

By defining the locations for the three primary colors, this tells a computer where on the map 100% of red, green, and blue are found. When we use a digital color space on top of the CIE 1931 map, we’re basically setting the starting points from which we can make RGB calculations. Color SpaceĪ color space is a specific organization of colors within the visible spectrum. So to standardize the results, we need to tell the computer which points to use, and we do that by using a color space. 33.33% of which red, and 35.69% of which green? Different primary color points will result in different outputs. To complete the calculation, the computer needs to know what red, green, and blue points on the map it is supposed to calculate from. With just these values, we can ask a computer for a particular color (for example, Frame.io purple) and it will give us exactly what we want (33.33% red, 35.69% green, and 96.47% blue).īut these percentage values are meaningless without more information.

These values are calculated as a group of three percentages, called an RGB triplet.
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Since humans and machines (like computers) can agree on mathematical values, that lets us tell computers what colors are (or at least how to calculate them) despite the fact that they don’t have eyeballs. So in essence, the RGB color model is a coordinate system that lets us find every color on the CIE 1931 map.īy plotting colors based on their component parts-the amount of red, green, and blue that make them up-we can assign them a mathematical value.

Since we’re here to talk about digital video, we’re only going to talk about RGB. Note: there are other color models, like the CMYK color model, but it is based on pigments, not light. Why red, green, and blue? Because our biological vision system is based on those wavelength ranges. In the case of the RGB color model, which the CIE 1931 diagram uses, those component properties are the amount of red, green, and blue light that combines to create it. Color ModelsĪ color model is an abstract mathematical method for describing a color based on its component properties. Think of it as a map, where every humanly-perceivable color can be found.īut in order to use the map, we needed a system for locating colors on it. This is the foundation from which digital color is built. They took this data and plotted it onto a graph, now known as the CIE 1931 Chromaticity Diagram. Scientists in the early 20th century conducted real-world experiments to answer this question-about 10 million, they concluded. Thankfully, our brains can mix the signals from our cones together so we can “see” secondary hues like yellow, magenta, cyan, and all the other colors we know and love.īut how many colors can our eyes and brain perceive? Of course, there are many more colors (an infinite number) in the visible spectrum beyond just the reds, greens, and blues we have cones for. So, color is the human perception of light at a particular wavelength. When these cells are stimulated by their corresponding wavelength ranges, they send a signal to our brain, which then interprets the signal in a particular way, what we call color. One group is sensitive to long wavelengths (reds), another is sensitive to medium wavelengths (greens), and the last is sensitive to short wavelengths (blues). What is ColorĪs you may or may not remember from middle school science class, our eyes contain two kinds of light-sensitive cells-rods, which are sensitive to light intensity, and cones, which are sensitive to certain ranges in the spectrum of visible light.Ĭones are subdivided into three groups, each sensitive to their own range of visible light wavelengths. There’s a lot of technical terminology ahead, so here’s a quick primer on digital color that should clarify some of the most important concepts of color management.
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We’ve covered some of the hardware you’ll need for accurate color work in previous articles, but today we’re going to focus on the settings that make your media look consistent across different software and systems. To successfully implement color management into your workflow, you’ll have to give special attention to the software, hardware, and configuration of those tools at nearly every step of your post-production pipeline. Color management is a very complex topic, and there are so many moving pieces it’s easy to get confused. #3: The colors look correct in Photoshop, and Premiere, but not in After Effectsīefore we dive into the guide, let’s cover the basics.

