[SpiralEye]

I'm currently trying to understand how colored light mixes on colored surfaces. I got a little color model in photoshop that shows me how colored light mixes with colored light (basically just everything painted in screen mode) but I'm unsure how say, a yellow light on a blue object would look. See, I know that the object looks blue because it reflects only the blue light hitting it, but . . . I'm just confused. And my ad-hock photoshop color model doesn't work right in all cases. Any help out there?

[Ian Jones]

Your photoshop model will not work, simply because there is a difference in light model. eg.. additive (computer monitor), subtractive (pigment / reality).

For your blue surface it depends on a few factors. Especially the intensity of the yellow light. My advice is that because a blue surface absorbs everything else and reflects blue... then it would make sense that yellow being opposite on the colour wheel to blue would get heavily absorbed by a blue surface and would thus have little effect on it. I may be totally wrong though... I'm not really thinking it through thoroughly. Hrm, I just did a test with this little red light I have and shone it on a green (opposite) surface and it still showed up pretty red.

eh.. over to the real experts on this one.

btw, this could be in the digital art discussion forum.

[Ian Jones]

Ok, I just did a test render in a 3d program. I know, I know... its not exactly scientific but it did show me that when I made a blue box and shone an intense yellow light on it... my blue box reflected practially none of the light and thus looked almost black.

[[Shizo]]

[SpiralEye]

Yeah, I think I'll start this over in the digital art section. Man, I could use some spotlights and a gel kit right about now.

[paranoid?]

Ian is right, my neighbor has bright yellow spot lights to light his house (some kind of funky retro trend...can't say), so I just put on a blue shirt and sneaked out to make the test. Well I got as close as I could to expose myself as much as possible to the yellow light and my shirt appeared in a dark greenish hue. So yeah, I took in consideration the circumstances like street lights and such.....and honestly I think under a more direct and intense yellow lighting my shirt would have appeared almost black. I don't have any digital cam to take pictures, then again the flash would ruin it all but eh....

so after freaking out my neighbor with my little escapade on his propriety I guess we can come to a clonclusion....somehow O_o
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I touch myself only where it counts

[Ian Jones]

lol