color UNIT III: Additive Color
Project IIID |
Mixing Light |
Objectives |
Studio Fundamentals: To gain experience in the use of additive light techniques. To use computers as a tool for evaluating the effects of RGB color (via studio lighting, digital photography, Adobe PhotoShop). Concept: To gain experience in working as part of a collaborative team. |
Project Overview | Working as part of a collaborative team, photographs of a still life are shot under specific red, blue, and green light sources and reassembled using Photoshop to produce a single white-balanced image. |
References for further study |
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Vocabulary | electromagnetic spectrum, prism, white light, visible spectrum, light mixing, Kodak Wratten filters; process colors (printer's CMYK inks), , additive light mixing, wavelength, RGB (red, green, blue), CRT (cathode ray tube), temperature balance, PhotoShop, color channels |
Materials | Still life with a good range of colors constructed by teams. Digital camera with tripod. Wratten filters. Three slide projectors. Photoshop. Alt: Color acetate sheets. Overhead projector. |
Process |
Preliminary: Before coming to class, review the thematic concept of Collaboration as found on the website. Also read the discussion Additive Color for Unit III. Review the Project References and Vocabulary above. Activity: Step One: As a member of a collaborative team, create an interesting Still Life with a good range of values and hues. Step Two: Frame the scene in the viewfinder of a digital camera mounted on a tripod. Step Three: Photograph the same scene four times--once using temperature balanced white light and three more times using each of three RGB Wratten filters. Each team should produce: 1) A "regular" color photograph using color balanced white light; 2) A "red" photograph using a Kodak Wratten filter over a white light source; 3) A "green" photograph using a Kodak Wratten filter over a white light source; 4) A "blue" photograph using a Kodak Wratten filter over a white light source. Step Four: Reassemble three colored digital photographs in Photoshop to produce an image that matches as closely as possible the original photograph taken under white light.
Alternative outcome: Using a standard ink jet printer, print out each color channel (R,G,B) from Photoshop onto separate clear acetate sheets. Use three overhead projectors to demonstrate additive color mixing by overlapping three projected images. |
Discussion and Critique Ideas |
Students learn primarily by hands-on involvement in this assignment, and also by seeing the additive light mixing happen before their eyes--both with the projected light sources and in Photoshop. Points to discuss may include the following:
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Problem by Dan Collins and Chris Todd, copyright 2005