colour space - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5- 5.6G ED DX

05/31/2006 01:01:46 AM · #1

a quick question - does understanding colour space help improve our photos? how?

JeffryZ

Nikon D80

05/31/2006 01:11:04 AM · #2

Color can be used to attract attention. We are bombarded by images daily and it is difficult to stand out from the crowd. High vote getting images in the challeges often make good use of colors. Like any part of photography, learning one part of it will help to improve your pictures. Not using color like black and white can be effective too. In most cases, it is not the main thing to make or break a photo, but one of many parts that need to come together to make a complete image that conveys what is intended. It is important along with the lighting to create a mood or emotion.
[/url]

General

Kodak Z7590

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

05/31/2006 01:32:08 AM · #3

It does ( i hope you are not refering to color space like adobe RGB, sRGB etc).

They are very important for BW also , reason is that what might look good in color might not coe good in BW as we have to see visualize how will the look as tones.

In this web site i have seen some people have really great color sense, they choose right BG drop color to compliment their subject

05/31/2006 01:44:59 AM · #4

actually I was referring to RGB, sRGB, etc when I mentioned Colour Space, but I guess I wasn't clear enough, my apologies. Often I've seen people asking which to use and so forth - but I have never had a need to tweak, or even understand them. So, what am I losing out here, by the way?

05/31/2006 02:30:33 AM · #5

basically you get a wider range of colors with aRGB than with sRGB. The good news is you'll almost never notice, cause most printers don't use all the colors in aRGB and will convert to the printer profile, or sRGB before it gets printed. The bad news is, you are throwing away some extra potential color. It's not that there's more data in an aRGB photo, but rather that the values have been spaced out more so that the range of red for example seems bigger. For web viewing only sRGB is used, and usually for printing sRGB is perfered. Many people will say aRGB is the best way to go, but actually there are wider color profiles than aRGB. Save your raw files and convert them to a wider gamut when printing technology catches up a little more.

05/31/2006 02:35:06 AM · #6

I see, so how many types are there, only 2?
I've also heard of FinepixRGB... darn...

05/31/2006 02:39:15 AM · #7

yes but the main two are aRGB and sRGB.

05/31/2006 02:41:12 AM · #8

Originally posted by kyebosh:

yes but the main two are aRGB and sRGB.

thanks, at least now I know where to start reading on.
And the tip about the wider colour profiles is a keeper.

p/s: you spell it color, I spell it colour :)

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

05/31/2006 02:49:16 AM · #9

British spellings :-p

General

Kodak Z7590

05/31/2006 03:16:43 AM · #10

Now i feel embarssed, writing abt how color sense

Message edited by author 2006-05-31 03:26:56.

05/31/2006 03:23:39 AM · #11

Originally posted by General:

No i feel embarssed, writing abt how color sense

I'm sorry, it is my fault for not phrasing the question clearly.
However, you're right about the colour - it could make or break the photo. Thanks

kbhatia1967

Canon EOS-1100D

06/01/2006 06:17:08 AM · #12

Color Spaces

A Color Model is an abstract mathematical model to describe the way colours can be represented. Examples are RGB and CYMK Color models.

When this model is associated with a precise description of how the components are to be interpreted, the resulting set of colors is called a Color Space. For example, sRGB and Adobe RGB are two different Color Spaces based on RGB model. (Since identifying Color Space automatically identifies a Color model, the two terms are often used interchangeably).

In RGB model, Red, Green and Blue can be considered as X, Y and Z axis. The RGB model is implemented in different ways, the most common is 24 bit, with 8 bits per channel (or 256 discrete levels of color per channel). Thus an RGB model is limited has 256x256x256=16.7 million colors! RGB uses additive color mixingbecause it describes what kind of light needs to be added to produce a given color. (RGBA is RGB with an additional channel â��Alphaâ�� to indicate transparency).

CMYK model uses subtractive color mixing used in a printing process, because it describes what kinds of inks need to be applied to a substrate (such as a white paper) to produce a given color. CMYK values for various colors are: Red(0,87,99,0), Green(56,0,88,0), Blue(100,79,0,0), Black(0,0,0,100), White(0,0,0,0) etc.

Prior to the proliferation of electronic/digital media, Color models were developed that were closer to the way people perceive color. For example, HSB model uses Hue, Saturation and Brightness. In RGB model, pure red has RGB values as R=255, G=0, B=0. In HSB model, the same red color has values as Hue=0, Sat=100%, Brightness=100%. If you reduce the saturation to 50%, you get a pink instead of red. If you reduce the brightness to 50%, you get a dark brown.

Color spaces can also be defined without the use of a Color model, such as Pantone Colors. These are in effect a given set of numbers, which are defined by a corresponding set of physical color swatches.

kbhatia1967

Canon EOS-1100D

06/03/2006 10:05:12 AM · #13

Heavy stuff?
Blame it on answers.com.