Science for the Curious Photographer, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 15 How Can Color Be Managed?

 

 

For the newly sighted, vision is pure sensation unencumbered by meaning.

—ANN DILLARD

But, to determine more absolutely, what Light is, after what manner refracted, and by what modes or actions it produceth in our minds the Phantasms of Colours, is not so easie. And I shall not mingle conjectures with certainties.

—ISAAC NEWTON

 

 

 

 

15.1 Introduction

Human color vision is possible because three types of cones (S, M, and L) in the retina respond to slightly different ranges of wavelengths of light. This part is well understood in terms of chemistry and physics, but it only represents the first steps in a truly amazing process. The perception of color and, in fact, the complete illusion of a multicolored ...