PHOTOGRAPHY

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY PAPER

How do the color layers in a photo mix to form a full range of colors?

	CYAN
	MAGENTA
	YELLOW

The 3 color layers are 3 photos of the same scene. The amount of color in each layer matches the amount of each color of the 3 primary colors in the original scene. The cyan, magenta and yellow layers subtract color from the light that you use to view the photo. Since the layers are transparent, all 3 layers can be seen at the same time.

Look at the image above. Notice that the white portion represented by the frost on top of the apple has no color in any of the layers. What you see as white is really the paper backing of the photograph showing through, since no light is being subtracted in that part of the picture.

You can see that the green in the image of the leaf is formed by the combined colors cyan and yellow in those two layers. The red of the apple comes from the layers for magenta and yellow. If all three layers had the maximum amount of color in each, then that area would look black. All light would be subtracted (absorbed) in that case.

	All other colors are made by variations in the amounts of color in each of the three layers. For example, each layer can range from a very deep color to a very pale shade. Some photos may have many different colors and shades of color. Some colors may be bold and others hardly noticeable, but there are still three basic color layers.
NEGATIVE - POSITIVE BLUE   YELLOW GREEN         MAGENTA     RED     CYAN   When the colors of a picture are reversed, the negative image that results produces opposite or complementary colors. The colors in a color film negative are the opposite of the colors in the final photo paper print. Notice that the flower that appears as red in the negative image is actually a cyan flower in the positive photo. The flower that appears green in the negative turns out to be a magenta flower. The flower that appears blue in the negative is yellow in the photo. So once again we can see a relationship between the red, green and blue of the "additive" primaries and the cyan, yellow and magenta of the "subtractive" color primaries. (Typical color photographic negative film contains two additional color layers besides the color negative image. These two extra layers form a "mask" to correct for limitations in the color filtering properties of the negative dyes when printed on photographic paper. It is this built-in mask that gives film negatives their characteristic color which may appear an overall orange to brownish pink color.)
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Photographic processes are  becoming more and more digital. Digital photography does not require film. Digital photos also utilize a number of basic colors to produce a range of millions of colors. Digital cameras mostly rely on light sensitive chips with filters that separate an image into its basic colors for processing electronically. For the most part, cameras utilize the red, green and blue colors of the "additive" primary colors.
Digital photography can be displayed electronically on screens and monitors. These screens and monitors most often use the "additive" primary colors of red, green and blue. Digital photos can also be printed out on paper using a color printer or even scanned onto color film or paper. In that case, the "subtractive" color system of cyan, yellow and magenta is used.

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