Whatthe
CameraSees:Elementson
Display
ArrestingColors
Introducingcolor
tophotographybroad-
enscreativepossibilitiesby
employing
themost
compellingqualityofvision
—
butitalsodemands
subtlejudgmentsto
get
themostoutofthisaddition.
Too
muchcolor,
inappropriatecolororunsuit-
ablecolorrelationshipscan
alldovio-
lencetoa
photographer'sintention-
Yetoncethe
challengeismet,color
addsanotherdimensioninvisual
bold-
ness.Colors
canbeselected,concen-
tratedormutedtocreatea
degreeofper-
ception
scarcelyavailabletotheeye
in
itsroutinescanningofthe
world.
Colorscanprovokeanemotionalre-
sponse:Thebright
redsandorangesare
generallyassociatedwithheator
pas-
sion,thebluesand
greenswithcoolness
andgloom.Mutedtonesofthesame
col-
or,as
intheportraitatright,createacalm
contemplation.Tonesofthe
samecolor
haveanothereffectaswell:Dark,rich
shadesareusually
seenasbeingnearer
to
theviewerthanpaleorwashed-out
shades.Thisislargely
becauseinevery-
dayexperienceatmospherichazetends
towashout
colorsofdistantobjects.
Colorsappearingsidebyside
in
a
pic-
turecaninteractandaffectthewaythey
areseen.Theeyehas
slightlydifferent
focallengthsfordifferentwavelengthsof
light:Long,red
wavelengthsarefocused
onapointslightlybehindtheretina;short
wavelengthsofblueorgreenslightlyin
frontofit.Asaresult,redobjectsina
pic-
ture
appear
to
benearertheeyethanob-
jectsofblueorgreeninthesame
picture.
Redsaresaidto"advance,"bluesand
greensto"recede."
Whenbrightredsarejuxtaposedwith
bluesorgreensinaphotograph,there-
sultisakindofopticalvibrationas
the
eye
triestokeepbothcolorsinfocus,as
inthepictureopposite.
GISELEFREUNDAndreGide, 1939
