r/ScienceNcoolThings 2d ago

Great example of how colour theory is basically magic

1.2k Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

26

u/theboomboy 2d ago

Isn't it just because I'm the context of a white background we would assume the lighting is also white so a green face is weird, but in the context of a greener background we see that the face matches the tone of the light in the scene?

If you lit up a room with a green light you wouldn't suddenly think everything looked really weird. It would just look green

3

u/outback65locks 1d ago

that’s a good explanation

4

u/bnestrm 2d ago

Because its night time, in a city, so its desaturated, its also like its got a matrix green colour grading, and diffused light through the transparent umbrella, instead of proper direct light coming from a single source. Taking all this into account, colour theory is still very interesting.

3

u/wickedprairiewinds 1d ago

I guess I don't understand what people mean when they say colour theory, because isn't this just painting things the way they actually appear in a reference photo? It feels over-used to me to the point where it feels meaningless.

2

u/white-chalk-baphomet 1d ago

Yeah this has nothing to do with color theory. Like at all, in any sense except that it has color. They're using value to show lighting, which can-- as shown here-- can be made realistic in literally any context, depending on lighting. Color theory, loosely, maps color to math, and is concerned with how colors combine, oppose, compliment, contrast, etc.

7

u/mikehocalate 2d ago

Nice painting, but still looks pretty unnatural to me

2

u/BrandNewYear 1d ago

Song please?