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Cheryl Machat Dorskind

Hamptons Photographer | Photo Instruction

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Red sits on top of the rainbow and the Adobe Color Picker

By cherylmachatdorskind

Red sits on top of the rainbow and the Adobe Color Picker

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This holiday season was wrapped in red heart colored ribbons instilling messages of love and good will.
Red, both a pigment and light primary color, sits on top of the rainbow and the “Adobe Color Picker.” At its digital purist, red is 255 R, 0G, 0B.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Red is an attention grabber. Food photographers know that red stimulates appetite and product photographers will use bold reds to help brand companies. Check out the logos for Canon, Costco, Netflix and Target. Portrait photographers use red to create flattering flesh tones. Red can emphasize a toddler’s vitality or convey (with a red sweater) a teen’s confidence.  Juxtapose red with green to add contrast (green and red are complementary pairs and create a natural impact). Red, considered a warm color, creates an optical illusion of an object moving forward in a composition.
Red has the longest wavelength and is said to be the first color a baby sees. Red stirs emotions; it is powerful, seductive, and elegant. At its full intensity, red jostles the senses—red may even raise your blood pressure.
While both reddish, red is not the same as magenta; red is a primary and magenta is a secondary color of light. When mixing light primary colors, red light and blue light combined will create a magenta colored light. Reducing red in your digital file will increase the amount of cyan, while reducing magenta will add more green. (See the screenshots used to adjust the flesh tones.)
 
To reduce the reddish flesh tones, I move the red slider to the left, thus adding more cyan

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alternatively, to reduce the reddish flesh tone, I can add more green by moving the magenta slider to the right.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here’s to a Happy New Year and realize your red potential.
Join me for my class “All About Color” to learn more about Color Theory.
Cheryl teaches the following classes at ppsop:
All About Color
Photographing Children
Painting Photos

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Filed Under: Color, Photoshop tutorials

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About Cheryl

Professional photographer Cheryl Machat Dorskind is a three-time best-selling author and newspaper columnist, an international mentor, a photo educator and adjunct Full professor, a workshop and online instructor, a speaker, and an acclaimed “New York Times” fine-art photographer and handpainter.

She is a member of the American Society of Media Professionals (ASMP) and Canon Professional Services and profiled on Museo.

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Team up with internationally noted fine art mentor Cheryl Machat Dorskind and expand your photographic vision. She is the perfect mentor for the visual artist searching for creative, technical, and marketing direction.

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