Black and White

Throughout my involvement in the arts, I have never considered black and white to be colors. In photography, film can be categorized into two main groups: b&w and color; since black and white have their own film type, one would assume them separate from color. In painting, black and white are used to alter hues into tints or shades, so with that in mind, black and white can be seen as components of color, but not as colors of their own. There are three primary color theories that can help answer this question. One theory deals with color as light, another with color as pigment, and third with color through vision and reflections.

The room used to transfer film from its container into a development tank is commonly referred to as the ‘black room’; because the ‘black’ of the room results from an absence of light, the ‘color as light’ theory would not consider black to be a color. In the opposite environment, the presence of all colors of light, white light becomes visible. Under the ‘color as light’ theory’, white is recognized as a color, because it results from the blending of all other colors. The exact opposite ruling is found with pigments. When the three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) are mixed together, black ultimately appears. Therefore, black is recognized as a color by the ‘color as pigment’ theory, and white is not.

I consider the final theory is the most accurate of the three, as it takes into consideration what is observed through human eyes. Under the ‘color through reflections’ theory, each color is associated with a visible wave length between 400-700nm. White results when an object reflects all visible colors, while black, unassigned a wavelength, is the result of an object absorbing all visible colors. To the human eye white is a color, and black is not. In reality, a black object is not truly black, because it would need to reflect some amount of light in order to be seen.

source:
http://www.colormatters.com/entercolormatters.html

Why Do Real Men Wear Pink?

At the dawn of the millennium a new phenomena had arrived to take the place of the Y2K craze: more and more men began to wear pink shirts. I have often wondered about the origins behind this trend, but my past inquiries have yielded no success. So with this blog assignment I saw an opportunity to renew my search, and seek the help of the world’s wisest philosophers . . .
Alas, there was much debate amongst them as well.


In order to answer my own question, it was necessary for me to look into the psychological effects of the color. Interestingly enough, in the early 1970's, a shade of pink had been used as a variable in several prison-aggression reduction trials. The holding cells of newly arrived inmates would be painted Baker-Miller pink, and their reactions to it recorded. One of the doctors behind the trials summarized the results as:

Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can't. The heart muscles can’t race fast enough. It’s a tranquilizing color that saps your energy. Even the color-blind are tranquilized by pink rooms.

Ever since, pink was recognized to have a calming effect over the human mind. However, in the mid 1990's, follow-up research indicated that the effects were short-lived in of the many cases, and the color could even lead to increased aggression after prolonged exposure.



Taking into consideration the results from both studies, why do some men wear pink?
Correct!
. . . point proven. Just like the inmates' behavior to pink was subconscious, perhaps the motive behind wearing a pink shirt is to unknowingly display [calming] signals of attraction. Since the effects aren't long lasting, it may be wiser to stick with another color shirt.


Images:
www.answers.yahoo.com
Sources:
http://bacweb.the-bac.edu/~michael.b.williams/baker-miller.html
http://www.colormatters.com/entercolormatters.html

Thinking in Color

Picture the contrast red and blue create when they are placed side by side. Imagine blue again, only this time paired with another tone of blue. Have you decided how much gray to mix in to create that tone? When you have, picture blue, your blue tone, and two additional tints or shades of blue next to one another. In what order should they be placed? As what shapes? This is very difficult to do and can lead to an enormous mess without some planning.


And that's why it's helpful to 'sketch' out a draft onto a digital medium whenever creating complex images based on contrast or color. For this particular color project I chose to use Flash MX. It was very useful in ensuring variety, aesthetics, and as a tool for observing personal preference.

Colors of the Moon (as viewed from Earth)

The term 'blue moon' can mean one of two things: a fairly uncommon occurrence where a full moon emerges twice in the same month, or like the phrase suggests, the actual blue tinting of the moon. Depending on where one lives, there is a greater chance of witnessing an actual blue moon, rather than a second full moon. This is the case in large polluted cities, areas prone to forest fires, and in areas of volcanic activity. Suit and ash particles from pollution and smoke tend to deposit high into the Earth's atmosphere, and as a result can cause the moon to appear blue. The moon can take on a red hue as well - a common attribute of lunar eclipses. During an eclipse, the moon remains visible due to residual (remaining) light deflected towards it from the Earth's atmosphere. This light is primarily from the red part of the light spectrum, and thus tints the moon red, and sometimes even brown. Finally, the moon appears orange more in the Fall than during any other time of the year, because it is celebrating Halloween (credit for the bad joke sited below). The actual reason for this is the moon's trajectory path. During Fall months, the moon stays low to the horizon, and therefor its light has to travel through more atmosphere than usual. As a result, blue, green, and purple light is heavily scattered by the time it reaches our eyes, and we are left with an orange moon in the sky.

sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/30/blue.moon/index.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20031103/redmoon.html
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/kids_space/orangemoon.html (bad joke)

Blue...Blue!

The second project of our color mixing unit had us investigate beyond the mixing of primary colors. White, black, and gray tones were now to be added to a primary color of our choice, in order to achieve new hues, tints, shades, and tones beyond the basic color wheel. Though we were supposed to select the primary color we most disliked, I was not impartial to either three, and therefor chose blue, because it happened to be the color of my shirt that day. Blue was an interesting color to work with, because it is relatively darker than red and yellow, steering me to mix three times as many tints/tones as I did shades (9 step scale). In addition to the monochromatic scale, we were required to create an analogous scale and a complementary scale (the most difficult). Though it was tedious working with orange (complement of blue), the end result was fascinating to look at. The scale began blue, gradually transitioned into an olive green (the center), and finally changed into orange. It is not possible to witness such a gradual change in the natural world, which is why the project was worthwhile to me. Finally, there were several unexpected results on the analogous scale that displayed to me vibrant hues/tints of blue that I had thought were unachievable with the colors I chose.

Color Blindness

Does being color blind mean you can only see in black and white?

Although it is true that some color blind people are unable to perceive any color, complete color blindness (monochromacy) is the rarest form of color blindness (.00001% of cases), and it is therefor a misconception to think that those who are color blind can only see in black and white. In actuality, 99% of those with a color deficiency have Red-Green color blindness, and as its name suggests, they have trouble distinguishing red and green hues. The next common form of color blindness, although rare in itself, is Blue-Yellow. Interestingly enough, around 12% of the population experiences some form of color blindness, the majority of which are male (24:1). Although there is no current treatment for the condition, it is for the most part hereditary, and those with it have a low amount or complete absence of one of the three color sensory receptors (red, blue, green). It may not be entirely bad news to be color blind, as a loss of color perception often leads to better motion detection.

sources:
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/aboutCB.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blind

Color in Culture

The two colors that have always been attributed to stop signs are red and white. The likely reason for this lies within the thoughts/feelings these colors invoke, in relation to the object's intent. In this case, the stop sign intends to alert drivers to stop for oncoming traffic to ensure safety. Red is a striking, and sometimes violent color, and therefor using it as the backdrop of the sign should instantly capture the attention of any unalert driver. White is an easily seen and reflective color, and therefor an appropriate one for stop signs, which need to be visible in bad weather and at night.

Both towels (above) are of the same brand yet are different in color. The reason for this is that each person has an individual preference for color (usually dependent on their age and gender) and companies look to expand their audience by offering variety. The light red is feminine and therefor targets females, while the light green can be gender neutral. The brightness of the colors may be intentional to target a youthful audience.