@SheiffFatman & @Archvillain
(disclaimer: apologies in advance since i am reply to two people and making some additional points of my own, so please don’t misunderstand that i’m thinking you think or don’t think something personally…cheers.)
you are speaking strictly in additive color theory terms, which is a partial view not a complete picture. Please look up subtractive color theory. It isn’t just semantics.
-you have the frequencies of the light hitting a surface.
-the surface absorbs and reflects various frequencies.
-the reflected light then enters the eye where it stimulates a combination of various cones and rods which produces a signal which is set to the brain for interpretation.
-even how the brain interprets the colors is subjective based on ambient light and recent previous color inputs. (try staring at a green dot for a few minutes then look around the room.)
saying magenta isn’t a color because it requires a combination of light frequencies, is like saying yellow isn’t a color because it requires the stimulation of several different cone types. It really truly isn’t that simple as one or the other. are you defining color as a property of the object (absorption/reflection), as a property of the light being reflected, as how the eye processes that light, as how the brain interprets that signal from the eyes? They are all part of the complete color picture, which is why physicists speak in wavelength not subjective color labels. The light only model does not a color make.
even black isn’t the absence of all color. true black is, but you can’t see true black. really when you look at a “black” object you are seeing a lot of different really dark colors.
Not to mention how the brain interprets metallic, opalescent, or highly reflective surfaces. If you ask people what color a mirror is they will say silver, which is technically true but also false. look in a mirror, all you see is a reflection of every color in the image in the mirror.
etc. etc.
not so simple as “light frequencies”
color theory is a really fun subject to study because it is so multi faceted and goes so deep.
if you shine red blue and green lights at something white or your eye you can make all colors.
if you look through cyan magenta and yellow transparent films at something white or reflect white light off of combinations of cyan magenta and yellow pigments you can make all colors.
both are equally valid and inseparable aspects of what we define as color.
this is why your screen is RGB and when you go to print something it is CMYK.
