COLOR

  • Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?

    Start here: https://www.pixelsham.com/2013/05/09/gretagmacbeth-color-checker-numeric-values/

     

    https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-color-checker-tool/

     

     

     

     

    In LightRoom

     

    in Final Cut

     

    in Nuke

    Note: In Foundry’s Nuke, the software will map 18% gray to whatever your center f/stop is set to in the viewer settings (f/8 by default… change that to EV by following the instructions below).
    You can experiment with this by attaching an Exposure node to a Constant set to 0.18, setting your viewer read-out to Spotmeter, and adjusting the stops in the node up and down. You will see that a full stop up or down will give you the respective next value on the aperture scale (f8, f11, f16 etc.).

    One stop doubles or halves the amount or light that hits the filmback/ccd, so everything works in powers of 2.
    So starting with 0.18 in your constant, you will see that raising it by a stop will give you .36 as a floating point number (in linear space), while your f/stop will be f/11 and so on.

     

    If you set your center stop to 0 (see below) you will get a relative readout in EVs, where EV 0 again equals 18% constant gray.

     

    In other words. Setting the center f-stop to 0 means that in a neutral plate, the middle gray in the macbeth chart will equal to exposure value 0. EV 0 corresponds to an exposure time of 1 sec and an aperture of f/1.0.

     

    This will set the sun usually around EV12-17 and the sky EV1-4 , depending on cloud coverage.

     

    To switch Foundry’s Nuke’s SpotMeter to return the EV of an image, click on the main viewport, and then press s, this opens the viewer’s properties. Now set the center f-stop to 0 in there. And the SpotMeter in the viewport will change from aperture and fstops to EV.

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    Read more: Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?
  • The Forbidden colors – Red-Green & Blue-Yellow: The Stunning Colors You Can’t See

    www.livescience.com/17948-red-green-blue-yellow-stunning-colors.html

     

     

    While the human eye has red, green, and blue-sensing cones, those cones are cross-wired in the retina to produce a luminance channel plus a red-green and a blue-yellow channel, and it’s data in that color space (known technically as “LAB”) that goes to the brain. That’s why we can’t perceive a reddish-green or a yellowish-blue, whereas such colors can be represented in the RGB color space used by digital cameras.

     

    https://en.rockcontent.com/blog/the-use-of-yellow-in-data-design

    The back of the retina is covered in light-sensitive neurons known as cone cells and rod cells. There are three types of cone cells, each sensitive to different ranges of light. These ranges overlap, but for convenience the cones are referred to as blue (short-wavelength), green (medium-wavelength), and red (long-wavelength). The rod cells are primarily used in low-light situations, so we’ll ignore those for now.

     

    When light enters the eye and hits the cone cells, the cones get excited and send signals to the brain through the visual cortex. Different wavelengths of light excite different combinations of cones to varying levels, which generates our perception of color. You can see that the red cones are most sensitive to light, and the blue cones are least sensitive. The sensitivity of green and red cones overlaps for most of the visible spectrum.

     

    Here’s how your brain takes the signals of light intensity from the cones and turns it into color information. To see red or green, your brain finds the difference between the levels of excitement in your red and green cones. This is the red-green channel.

     

    To get “brightness,” your brain combines the excitement of your red and green cones. This creates the luminance, or black-white, channel. To see yellow or blue, your brain then finds the difference between this luminance signal and the excitement of your blue cones. This is the yellow-blue channel.

     

    From the calculations made in the brain along those three channels, we get four basic colors: blue, green, yellow, and red. Seeing blue is what you experience when low-wavelength light excites the blue cones more than the green and red.

     

    Seeing green happens when light excites the green cones more than the red cones. Seeing red happens when only the red cones are excited by high-wavelength light.

     

    Here’s where it gets interesting. Seeing yellow is what happens when BOTH the green AND red cones are highly excited near their peak sensitivity. This is the biggest collective excitement that your cones ever have, aside from seeing pure white.

     

    Notice that yellow occurs at peak intensity in the graph to the right. Further, the lens and cornea of the eye happen to block shorter wavelengths, reducing sensitivity to blue and violet light.

    Read more: The Forbidden colors – Red-Green & Blue-Yellow: The Stunning Colors You Can’t See
  • Eye retina’s Bipolar Cells, Horizontal Cells, and Photoreceptors

    In the retina, photoreceptors, bipolar cells, and horizontal cells work together to process visual information before it reaches the brain. Here’s how each cell type contributes to vision:

     

    1. Photoreceptors

    • Types: There are two main types of photoreceptors: rods and cones.
      • Rods: Specialized for low-light and peripheral vision; they help us see in dim lighting and detect motion.
      • Cones: Specialized for color and detail; they function best in bright light and are concentrated in the central retina (the fovea), allowing for high-resolution vision.
    • Function: Photoreceptors convert light into electrical signals. When light hits the retina, photoreceptors undergo a chemical change, triggering an electrical response that initiates the visual process. Rods and cones detect different intensities and colors, providing the foundation for brightness and color perception.

     

    2. Bipolar Cells

    • Function: Bipolar cells act as intermediaries, connecting photoreceptors to ganglion cells, which send signals to the brain. They receive input from photoreceptors and relay it to the retinal ganglion cells.
    • On and Off Bipolar Cells: Some bipolar cells are ON cells, responding when light is detected (depolarizing in light), and others are OFF cells, responding in darkness (depolarizing in the absence of light). This division allows for more precise contrast detection and the ability to distinguish light from dark areas in the visual field.

     

    3. Horizontal Cells

    • Function: Horizontal cells connect photoreceptors to each other and create lateral interactions between them. They integrate signals from multiple photoreceptors, allowing them to adjust the sensitivity of neighboring photoreceptors in response to varying light conditions.
    • Lateral Inhibition: This process improves visual contrast and sharpness by making the borders between light and dark areas more distinct, enhancing our ability to perceive edges and fine detail.

     

    These three types of cells work together to help the retina preprocess visual information and perception, emphasizing contrast and adjusting for different lighting conditions before signals are sent to the brain for further processing and interpretation.

     

     

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    Read more: Eye retina’s Bipolar Cells, Horizontal Cells, and Photoreceptors

LIGHTING