Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 4 Storytelling with Light 143

we locked the springs and fastened the camera on securely with a

few two-by-fours, got it well wired down so it wasn’t bobbley, and it

worked great.

As discussed in Chapter 1, many ways to move the camera have been

developed and used by fi lmmakers, including independently-moving dollies,

cranes, Steadicam rigs, and handheld techniques.

From Black and White to Color

Th ere are many processes at work to produce the qualities of the light that we

perceive. Th e production of color in the light spectrum is a complex sequence

in which luminescence, translucence, and many other properties take part.

To understand some of the fundamental properties of color photography,

let us consider one simple manner in which we see color.

As light hits certain substances in front of us and bounces off of them

to reach our eyes, some of it is composed of wavelengths that are formed

through the reaction with the pigments of these substances. Th ese wavelengths

correspond to the color spectrum of visible light. As the light passes through

our eyes, it interacts with cones, a type of cell at the rear of the eye. Th ese

cones determine the ways in which our eyes perceive color. Each cone is

sensitive to one of three parts of the spectrum: red, green, or blue.

Just as the cones are each sensitive

to one of three parts of the spectrum,

the primary colors from which all color

combinations are generated emanate from

this trio of hues. All of the colors that we

perceive between the opposites of white

and black are made up of combinations

of red, green, and blue. We can look at

this from the perspective of colors being

added together to produce certain hues,

in which they are combinations of red,

green, and blue.

When we consider the pigmentation

of diff erent types of matter, we observe

that the pigment of a substance determines

its absorption of a distinct color, while

the opposing color of the spectrum is

refl ected, resulting in the color that we

see. Colors are essentially being “taken

away,” so this is known as a subtractive

process. Because the subtractive process

works in the opposite manner to the

primary colors being added together,

the system uses their negatives, which

are cyan, yellow, and magenta.

Figure 4-25 Color wheel: primary colors are red, green, and

blue, with their complements opposite each one on the color

wheel: cyan, magenta, and yellow.

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