Assignment 2: Colour-Full

Colour-Full

                The world consists of so many colours, and these are what make life so interesting; so awake and different than forlorn desaturation. This comparison is used in so many writings and metaphors of life. In this we understand how deep the idea can be. In photography colors are also very important. Speaking of my previous writing, we know that taking pictures and editing them is an incredibly creative thing, and this is very exciting. Knowing this we can include grayscale images in our creativity, though it is very different than colour images. Everyone sees things differently and black and white photography is just as unique as colour photography. Right now we’re looking at different color models. RGB (Red-Blue-Green) or CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Key Black)?

                RGB is common to me, as Photoshop and all other editing programs I’ve used, manipulate this model by default. Also, this is the colour model you learn about in your junior high art class, and even elementary.  Red, blue and green, the primary colors and their overlaps are secondary colours. All other colours are derivatives of these six. Cool right? In photography a camera’s sensor will pick up tons of different colours that could never be generated on a computer’s screen. This is why we have colour models, which then convert impossible colours to an alternative colour, that a computer is able to process. The RGB colour model is an example of this. It is commonly used in camera-to-printer photography, where a photographer will take a picture and print off the memory card. The model is called sRGB, created by HP and Microsoft, specifically for digital screens, printers and the internet. It’s convenient in this setting because of its compatibility with commercial photo printers (studios and kiosks in stores like Wal-mart­ or Staples), which print in sRGB. Note that sRGB is a digitally compatible colour model; the same as RGB, just for technology. As I mention just before, the RGB model is also used for online work. All colors seen, are generated using the RGB model, because it’s bright and sharp, contrasting with CMYK which does take a more shaded appearance.

Onto CMYK. RGB model is based on light, meaning the more colour, the lighter a selection will be. All the colours combined produce white. This is unlike CMYK. This model is designed around the premise that colours absorb light, the end product of a total combination being black. Not a definite black though, a muddy gray lacking detail and contrast. The biggest use is in printing, as a colour image is made of ink. Each ink cartridge has a different colour within, each color contributing to that gray I was talking about. This is completely opposite an RGB model, thus why we can conclude that an RGB image viewed on a computer monitor will not be rendered the same, through a printer. This is why you need to look at a photo rendered in the CMYK model on your screen, before you print. This is achievable through changing your editing program’s color space (the color model  your program uses to render an image).

In the end, both color models are valuable in their allotted fields; RGB being used on the internet and low-profile consumer photography (camera-to-printer), while CMYK is used in general printing (printing without focusing on color, like text documents; not photographs). As a photographer I would lean towards the sRGB color model because it’s bright and produces good results when printing a picture. The final result should be rich in saturation and sharp. CMYK just won’t produce that.