[jfrancis]

The Photoshop color picker can work not only in RGB and HSB, but in Lab color space as well.

L a b color space has 3 sliders -- luminosity, a red-green slider ( a ), and a blue-yellow slider ( b )

I've never found much use for the Lab mode, but I wonder if it might be better when painting to use the color picker in Lab mode. That way, if you want to darken and warm a color, you could lower the L slider, and move the a slider toward red. If you want to darken and cool a color, you darken L and move the b slider toward blue.

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You can do the same in HSB by lowering B (brightness) and rolling H (hue) warmer or cooler, but the hue values change so fast it's hard to make small hue adjustments

What do you think?

[cyrus-kanca]

On the web we work in a color space called RGB (red, green, blue). RGB is an additive color system seen by projected light. When all of the colors are on our screen at once we see white. You ADD colors to get white.

CMYK it is a subtractive color system seen by reflected light and therefore used for printing. You SUBTRACT colors to get white.

When we reproduce these colors for online viewing we use a hexadecimal code to tell the computer how to translate the color. It is a 6 character string — click the orange text to download hexadecimal codes. Each grouping of two characters stands for a value of either red, green, or blue.
Using combinations of shades and tints of these colors is one way that a designer may choose a color scheme.

download color scheme here (See it here!)
color info(color scheme):
---from left to right---
#f5e3do
#cadaea
#5b98d6
#004891
#ff5a19
[img]

YOu can also look at this:
(simple color table)

The traditional way of viewing color relationships is using the color wheel. The wheel shows complimentary colors across from each other. A “split” complimentary relationship is shown above.

FOR COLOR WHEEL: Color Theory

Color Wheel - fits together like a puzzle - each color in a specific place; being familiar with the color wheel not only helps you mix colors when painting, but in adding color to all your art creations.

Primary Colors - red, yellow, blue
cannot mix to get these colors


Secondary Colors - orange, green, purple

primary + primary = secondary
red + yellow = orange

yellow + blue = green

blue + red = purple


Intermediate (or Tertiary) Colors - red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, red-purple

primary + secondary = intermediate


full color wheel


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Color Values - the lights and darks of a color

tint – lightened color; white + color


shade – darkened color; color + black

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Color Schemes – a system of using the color wheel to put colors together

monochromatic – "mono" means "one", "chroma" means color; one color and its values
example - yellow


complementary – colors opposite on the color wheel (and their values)
example – blue and orange


analogous - 3 to 5 colors next to each other on the color wheel (and their values)
example – red-purple, purple, blue-purple, blue


warm colors – colors of sun and fire, on the right side of the color wheel (and their values)
example – reds and yellows (and their values)


cool colors – colors of snow and ice, on the left side of the color wheel (and their values)
example – blues, greens, purples (and their values)



If isn't clear yet, then you can view a Power Point Presnetation here:just click here
I hope this one can help everyone! Thanks!
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"Nan Vi Sed Arte"

[jfrancis]

Um, thanks, but that's a little off topic. I was specifically asking if anyone found the L a b way of organizing color space helpful.

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Also, since you bring it up... about this subtractive color thing. I know "subtractive" is a popular term, and has been for a long time. Allow me to demolish it:

If filters were subtractive, then it would matter which order they were placed in, which is obvious nonsense. While Yellow - Red might be Green, Red - Yellow would be, what? Negative Green? Black at best. That color model should be called the Mutiplicative color model, since it doesn't subtract fixed amounts from transmitted light but rather multiplies them down by a certain percentage. http://www.digitalartform.com/multiply.htm

...not to mention the fact that in the above example, Yellow - Red is only Green for those Yellows that were ORIGINALLY MADE OF Red and Green. What about the Yellow that is 580 nanometer undecomposable Laser Yellow? You're so used to working in RGB space that you forgot there is such a thing as actual Yellow undecomposable by a prism.

[Derek]

Lab color is very useful in that it separates value from chroma, and a lot of folks may find that particularly helpful. Technically, its use is in translation from one color mode to another (rgb to cmyk, and back)

The only real drawback may come in printing or what-not, if you get used to Lab and try to have a discussion with a printer in those terms, he'll look at you funny! Really shouldn't be an issue, as you all know to use cmyk to print.

But yeah, it's not a bad way to study color and is good to be aware of if your digital color choices seem to be lacking. The best thing about working in Lab I think is that you aren't grabbing a color in a monochromatic field... how many times have we used the color picker, grabbed what we thougth we wanted, and it just didn't work in the piece because it didn't have teh hue or temperature we thought? You have no choice but to see your color choices in a field of other hues and values. I think you do see color differently when using it. The two chroma channels, if you study them a bit, will help you gain an understanding of the power of value in a piece as well as seeing how some 'ugly' 'muddy' or 'hard to get' colors are not members of the hue group that maybe you thought, the channels being essentially yel/blu and red/grn. A good lesson to learn. I could go on a little bit about it, but you'll simply see some things you hadn't seen before and perhaps learn a bit.

Be certain to check out the variables in the color picker as well as the sliders...
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Anything one man can imagine, others can make real...