COLOR THEORY - It's Definition, Brightness & Contrast and Color Correction Terms || Art & Craft TALKS

If you are from a creative fraternity such as an Artist, photo editor or a YouTuber or any digital platform then this blog is very important for you. In this blog we will talk about Color Theory.

Now what is Color Theory?

Now when we talk about Colors we are taken back to our days of childhood. By definition, Color Theory means anything related to the field of visual art where we combine different colors to get the desired color, which requires understanding of color in depth. For example, combining red and green we obtain yellow, now this understanding of is known as color theory.

There are three types of colors that is Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.

Primary Colors: Colors that exist independent of any other color and exists naturally. Example- Red, Blue and Green is considered as primary color on digital platforms, these are also known as additive color as when RGB colors are combined together it gives white color.

If you involved in physical visual art form your primary colors will be red, yellow and blue not green. Similarly, your color combinations change accordingly in secondary and tertiary.

Secondary Colors: In this the digital media has four colors known as CMYK. C is for Cyan which is a combination of blue and green, M is for Magenta it is a combination of red and blue, Y is for Yellow a combination of red and green and K is for Krypto(black). When we combine these colors it gives us black, thus the name subtractive color.

Tertiary Colors: It is formed by combining primary and secondary color. Example- Orange.

Also black and white color exists freely in nature and cannot be created by combining colors along with primary colors.

What is Brightness and Contrast?

This blog deals with two very important topics. The topic being Brightness and Contrast, these two are very common terminology which we have heard since the time or even before we learnt to hold our first color sticks and it is a constant part of our lives.

We’ll be talking about these two terms with respect to digital art.

Now coming to the first topic that is Brightness. By definition, Brightness is associated with filling light in a frame or a photo. For example- A photo editor or a YouTuber, while developing a photo or making a video thumbnail, this thumbnail or picture needs to be eye-catching so that one can achieve the objective of gaining more exposure in the form of likes, share etc. But the important part of filling light is to strike balance, just like eating too much upsets the stomach.

To sum up Brightness = Amount of Light

Now to the next topic, Contrast. Simply, putting the difference between the brighter and the darker part is called contrast. The difference of contrast needs to 1 which is considered as ideal to keep the visual catchy. Unbalanced contract causes burn, meaning when the difference between the bright and dark part is increased and the photo will be spoilt. On the contrary, if the difference is less, it will produce a soft visual, as if there is no solid presence of color gradient. So the in any scenario the contrast needs to remain 1 and it's up to you to decide.

To sum up Contrast = Difference between brightest and lightest part of the project.

In this blog about the basics of contrast and brightness, what are the things to be kept in

mind in the digital art platform. If you execute this part of adjusting the brightness and

contrast perfectly your 70-80% work of editing will be complete.

Now, let's play with some color...

What is Color Correction and Its Terminologies?

In this blog we will be dealing with 8 topics related to Color-

i) Hue- HUE is nothing but a more decorative term for color. Also Hue and Color can be used interchangeably.

ii) Saturation- SATURATION is the amount of color or hue present. The saturation of a color is determined by a combination of light intensity and how much it is distributed across the spectrum of different wavelengths. The purest color is achieved by using just one wavelength at a high intensity, such as in laser light.

iii) Value- Brightness of a hue is called VALUE. Brightness generally refers to the amount of light present in a photo but in context of color it means how much light is present in a color or in other words how vibrant a color is. Difference between Saturation and Value is that saturation is the amount or quantity of color present and value is an attribute of color. For example- Red if we increase the value red will look darker and if we decrease the value red will appear light in shade.

iv) Tint- A tint is where an artist adds a color to white to create a lighter version of the color. It is mixture of two colors for example red and white to give a lighter value of red color. An example of a tint is pink. Pink is a tint created by adding white to red.

v) Tone- It is mixture of a color with grey to give a darker color.

vi) Shade- Variations of a particular color is known a shade.

vii) Complementary Color- Colors opposite to each other, in a color wheel are known as Complementary Color. Complementary color are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel other out (lose hue) by production a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two color. Complementary color may also be called “opposite colors”. For example- Red, Blue and Green are the complementary color of cyan, yellow and magenta respectively.

Analogous Color- Primary or secondary color in addition to a tertiary color in a the color wheel gives analogous color. Analogous colors are a group of three colors that are next to each other in the color wheel, and a tertiary. Red, Orange and Red-Orange are examples. The term analogous refers to having analogy, or corresponding to something in particular. An analogous color scheme creates a rich, monochromatic look. For example, Red + orange, Orange+ Yellow .

viii) Cool Color- When we divide the color wheel in two equal halves vertically, the left half will be known as cool color. Cool colors are typified by Blue, Green, and light Purple. They can calm and soothe. Where warm colors remind you of heat and sunshine, cool colors remind you of water and sky, even ice and snow.

Warm Color- Right side of the wheel will is known as warm color. This group of colors in the color wheel is associated with the sun, warmth and fire. These colors are called warm colors since they evoke warm feelings in people. Yellow, Red, Orange and different shades of these colors are warm colors.

This concludes the blogs of Color Theory...

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