Apple Aperture Digital Photography Fundamentals - Manual (Page 27)

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How Digital Images Are Displayed
Having a basic understanding of how light is captured,
stored, and displayed onscreen and in print can help you
achieve the image you intended to create.
It isn’t necessary to understand the physics of light and color to appreciate that the colors
in an image look realistic. How do you know a sunset is orange, the sky is blue, and the
grass green? And exactly how orange is the sunset? What kind of orange is it? It’s easy
enough to verbally describe your perception of colors, but how do you choose a white
balance that conveys the color orange most accurately? This chapter explains how to
faithfully reproduce the color you capture with your camera onscreen and in your prints.
This chapter covers:
 The Human Eye’s Subjective View of Color (p. 27)
 Understanding How the Eye Sees Light and Color (p. 29)
 Sources of Light (p. 30)
 Understanding How a Digital Image Is Displayed (p. 33)
The Human Eye’s Subjective View of Color
Elements of a good photo include composition, color, and brightness. One of your jobs
as a photographer is to capture the colors you see as intentionally as possible. Whether
you intend to show the color exactly as you see it or you want to enhance the color by
adjusting the color temperature, it is your job to understand your choices and
intentionally compose your picture.
Unfortunately, human eyes and brains can’t be trusted to see colors objectively. Unless
you can make side-by-side comparisons of your image on the screen, the photographic
print, and the actual subject, it may be hard to tell in what ways the color shifts from one
medium to another. Even when making side-by-side comparisons, it is nearly impossible
to objectively measure what the differences are when using your eyes alone.