era or scanner and the subtractive primaries, with
the added color black, are used for printing digital
images. Digital cameras and scanners have CCD
sensors that each register red, green, or blue
through a grid of translucent image elements. A
combination of these three colors will create any
of the 256 color possibilities available on a digital
screen or computer monitor. RGB colors are
transferred to a binary number that is associated
with a specific pixel or picture element for each
piece of the scanned document or image area, and
along with binary information on brightness,
value, and tonal range are reassembled by a com-
puter to make a digital picture. The individual red,
green, and blue areas are seen together on the
screen on a monitor and have a similar breakdown
in television broadcasts. Editing digital images
with software such as Adobe PhotoShop usually
takes place in two color spaces or modes of cali-
bration: RGB mode (red, green, and blue) and
CMYK mode (cyan, magenta, and yellow.)
CMYK mode is often called process color because
black (represented by K) is added to the printer
pack. Black is abbreviated by K, which stands for
key color, because it is the tone by which all other
colors are aligned in the printing press.
Individual color layers called channels make up
each mode with the appropriate color breakdown
and these channels are displayed as layers of color
in a digital imaging program. RGB mode is used
for viewing images on the screen, and digital infor-
mation is captured in this mode through a scanner
or digital camera. Most scanners and digital cam-
eras use CCD sensors sensitive to red, green, and
blue, but a drum scanner is also capable of creating
a digital composite with PMT (photo multiplier
tubes) that record more information than tradi-
tional CCD film sensors. CMYK mode is used for
printing and mimics the cyan, magenta, and yellow
tones projected through an enlarger by a filter pack
in traditional darkroom color methods. However,
in CMYK mode the color black is added because
combining cyan, magenta, and yellow does not
produce a true black with inkjet pigments. Color
balance in digital imaging is also done by using
three color pairs in the same manner as traditional
darkroom methods: yellow and blue, green and
magenta, and cyan and red are all linked together
and manipulate the overall color of a digital image.
Hue, saturation, lightness or brightness, and expo-
sure can also be manipulated through advanced
imaging software applications.
Color in photography is used for a variety of
purposes, including emotional and symbolic rea-
sons and has an effect on the viewer’s perception
of an image. Color is subjective and arbitrary in
many photographic images, and seeing a specific
color or group of color hues can affect the mood
and composition of an image. Juxtaposing color
combinations can also change the reception of spe-
cific hues and neutral areas of white or black can
take on a colorcast: if a green object is placed next
to a white area in a photograph, the white area will
take on some of the green hue of the adjacent
space. The amount of white and black in an
image can also alter how the brightness of specific
colors are perceived, and brightness is often an
arbitrary and subjective interpretation which is
also influence by the type of light in which an
image is viewed. The amount of perceived differ-
ence in adjacent colors is called color contrast, and
is often separate from an individual color’s value.
Warm colors, which range in the spectrum from
red to yellow, and cool colors that range from
green to purple or violet, are called analogous
hues. Analogous hues are also seen as having simi-
lar qualities, and when used together in a color
image lower that image’s overall color contrast.
JenniferHeadley
Seealso:Digital Photography; Dye TransferFurther Reading
Ciaglia, Joseph.Introduction to Digital Photography. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Glendinning, Peter.Color Photography: History, Theory,
and Darkroom Technique. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1985.
Hedgecoe, John.The Art of Color Photography. London:
Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 1984.
Hirsch, Robert.Exploring Color Photography. 1992.
Horenstein, Henry.Color Photography: A Working Manual.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Kendra, Erika.Color Companion for the Digital Artist.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2004.COLOR THEORY: NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC