balanced.

orange colour accent

In terms of colour balance, the green and orange combination does not fit with traditional colour harmony thinking, it would be considered imbalanced. However, I think it works well as the orange is light and not an orange/red, thus making it calming to look at rather than irritating.

orange colour accent

orange, green imbalance

Image Four

Image four is a close up of a stack of bowls on display at a local souk. It contains colours from every section of the colour wheel except yellow, which means the colour is not balanced. Freeman (2005, p112) notes that just as the concept of colour harmony is loaded with personal and cultural values so is it’s opposite, discord. Beyond optical and perceptual principles, discord is the idea that certain colour combinations clash, are not safe and do not work together. However, these assumptions are very much based on culture, opinion and fashion.

multi-coloured combination

I would perhaps not choose to decorate my home, or wear an outfit encompassing all the colours in this photograph but I do think the assortment of bold colours attracts attention and in some way reflects the character of the souk I spotted them in, colourful, ornate and unusual.

multi-coloured combination

multi-coloured imbalance

Conclusion

 This exercise has taken me quite some time to research and compile as I quickly realised that colour harmony was a far larger concept than I had initially realised.

My main findings are that harmony can be achieved not only through combinations of complementary hues, but also through contrast of brightness, saturation, sensation and space. However my research asks for caution in adhering to these principles too rigidly, as this can produce predictable results. This suggests that while an awareness of colour relationships in photography can be used to good effect, some imbalance can also add dynamism and interest to an image.

M. Freeman (2005) Digital Photography Expert: Colour. Lewes: ILEX

Freeman, M. (2007) The Photographer’s Eye. Lewes: ILEX

Shore, S. (2007) The Nature of Photographs (2^nd edition). London: Phaidon Press Limited

http://creativecurio.com/2008/05/the-color-wheel-and-color-theory/

Primary and secondary colours

Primary and secondary colours

I learnt from the previous exercise that the strength of a colour can be altered by changing the exposure settings. This exercise explores this further using the primary and secondary colors.

On a colour wheel, based on the painters’ primaries: red, yellow and blue sit opposite their complementary colours. Red sits opposite green, yellow opposite violet and blue is across from orange. The secondary colours, green, yellow and violet, are created from combinations of the 2 primary colours which sit on either side of the secondary colour on the colour wheel.

Blue + Yellow = Green.

Red + Yellow = Orange.

Blue + Red = Violet

I have taken my time over this exercise and taken many ‘colourful’ photographs on my visits to a marina, a market and a local park. I have opted to use this park photographs in this blog entry as these illustrate most of the colours in a natural way.

I set my camera to Manual mode as this setting allows me to use the in-camera exposure meter to gauge exposure. The ISO was set to 100 while the WB was set to sunny. All images are RAW format and are unprocessed.

Primary Colours

RED

Freeman (2005, p32) describes red as being one of the most insistent and powerful colours. It immediately attracts attention and has many strong associations such as danger, heat and passion.

The red of this Canna Lily really stood out against the green and dark foliage in the background. Freeman notes that when red is seen against cooler colours, such as blue and green, it can be perceived to have a 3D effect and advance towards the viewer.

1. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 100

At a focal length of 52mm the in-camera meter suggested a shutter speed of 1/250s while the aperture was wide open at f/5.6, to ensure a narrow depth of field. As the light was hitting one side of the lily it has produced interesting variations in the reds between the highlighted areas and the shadows.

2. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/180s, ISO 100

As I wanted to retain a shallow depth of field throughout these shots, I have adjusted the shutter speed to change the exposure, in this case making it 1/2 stop brighter. As a result the highlighted areas have increased and the surface reflections have diluted the colour. The background has also brightened making it more dominant and distracting.

3. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/350s, ISO 100

I adjusted the shutter speed to 1/350s to under-expose the image by 1/2 stop. Of the three exposures I think this produces the best outcome. The highlighted areas are softer and the details in the petals become more visible.

As the brightness of the red is so varied in each photograph it’s hard to say which exposure best matches the red from the colour wheel and with hindsight I should probably have chosen a subject that was evenly lit.

Instead, I have selected another red flower photograph from my catalogue. I shot this several weeks ago and at the time of shooting did not experiment with different exposure setting; therefore in order to complete this exercise I have adjusted the exposure in post- processing.

55mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 100

The red here is similar to the colour wheel but quite dark on some petals.

+1/2 stop

At 1/2 stop over exposed the red is very bright and appears slightly pink on the 2 right hand side petals.

-1/2 stop

Although, under-exposing by 1/2 stop has darken the stem, flower buds and background it has strengthened the red on the petals. I think this appears the closest match to the red on the colour wheel.

YELLOW

Yellow is the lightest and brightest of all colors. It doesn’t exist in a dark form and its brilliance is its most noticeable characteristic. It is often used to attract attention as in road signs or in the hundreds of bright yellow school buses that drive Dubai’s roads each day. Freeman (2005, p36) notes that expressively, yellow is vigorously and very sharp with associations with the sun, light and cheerfulness.

Using manual mode, the meter suggested a shutter speed of 1/250s with a focal length of 44mm and an aperture of f/5.3.

1. 44mm, f/5.3, 1/250s, ISO 100

Freeman (2004, p36) notes that there is very little latitude with yellow, it very quickly moves towards green in one direction and orange in the other. The colour patches he shows (p37) notes only 8 different shades of yellow, which is quite a narrow spectrum compared to the 20 colour patches shown for red. A range of yellow can be seen here with the yellow of the lily petals varying from yellow, to lemon and then towards a yellow-green, a colour cast from the surrounding leaves. In the center of the flower head the colour is a yellow-orange shade. . Overall, the yellows don’t seem bright enough to match the yellow on the colour wheel.

2. 44mm, f/5.3, 1/180s, ISO 100

At a 1/2 stop brighter the green and orange tones seem less obvious and the yellow’s brilliance has increased.

3. 44mm, f/5.3, 1/350s, ISO 100

At 1/2 a stop under-exposed the yellow appears much less bright.Out of interest, I looked at the HSB figures for this yellow in Photoshop and noted that the levels of brilliance ranged from 38-65% while in the 1/2 stop over exposed photograph they were much higher at 64-84%.

As it is brighter with less evidence of green, the 2nd photograph appears to be the closest match to the yellow on the colour wheel.

BLUE

Freeman (2005, p40) describes blue as being a quiet and cool colour that suggests passivity and also a reflective mood. It has considerable latitude and has its greatest strength when deep.

While there may be blue skies above me and blue waters around me, I found it hard to find a subject close to the pure blue shown on the colour wheel, particularly in a natural source. I eventually selected a man-made source of blue after spotting this blue on a section of a children’s slide at the local park.

At a focal length of 40mm and an aperture of f/11 the in-camera meter suggested a shutter speed of 1/125s

40mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100

Although this is a strong blue it is not as dark as the blue on the colour wheel.

40mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 100

Adjusting the shutter speed to exposed 1/2 stop brighter produces a much lighter blue. It has also altered the ‘elephant head’ section of the slide from yellow/orange to a much brighter yellow. The lighter tone shows the ‘wear and tear’ on the blue section which is less noticeable in the other 2 exposures.

40mm, f/11, 1/180s, ISO 100

Under-exposure by 1/2 a stop produces a blue which is the closest match to the blue on the colour wheel, although darkening it a little more would possibly be an even better match.

Secondary colors

GREEN

Freeman (2005, p44) notes that as green is the main colour of nature, it has mostly positive associations and symbolism, such as growth and youth.

Green is the most visible of colours to the human eye in low light, despite it being of medium brightness. It is positioned between yellow and blue on the colour wheel and as result can take on many forms including yellow-green and turquoises. Pure green, however, is not common in nature as I found while looking for subjects for this exercise.

I decided to take this photograph of these 3 layers of large, fern-like leaves one behind the other.

The in-camera meter suggested a shutter speed of 1/250s when the aperture was f/5.3 and the focal length, 48mm.

1. 48mm, f/5.3, 1/250, ISO 100

I like this image as it illustrates a range of green tones.  There are small sections in the middle leaf of the layer that are close to the pure green of the colour wheel, however the majority of tones are either too light or too dark.

2. 48mm, f/5.3, 1/180s, ISO 100

Decreasing the shutter speed to 1/180s has lightened the greens throughout. Again, sections of the middle leaf are the closest match to pure green.

3. 48mm, f/5.3, 1/350, ISO 100

An increase of 1/2 stop shutter speed has darkened the greens, particularly in the foreground. However a close-up screen shot of the middle leaf notes that some of the greens here (running from top left, diagonally towards the bottom right) are close to the pure green on the colour wheel.

VIOLET

Violet has associations with being rich and sumptuous and can create a sense of mystery. It is linked to royalty, religion and superstition.

Freeman (2005, p48) notes that many people have difficult in distinguishing pure violet and states that this is magnified by the fact that colour monitors and ink are often unsuccessful with this colour.

Before beginning this chapter I too was somewhat confused as to the difference between violet and purple, having previously just used the label ‘purple’ to describe them both. However, I now seem to be gaining some appreciation as to their differences. I am beginning to look for violet and consider whether is it pale or dark? Is it more blue or red? The colour patches printed, and labelled, in Freeman (2005) have been a useful reference guide as I develop my colour discrimination skills.

For example, this shot initially seemed violet to me, but now I can clearly see that it is pink, possibly somewhere between a deep pink and a hot pink.

This flower appears (to me) like purple with lighter elements of a medium orchid colour.

As can be seen from the examples above, I did not find it easy to find a pure violet colour to photograph.

I considered these flowers (petunias, I think?), pictured below, to be the closest match. The in-camera meter recommended a shutter speed of 1/125s, for an aperture of f/5.6 and focal length of 55mm.

1. 55mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO 100

At the recommended exposure the violet colour of the front petunia in this shot is a very close match to the violet of the colour wheel. The texture, shape, construction of the flower and the available light also make other shades visible too. The darker centre area of the flower is leaning towards blue-violet and a few spots around the edge of the petals appear slightly pink.

2. 55mm, f/5.6, 1/90s, ISO 100

At 1/2 stop over-exposed the colour of the front petunia is much lighter, more of a pale violet red. The flower in the background however is now closer to a match for the violet of the colour wheel.

3. 55mm, f/5.6, 1/180s, ISO 100

At 1/2 stop under-exposed the front petunia appears to be a dark orchid shade while the flower in the background now looks blue-violet.

I think overall, the first photograph is the closest match to pure violet.

ORANGE

According to Freeman (2005, p50), orange absorbs some of the qualities from its two source colours, red and yellow. It radiates the energy from red and the light from yellow and symbolically it is interchangeable with yellow from the sun and red for the heat. It has associations with festivity, celebration, heat and dryness.

I choose this orange Bougainvillea flower to illustrate orange.

1. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 100

At the exposure recommended by my in-camera meter the orange is not a pure orange, but more of a dark red/orange colour. The petal and flower centre that are the point of focus, appear lighter as they are receiving direct sunlight. However they are still not light enough to be a good match to the orange on the colour wheel.

2. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/350s, ISO 100

At 1/2 stop over exposed the orange Bougainvillea flower has brightened and is a fairly good representation of pure orange.

According to http://www.rapidtables.com/web/color/RGB_Color.htm the RGB code for orange reads R-255, G-165, B-0. Using Photoshop, I decided to check the RGB code for the orange (at the focal point) in image 2 and was surprised to see it contained quite a lot of blue, reading R-231, G- 132, B- 61.

3. 52mm, f/5.6, 1/750s, ISO 100

1/2 of a stop under-exposed results in the flowers all having a distinct deep red colouring.

I was left wondering about the RGB levels of the orange in image 2. I decided to examine a few other ‘orange’ photographs that I had taken to see if any were a closer match to pure orange.

After several attempts, I noted that the orange in this photograph, taken 1/2 stop below the in-camera’s recommendation, contains no blue.

55mm, f/5.6, 1/350s, ISO 100

The RBG levels for this orange in the main cluster of flowers is R-225, G-101, B-0, which is closer to the 255, 165, 0 code of pure orange than the previous set of photographs. I think visually the orange in this image appears brighter with less evidence of red.

Conclusions

I have taken quite a long time over this exercise as I wanted to really understand and recognise the colours discussed. I do find now that I am looking at a subject’s colour and mentally analysing its qualities.

This exercise has forced me out of my usual shooting mode, aperture priority, into manual mode, which I have found, overall, far less scary than I had anticipated. This is something I plan to spend more time exploring.

It was harder to find pure colours in the natural world than I anticipated. I have realised that they are generally much brighter than I would have initially thought, however this has added to my understanding of ‘brightness or brilliance’.

On a practical level this exercise has shown me that when taking a series of photographs I tend to move the camera slightly between shots. As this can potentially affect focal point and exposure, I know I need to take my time and use visually markers to make the framing more constant.

I am also more aware of how much a colour can be altered by very slight adjustments, in this exercise 1/2 stop, in exposure. The results were varied. For example the blue was truest when under-exposed, the yellow when over-exposed and the violet at the recommended exposure settings. This tells me that each colour has its own properties, as does each subjects and these factors, teamed with particular lighting conditions means each shot benefits from an individual approach.

M. Freeman (2005) Digital Photography Expert: Colour. Lewes: ILEX

Open College of the Arts. Basic Colour Theory. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts

Control the strength of a colour

Control the strength of a colour

This exercise illustrates a technique, varying camera exposure, which can allow the strength of a colour to be controlled.

The instructions were as follows.

Find a strong, definite colour and adopt a viewpoint that allows the colour to overfill the viewfinder frame.

Use your camera’s meter or an external meter to find the average exposure settings.

Start at one stop brighter than the average meter setting and take a series of photographs, without varying the composition, stopping down the aperture by half a stop each time.

The result will be a sequence of 5 photographs differently exposed from bright to dark.

I chose to photograph a red t-shirt, not very imaginative but a strong colour, stretched over the back of a chair to keep it flat. I place the chair near a window to gain some additional light. I positioned my camera on a tripod, then selected Manual mode as this provides an exposure indicator in the viewfinder. I kept the ISO setting constant at ISO 100 and the WB set to shade throughout.

The exposure indicator recommended an aperture setting of f/7.1 and shutter speed of 1/10s. As I usually have my camera set in increments of 1/3 of Exposure Value (EV), I varied aperture setting by 1/3 of a stop each time, ranging from 1 stop below the average reading and 1 stop above. This resulted in 7 differently exposed photographs, rather than the 5 required for the exercise.  I also took hue, saturation and brightness (HSB) readings from the centre of each photograph using the information window in Photoshop Elements 11.

The photographs below are RAW files with no adjustments made.

1 stop over-exposed

Hue-346°, Saturation-94%, Brightness-93%

At one stop over-exposed the red appears very bright and light. The middle of the photograph has a slightly washed out red colour when compared to the slightly darker left hand corners. The left hand side was furthest away from the window so this received less light.

40mm, f/5.3, 1/10s, ISO 100

2/3 stop over-exposed

Hue-347°, Saturation-93%, Brightness-90%

At 2/3 of a stop over-exposed the red appears slightly darker than previously although still brighter than the colour of the actually t-shirt.

40mm, f/5.6, 1/10s, ISO 100

1/3 stop over-exposed

Hue-347°, Saturation–93%, Brightness-90%

At 1/3 of a stop over-exposure the colour is becoming more of a true red and retains brightness over the majority of the frame. This is probably the closest match to the true red colour of the t-shirt being photographed.

40mm, f/6.3, 10s, ISO 100

Meter recommended exposure

Hue-348°, Saturation-96%, Brightness-83%

The metered exposure seems to provide a more evenly spread red hue across the frame than any of the other exposures. The shadow areas are far less noticeable. The red is very strong and much darker than the previous exposures.

40mm, f/7.1 , 10s, ISO 100

1/3 stop under-exposed

Hue-350°, Saturation-99%, Brightness-70%

1/3 of a stop under-exposed has made the colour stronger and darker.

40mm, f/8, 10s, ISO 100

2/3 stop under-exposed

Hue – 352°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-60%

In this exposure the red colour is very strong, the red appears mostly dark with no obvious areas of brightness.

40mm, f/9, 10s, ISO 100

1 stop under-exposed

Hue-352°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-57%

At 1 stop under-exposed the colour is a very dark red, which bears very little resemblance to the colour of the original t-shirt. In the left hand side of the frame and the corners the red is approaching black.

40mm, f/10, 10s, ISO 100

Looking at the HSB figures was interesting as it’s not something I have ever done before. The hue values remained fairly constant throughout, ranging from 346° to 352°. There was also little variation in saturation levels, starting at 94% and quickly rising to 100% at 2/3 of a stop under-exposed. However there was a notable difference in the brightness levels recorded throughout the exercise. 93% was recorded at 1 stop over-exposed and this dropped to 57% at 1 stop under-exposed. This illustrates quite well that under-exposure (less light) affects the brightness of a colour, making it appear stronger and more intense, while the hue and saturation levels are relatively unchanged.

I had read in Freeman (2005, p22) that different hues show maximum saturation at different levels of brightness and noted that in this case the red reached 99% saturation at 70% brightness and 100% saturation on the subsequent exposure with 60% brightness.

I wondered how this would compare with a different colour? I decided to repeat this exercise with the colour yellow to see if there would be a difference under similar light conditions.

I photographed a bowl of lemons, positioned by a daylight window. I again used manual mode of my camera and used the in-camera meter to find a recommended exposure. The camera recommended f/10 and a shutter speed of 1/25s. I adjusted the aperture to 1 stop over-exposed, f/7.1 and began to expose from bright to dark.  Again, I positioned the camera on a tripod, kept the ISO constant at ISO 100 and took HSB readings from the centre of each RAW file. The background is yellow card.

1 stop over-exposed

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-77%

The yellows in this photograph appear very bright and not too white even though the in-camera meter reads 1 stop over exposed. There are a few highlighted areas where the light hits the lemons, top and left, making the yellow appear ‘shinier’.

46mm, f/7.1, 1/25s, ISO 100

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-73%

The yellow is slightly paler here, with less highlighted areas and a more even tone overall. The shadow areas are still quite soft. I find the colour here more pleasing than the in-camera meter recommended exposure below.

46mm, f/8, 1/25s, ISO 100

1/3 stop over-exposed

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-63%

The colour of the lemons appears darker and the background colour seems to be developing a ‘greenish’ tinge.

46mm, f/9, 1/25s, ISO 100

Meter recommended exposure

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-53%

The meter recommended exposure is very dark and there are many shadow areas. The yellow of the lemons is not bright. When looking at the histogram for this shot it shows an under-exposed image with clipped shadows.

46mm, f/10, 1/25s, ISO 100

1/3 stop under-exposed

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-45%

The image continues to lose brightness as the aperture gets smaller.

46mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 100

46mm, f/13, 1/25s, ISO 100

Hue-43°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-38%

1 stop under-exposed

Hue-44°, Saturation-100%, Brightness-27%

At one stop under-exposed the colour of the lemons is barely discernible.  The yellow has lost most of its brightness and is gradually becoming darker and some areas appear almost black.

46mm, f/14, 1/25s, ISO 100

On repeating this exercise, I noticed that both the hue and saturation remained constant while the brightness fell by 50%, from 77% to 27%, in 2 stops. This makes it easy to see how brightness relies on light levels and renders a colour dark in low light conditions. It also illustrates how a hue value can remain constant while brightness levels change.

The course notes stat that slight under-exposure can help produce a ‘stronger’ colour, as can be seen in the 1/3 and 2/3 under-exposed red t-shirt photographs above. This didn’t seem to be the case for the bowl of yellow lemons. The main effect under-exposure had was to lower the colour’s brightness and render parts of the image almost black.

Interestingly the saturation levels for the yellow (in this example) where at 100% throughout this experiment in brightness levels ranging from 27%-77%, although I’m not sure if those figures are a typical representation.

In addition to learning how colours change with camera exposure, I have noted that the in-camera meter recommended setting for the lemons, resulted in a photograph that was noticeably under-exposed. This is something I will have to remain aware of in future and not rely solely on this tool, instead using it in combination with the camera histogram and LCD playback to plan and check exposure.

Freeman, M. (2005) Digital Photography Expert Colour. Lewes: ILEX

The Qualities of Colour

The Qualities of Colour

On reading about the qualities of colour in the introduction section of Part Three, I found certain aspects confusing. Confused as to what was the difference between saturation and brilliance and also when trying to comprehend that when mixed digitally, the primary colours did not produce the results that I would have expected.

Further reading has helped me gain a bit more insight into the qualities of colour and I thought it would be useful to summarise my this as follows.

Freeman (2005, p10) notes that, when used well, colour can be the most powerful element in a photograph. It differs from the other graphic elements as it can invoke physical, physiological and psychological responses. These subjective responses are sparked as the eye and brain react to a colour’s individual wavelength.

The idea of primary colours, red, yellow and blue (RYB), being mixed to create green, violet and orange is something that I learned many years ago as a child. Freeman (2005, p17) refers to these colours as ‘painters’ primaries’, and this system of mixing colours as ‘colour by reflection’.

However, in digital photography, processing and printing the three primary colours used for display are red, green and blue (RGB). I have found it both interesting and slightly confusing to learn that, digital colour, RGB, is coloured light and this behaves differently when mixed than the painters’ primaries do. For example, combining red and green digitally produces yellow, green and blue creates cyan and a mix of blue and red results in magenta. A combination of all three, RGB, creates white. Combining RGB is known as light transmission. The illustration in Freeman (2007, p114), similar to the one below, shows this using torches to illustrate the ‘light’ factor.

There are three qualities that define a colour; hue, saturation and brightness.

Hue

When most people refer to ‘colour’ they usually have in mind the hue. It is the fundamental quality of colour. The quality that differentiates blue from green or orange from yellow for example.

Saturation

I initially found it difficult to understand the difference between saturation and brightness although I recognised that both are modulations of hue. Freeman (2005, p20) describes saturation as a variation in the purity, or intensity of a colour. As colours become less saturated they become more grey and appear ‘muddier’ and ‘dirtier’. Maximum saturation would contain no grey while minimum saturation would contain mostly grey.

In the real world, colours become unsaturated when they are mixed with white, black, grey or complementary colours. The majority of colours found in nature are adulterated, a mixture of hues, resulting in a palette of greys, browns and dull greens.

Brightness

Brightness, also known as brilliance, is the lightness or darkness of a colour with white and black at the extremes of the scale. It differs from saturation in that when the brightness is varied the colour remains pure and unadulterated.

The effect of brightness varies according to the hue. For example yellow is the brightest and lightest of all colours. It can only vary between a medium tone and a very light. Dark yellow does not exist unless it is degraded, becoming ochre.

Brightness also differs with varying light levels and sources, a topic I will look at in more detail in the next exercise, What makes a colour?

Freeman, M. (2007) The Photographer’s Eye. Lewes: ILEX

Freeman, M. (2005) Digital Photography Expert: Colour. Lewes: ILEX

Open College of the Arts. Basic Colour Theory. Barnsley: Open College of the Arts

Part Three- Introduction to Colour

This section begins with a brief history of colour in photography.

Photography was originally a black-and-white medium, not because this was thought to be in any more way refined, but for photography it was the norm. This was entirely due to technical reasons as film chemistry was refined, cheap nor reliable in the 19^th century.

Photographers discovered the artistic scope of working in a black-and-white format including (as noted in the Chapter Two, Elements of Design discussions) that it helps to focus attention on graphic elements such as lines, shapes and tones, by removing the distraction of colour.

As a result, many of the photographers who have had an immense influence of photography, worked before colour became accessible. The course notes refer to Steichen, Weston and Cartier-Bresson as examples of this.

I carried out some research on these photographers, which I have briefly noted below.

Edward Steichen- American, born Luxembourg, (1879–1973)

• Featured strongly in Stieglitz’s, Camera Work journal. Over the fifteen-year, fifty-issue run of Camera Work, no other artist would be featured as prominently as Steichen.
• curator of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art (1947–62), including the 1955 exhibition The Family of Man, a sentimental spectacle that, in various incarnations, that was seen by nine million people around the world and whose frequently reprinted catalogue has sold more than four million copies.

 http://www.metmuseum.org

I found it of interesting to note in an on-line Guardian article that Steichen’s landscape photograph ‘The Pond-Moonlight’ was sold for  £1.67m ($2.9m) at auction in February 2006. At the time, it was the most expensive photograph in the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/15/usa.arts

Further examples of Steichen’s work can be viewed at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_steichenedward.htm

Edward Weston, American, (1886-1958)

• ‘…belonged to the f/64 Group, a small body of ‘art’ photographers whose title emphasised its member’s commitment to intense and detailed scrutiny of the world according to the principles of technical ability’. (Clarke, 1997, p174)
• f/64 refers to the smallness of aperture and thus symbolises intent to maximise depth of field (Wells, 1996, p280)

Wells (1996, p279) refers to this concern with form and precision as American formalism, but notes that it was not announced as an art movement, but labeled retrospectively.

Some examples of Weston’s work can be viewed at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_westonedward.htm

Henri Cartier-Bresson, French (1908-2004)

• co-founder of Magnum photos in 1947. Clarke, (1997, p156) notes that Magnum lays stress on individual approaches and philosophies as part of its  ‘documentary’ approach.
• ‘the decisive moment’ became the foundation for Cartier-Bresson’s approach and practice. He waited for the world to compose itself into an image that he judged to be both visually informative and aesthetically pleasing (Price, 1996, p72)

Clarke (1997, p56) notes that Magnum has produced some of the most definitive images of the last fifty years.

Some examples of Cartier-Bresson’s work can be viewed here http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_cartierbressonhenri.htm

The advent of colour photography in the 1960’s and many photographers began experimenting with colour format. By the 1980’s it had become a broadly accepted, normal component of photography. It was recognised the response to colour can be strong, both physiologically and psychologically and in turn function as a powerful element of design in an image.

The course notes mention, Ernst Haas, Austrian, (1921-86), considered to be one of the great photographic ‘colourists,’ though he began his career in black and white.

• His landmark exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1962 was the first to challenge the rule of black and white photographs in the art world.
• Haas was an early member of Magnum Photos.

Philosophies by Haas are recorded at www.ernst-haas.com where he notes that the change from black-and-white to colour photography came quite naturally and psychologically. He recalls the post-war years as the back-and-white (or grey) years. After this is was a new beginning and he wanted to celebrate the new times in colour, filled with hope.

I did find it interesting to note that a photographer who is so highly praised for his colour photography advocates that a photographer should know how to do both black and white and colour photography equally well. It reminded me of a statement in the course notes (p104), made in reference to an Itten quotation on unknowledge, knowledge and painting. The statement notes that working by intuition is for a few instinctive photographers, for most people, the way to better photography lies in studying the underlying principles and elements, in this case colour.

The section on colour that follows will help me to

• Understand the basic properties of colour
• Learn how to control, alter and modify colour in photography
• Use colour as an element of design.

Clarke, G. (1997) The Photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Price, D (1996) Surveyors and Surveyed, photography out and about In: Photography: A Critical Introduction (4^th ed.). Oxon: Routledge pp 72-73

Wells, L (1996) The Modern Era In: Photography: A Critical Introduction (4^th ed.). Oxon: Routledge pp 279-281

www.ernst-haas.com

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/15/usa.arts

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_cartierbressonhenri.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_steichenedward.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/hi_westonedward.htm