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Mastering Color Series – The Psychology and Evolution of the Color GREEN and its use in Photography

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Spanish dramatist, poet and writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca once said “green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises”. From the perspective of a well-loved frog however, it’s not so easy being green. On the visible spectrum, green occupies the space between blue and yellow.  In color theory, it is a secondary color, made by mixing blue and yellow together. Here, we’ll have a look at the evolution of green and its impact in art from antiquity to the present day. Take a quick test below to check your eyes for red-green color blindness . The psychology of green Green’s strongest psychological associations lie with the natural environment. The word green originates from the Middle English and Old English word grene, which has the same root as the words grass and grow. Many humans respond to nature, and thereby green itself, with a sense of calm and renewal.  According to a recent study, exposure to green spaces in childhood can provide significant ment
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A brief history of colour pigments

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Everyone has a favourite colour. It has defined and shaped our early friendships on the playground— the knowing smile and the excitement on another kid’s face as we reveal our fondness for the same colour. As adults, colours become forsaken attributes of our identity. Our preferences are seasonal and contextual. But, there’s still a shade tinting our subconscious, capturing our attention once in a while to remind us that the world wouldn’t look—or feel—the same without its conspicuous existence. We know where colours can be found in nature and what they evoke in art and culture, but we know little about their origins—so here is a brief history of colour pigments and how they made their first appearance in our lives. Invented in 1826, ultramarine blue—which means beyond the sea, a name given for its faraway birthplace—is derived from lapis lazuli stone. For hundreds of years, the cost of the blue gem rivalled the price of gold.  The story goes even Michelangelo couldn’t afford the preci
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The history of colour and the colourful science behind it

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The rainbow used to have just 5 colours – until 1704 when Sir Isaac Newton added orange and indigo to the list simply because he had a fondness for the supposedly mystical properties of the number 7. In fact, there are no pure colours in a rainbow – they all blend into one continuous spectrum – but ever since Newton we’ve settled on 7 and used little rhymes to remember them. Americans favour ‘Roy G Biv’ while British children might learn ‘ Richard York gave battle in vain’ – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Attentive children might therefore be perplexed by the song, ‘I can sing a rainbow’, which begins, ‘Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue …’ So it would seem that the colours of the rainbow can differ, and when we dip into the cultural histories of these colours, we see even wider differences. In short, how we interpret colours, even how we see them, is more a product of nurture than nature. A few colour-coded stories then: 1. Red Upper P
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Learn The Strange And Fascinating Histories Behind These 10 Common Colors!

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  What's your favorite color? Maybe you like the calming effect of blue or the bright energy of red. Or maybe you find that yellow cheers you up on a gray day. There are even schools of thought that say surrounding yourself with certain colors can affect your mood and well-being. But there's a lot more to color than just what's printed on the crayon label — and actually, those names have a surprising amount of history of their own. Color is something that constantly surrounds us, so it makes sense that it has a deep meaning to us, whether or not we realize it. And it's also always been a huge business. From clothing dye to makeup to art supplies, people always want color! And throughout history, they've gone to some pretty strange lengths to get it. Some pigments, like those from flowers and fruit, make sense, but others have downright bizarre, gross, and even deadly origins. Read on to discover where your favorite colors came from, and the weird history behind each
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If We Called Ourselves Yellow

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I'm on the phone with an associate history professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, named Ellen Wu . We're talking about skin color, identity and how people like us — Americans of East Asian descent — can describe ourselves. Wu and I agree that there are many words we could use: Asian American, East Asian, East Asian American. People with roots from South Asia or Southeast Asia sometimes refer to themselves as brown, which seems like a useful shorthand. But for a bunch of reasons, brown doesn't work for East Asians. I'm wondering if there's a parallel word for us. I pose this question, a little hesitantly: What about yellow? Wu sucks in a breath. Her gut reaction is No! The word, she says, is too fraught. Using it would be like painting our skin with a sickly, mustard sheen or writing a nasty word on our foreheads. "Yellow" has long been considered noxious. To some, it's on par with Chink, gook, nip or Chinaman. And yet. And yet. I sort of love ye
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