Believable Colors Based on memory and experience Look natural relative to the rest of the scene

Color Attributes Hue Saturation Brightness What color is it? How rich is the color? Brightness How bright or dark is the color?

Skin Tones No color family is as critical to advertising as skin tones Proper skin tones convey good health, youth, vitality, sexiness

Skin Tones Poor skin tones convey ill health, death, aging, alcohol or drug abuse, lack of vitality

We’re All Brown There are no black, white, red or yellow people Everyone on this planet is somewhere on the brown continuum from a light cream to a dark walnut, with slight variations of hue

Linking Contrast and Balance to Color Proper contrast sets color saturation and brightness Balance sets integrity of hue The above example shows the results of a contrast increase to the right half of the image. Note the increase in both saturation and brightness.

Wanted and Unwanted Components Wanted components in RGB or CMYK colors establish hue and saturation Unwanted components build brightness and shape dimensions of color In a red, the wanted components in CMYK space are magenta and yellow, and the unwanted components are cyan and black. In that same red color in RGB, the wanted component is red, the unwanteds are green and blue.

Eliminating unwanted components has no effect on hue and produces “cartoon color” The image on the right has had all unwanted component removed in the wall, resulting in the loss of all the stucco shape and detail. Wanted components can only be pushed so far, resulting in a limit to saturation.

There is a sacrificial transformation that occurs from RGB to CMYK space that needs to be understood by color specialist and color buyer alike The above graphic shows a SWOP Press color gamut (color) superimposed upon the Adobe RGB gamut (white). All of the white area represents RGB colors that can’t be achieved in the CMYK space.

Many colors can’t be reproduced in CMYK, and no amount of color correcting changes that. The above graphic shows a SWOP Press color gamut (color) superimposed upon the Adobe RGB gamut (white). All of the white area represents RGB colors that can’t be achieved in the CMYK space.

The Expanded Gamut Uses additional inks and CMYK to widen gamut of available colors e.g. Pantone Hexachrome CMYK + Orange + Green Opaltone CMYK + RGB Touchplates The graphic above shows a split image with the right side featuring a simulation of a 5th color, or touchplate of Pantone Hexachrome Orange. Typically, the touchplate color goes down last in the press rotation and is added to the underlying CMYK rather than replacing any of the original CMYK data.