I haven't had any photography classes, so this question probably shows my ignorance...
It seems to me (from playing with the negative tool) that the the negative of red is cyan, blue is yellow, and green is magenta. Perhaps this first statement isn't quite accurate, but if it is, then why are these not considered complementary colors? Or, conversely, why aren't the negative colors paired like complementary colors?
colors aren't often pure in photoshop. Often, when trying to adjust green grass or leaves you will find that you must use the yellow channel rather than the green. there is no purple slider at all - its closest is magenta or blue, as photshop uses printing colors rather than typical color wheel colors.
Becasue in a negative colour.. you can have many different colours... if the two main colours inteh phto are complimentary ... when youinvert to get the negative... you get a color switch that shows you have complimentary colors... such as an orange flower against a blue sky, which goes to an orange sky and blue flower.
Originally posted by fencekicker:
I haven't had any photography classes, so this question probably shows my ignorance...
It seems to me (from playing with the negative tool) that the the negative of red is cyan, blue is yellow, and green is magenta. Perhaps this first statement isn't quite accurate, but if it is, then why are these not considered complementary colors? Or, conversely, why aren't the negative colors paired like complementary colors?
I was just about to post that exact link Kirbic ;)
Just want to add though that if by negative color you mean invert, keep in mind it inverts the values as well as the hue. In RGB yellow and brown are pretty much the same hue with different values - so inverting an image won't necessarily give you it's compliment.
I was playing in photoshop and made a very simple pallette, I chose a color and made a square, then I made another identical square with the same color and inverted it. I used pure colors in the upper line and mixed colors in the lower line just so people could see what photoshop does when colors are inverted.
I read the wikipedia article. It seems to be saying that the negative color pairs red/cyan, green/magenta, and yellow/blue are also complementary colors. However, I suspect if one were to use these pairs in the complementary challenge one might be given lower scores for them as those apparently aren't the "traditional" complementary pairs.
