Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with color

RGB inkjet printer color chart

sequin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:30:23 -0800

RGB color reference guide. I have just purchased an Epson R1900. I need to match pantone colors & fabric swatches to create artwork. So ideally I would like to print a color reference book of all it's possible RGB colors that I can refer to as a guide to match a color. Is there an "easy" way to do this from either Photoshop or preferably Illustrator? I am a mac user. I did find a multiRIP software but it seems to be only PC friendly.

Where can I find another color-changing soy candle?

pitseleh — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:50:33 -0800

Where can I find a color-changing soy candle similar to one that used to be available at Target? Several months ago I purchased a soy candle from Target that changed colors when it burned. (It was not advertised as such; it was a surprise the first time it happened.) It went from a light green solid to a bright purple liquid as the wax heated up, and then it would go back to a light green solid when it cooled down again.

The scent was "Fresh Cut Grass," and the label says it was made in Canada and distributed by Target. It's in a simple, round glass container about 5 inches in diameter and 3 inches high. It has 3 wicks and is 15 oz.

I would love to buy more of these but can't find them anywhere by googling, and they're not in Target or on the Target website as far as I can tell.

Alternatively, I would love suggestions for other candles that have a similar color-changing property.

Any ideas?

Help me ID a kid's book about colors

range — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:44:18 -0800

Name-that-book-Filter: Large-format children's book, all about colors Helping a friend find a favorite childhood book, so she can give it to my son. Here's what she remembers:

Big format (compared to a 3-4 year old kid)

It's about colors, with each set of pages dedicated to one color

The drawings were really detailed

There may or may not have been words on the pages (I only remembers the pictures)

I think there was a big paintbrush or something involved

I especially remember the white page

"Color" is one of those ubiquitous words that is useless for google. Parameters this vague scream out, "Help me, hive mind!"

Printer for fashion company

ChloeMills — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:35:20 -0800

Need help figuring out best option for a printer for a fashion company. We currently use the basic Epson Large Format printers that cost between $300 - $500. However we keep having to replace them every year or so. I guess they have sponges that fill up and then you need get them professionally replaced.

I know at past companies we had one with replaceable sponges. However those seem to cost a lot more. How long are those meant to last. Does anyone have good suggestions for ones to use.

I'd say on average we print 30 pages a day, but during busy times it could be more than 100.

I don't know if laser, inkjet or dye printer is best.
We mostly printer on Matte Photo paper, plain copy paper and occasionally card stock. We rarely if ever print on Glossy photo paper.

Important factors for us:
-Longevity. It needs to last long a long time. It's a long and frustrating process when we have to buy new printers because we have to rematch all our color standards which takes a long time.
-Wide range of color. It's important that we can get a pretty wide range of color to match our fabric color standards.
-Color consistency is very important for the same reasons
-Cost - in the past we spent $400 on printers - so I have to show that a more expensive printer will be cost efficient.
-Switching paper - ease. We are constantly switching the size and type of paper we use. So that has to be fairly easy.

Any pointers, suggestions are greatly appreciated. I really don't know what our best option would be!

Sorry, no matches for the tag graphic design books across MetaFilter‽

Mr. Anthropomorphism — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:19:17 -0800

What are the essential books on the topic of the objective qualities of effective graphic design? I am particularly interested in web design, but anything that pertains to the underlying principles of design and the interplay of aesthetics and content would, I think, benefit me.

I'm not so much after a gallery of "wow, look how easy this is for the masters" but more of a manual that bears re-reading and referencing.

I don't have a mint to spend, but if I could maybe have at least one each regarding layout, color, and typography, I think I would benefit hugely.

Color TV tuning wand?

patnok — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:50:23 -0800

My girlfriend was telling me this story last night. I think the TV guy was just having fun with them. She also said the "wand" made "colors" on the screen. I think it was a stick with a magnet on it. Does the Hive Mind have any recollections of this "tuning" wand? Story after the jump. I lived in Logan, Ohio when we got our first color television. It was around the early 60’s. The television was a floor console. A tech man came with it and set it up. I remember him telling us until he used a color wand it wouldn’t show color well. I watched him go in front of the television and wave it in front of the screen for awhile and when he was finished he said it was all set to go.

Help me choose twenty RGB colors that all contrast with each other.

popechunk — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:41:10 -0800

Help me choose twenty RGB colors that all contrast with each other, so that any two of them are distinguishable in a graph. I am using rrdtool to make some graphs from a perl script, and I need a default list of 20 or so colors that are all easily distinguishable from each other when they show up next to each other in an rrdtool graph.

I've seen some other posts on finding a handful of colors that look good together, but I'm looking for the largest set of web colors where any two can be easily distinguished when they show up next to each other.

So how do I choose which blue for the header? Should it even be blue? What goes with blue?

Cantdosleepy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:02:43 -0800

Give me a crash course in colour! I need to start making some flat template designs for a website but don't know where to start. I've come to web design through information architecture and writing web content. I'm a word-oriented person with essentially no visual interests; I don't own a single painting, have never been moved by an image in a gallery. All my walls are magnolia.

We've got a house style in terms of shapes for the site, and my manager has asked me to come up with a few different colour schemes to discuss. There have to be millions of colours available in #nnnnnn.

I know there's a thing called a colour wheel that shows colours that go well together. That's as much as I know about colour.

Are there any resources on the web for learning about this? Tips about how to pick colours? Is there a process by which you can come up with colours that are useful across a site?

Any help very much appreciated.

Is there a website that generates solid-color backgrounds?

aftermarketradio — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:30:46 -0800

Does anyone know of a website that generates full-screen, solid-color backgrounds? I have a PC with a Microsoft OS, and oddly enough, I find the "blue screen of death" a very soothing light to read by, and I am trying to find a website that will just generate a solid background of that color (or any color that I choose). Up until now I have been making solid-color jpgs in paint, and just full-screening the image, but I was wondering if there is a website that lets me simply click on a color to fill the screen with that color.

Visualizing home colors

dacoit — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:17:38 -0800

So, it's time to paint my 100 year old house in Portland. How to choose colors? Are there any good online resources, in particular image galleries of homes painted specific colors? (i.e., "this 1925 craftsman is painted Benjamin Moore 741 Eggplant, with trim colors 219 Cream Soda and 987 Driftwood Sand") I only have a couple of days to choose colors so the house can get painted before the rains roll in, and I have no idea how to go about this. It's a big beautiful old house in a funky neighborhood, and I really don't want to get this wrong. My only other idea is to walk around and ask owners of other homes, hoping they remember what colors they used. Any advice you might have about online resources or choosing colors in general is greatly appreciated, thank you.

What do Different Colors Look Like on B&W Film?

barfmann — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:20:26 -0800

Shooting a black and white 16mm film. It's my first (an "exercise"), and I'm not yet sure of the stock. How do different colors show up when filmed w/ BW film? My specific concerns: how best should I costume my actors so they remain dynamic when photographed (ie. nice deep blacks or pure-ish whites; avoid grey)? Esp: how can I costume them to keep them distinct from the background (grey/brown garage walls). Let me know if you need more info to be helpful; thanks meta people.

Owning hip out of gamut pigment will make me cooler than you

Large Marge — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:57:10 -0800

Can I buy International Klein Blue pigment/paint? If so, where, and what form would it come in? I'd be interested in painting a few things this color. Notably a bike or as part of a pattern, but most likely with an airbrush or spray can, However I'll take anything I can get

Were B+W movie sets painted B+W?

one_bean — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:11:48 -0800

Were black & white movie sets painted black & white?

Know any colors that changed the world?

Ziggurat — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:48:38 -0800

Can you think of an example of when a color could be said to have "changed the world"? I'm writing an article/blog post (for $$$, albeit a modest amount, so if that makes you less inclined to help, I'd certainly understand) and I'm looking for just one or two more good examples of instances where a color somehow changed the world. The examples I have so far are pretty historical, but I'm not necessarily limiting myself to that. To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, here's a couple of the ones I have already: Carmine (red dye) the trade in which was an important impetus to European expansion into the Americas; Mauve, the "invention" of which paved the way for chemistry to take its place as an important science for industry; Red (ochre), the first color used in human art; Indigo, like carmine, was a desired pigment and was instrumental in expanding world trade.

A couple other things I researched, so far fruitlessly, were things like:
The lead in white face paint favored by English royalty at one time, caused health issues. I was looking for a case where that could be linked to the premature death of someone historically important, but I couldn't find anything.
In science, is there any case where a particular breakthrough happened in a way that was somehow related to color. Or is there some important invention that could only exist because of a particular color (as in the mauve example above)

Beyond that, I'm open to other ideas, as long as they're very related to a particular color, and were "world changing".

What I'm not really looking for are cases where a color may be a symbol of something...i.e. Red as a symbol of the Soviet revolution, and, later, communism as a whole. I know that distinction may be a bit arbitrary, but hopefully it makes sense!

Thanks a lot!

Magic color changing blueberry residue

Rhomboid — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:18:30 -0800

You buy a bag of delicious frozen blueberries and empty its contents into a plastic tub which you keep in the freezer. When the last of the berries have been consumed, a light pinkish-red residue remains in the tub. You proceed to rinse out the container, and after a few seconds under running water the color suddenly and dramatically changes to a deep dark blue. Why? The wikipedia article on anthocyanins mentions that the difference in chemical structure that occurs in response to changes in pH is the reason why anthocyanins are often used as pH indicator, as they change from red in acids to blue in bases. Does simply diluting the blueberry-goo with water really alter the pH that significantly? Or is something else at work here?

photographic white lies

Jody Tresidder — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:53:04 -0800

This might be a wild goose chase. But can anyone help me track down any sort of a technical clue for why a white tint very specifically applied to one part of a photo taken in the 1920s – for the purpose of deliberate deception – would have turned a dark, purplish navy color over time? I’m assuming the color corruption is due to some type of direct chemical reaction with the photographic paper. It's obvious the white color was painted/applied directly onto the surface of the original black and white print.

But I don’t know where to even start looking for a chemical answer.

I‘ve had access to this doctored and unpublished photo and I’ve looked at it very closely (it’s in a museum archive).

The intention of the hand tinting – and I know it was also done in the 1920s by the same guy who took the original photo -was to cover up the brown skin of a Central American “native” and make it look as if he really had pure white skin.

On the one hand, it's a clumsy deception –because when you tilt the surface of the photo under normal light you can see immediately where some liquid (paint or ink or possibly a light gel) – has been applied only to the area of bare skin of one prominent figure in the foreground. Also, I don't think the photo would have been terribly scientifically convincing even if the white tint had stayed white. On the other hand, it’s very neatly done.

There’s no question the doctored “native warrior” was meant to look as if he was of pale, Scandinavian origin (there’s a saga of fraudulent anthropology which explains the photo).

My feeling is that the photographer didn’t have a clue about any “special” paints or colors you were meant to use. He was just trying to create photographic evidence for his own mad racial theories. (It’s obviously ironic that the “native” he was attempting to transform into a white man in the photo ended up a blue aubergine hue – with a kind of dull bluebottle sheen.)

I was wondering if anyone knows whether any innocently hand tinted photos from the same 1920s era developed the same color corruption problem?

Website for cheap color copies?

nickhb — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:42:07 -0800

Is there a website that will make cheap color copies and ship them to me? Kinkos wil do it for about a dollar a page, but I've heard of websites that will do it for cheaper and then ship the copies to me. Is that possible?

What combinations of clear, non-toxic chemicals create a colourful result?

greatgefilte — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:17:56 -0800

What combinations of colourless non-toxic substances result in something that's coloured, or at least opaque? Aside from enzymes and substrates, are there any safe organic and/or inorganic clear substances that are known to change colour in the right combination? I vaguely remember doing things like this with a childhood chemistry set, but can't remember the specifics.

Good colorist in ATL

Juicylicious — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:32:29 -0800

Looking for an expert hair colorist in Atlanta. Any recommendations?

How can I color correct my digital photos if I don't see colors well?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:08:05 -0800

I want to color correct my digital photos, but I have a color vision deficiency. Up to now, I've been correcting the levels manually, but relying on the auto-color features in Picasa or Photoshop for colors, but often this doesn't do a good job and the colors look off, even to me. I can manually correct the levels and adjust the colors so they look right to me, but that doesn't guarantee they will look right to others. Is there any way to color correct numerically (for instance, using the eyedropper tool on someone's face to to see if the RGB value of skin falls within a skin-tone range) Otherwise, is there a service that I can send my digital photos to where they can color correct them perfectly and send them back? I'm interested in the digital files, not in getting prints.

Setting Color Options in Illustrator

ChloeMills — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:57:06 -0800

I need more Illustrator/Photoshop color help! We got Adobe Creative Suite 4 for our office. There are some color settings that I'd like to set as defaults but can't figure out how to do so. a) When I open a file in Illustrator or Photoshop - is there a way for it always to default to RGB instead of CMYK. So anytime we open start a new file it would be RGB unless we change it. It seems this should be easy. But I can't find it!

b) When printing I found the best printing color profile for our printer is: Epson Standard RGB Gamma 1.8. But that is not the default so every time we go to print in a new file it goes back to the standard default setting. So you have to go into color management every time you print. I saved an option so everyone can just scroll down to it but they still forget to do it. We are wasting a ton of paper. There has to be a way to do this.

I am definitely no expert and our IT isn't much help! Would appreciate any help!

I am looking for a little graphic that you print out with an image to make sure that the image is color corrected.

thebrokenmuse — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:07:24 -0800

I am looking for a little graphic that you print out with an image to make sure that the image is color corrected. This particular one has the face of a baby on it. Sorry I can't be more specific! This is all that I can remember. There might be others that work better, but I need this specific one! If anyone knows where I might be able to find it I would be incredibly grateful!

Help me nail down my colors in PShop?

bricoleur — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:59:32 -0800

Help me understand what's going on here, please. Sometimes, when I'm working in Photoshop (CS3 10.0.1), I get color weirdness, along the lines of the following examples. 1) Enter hex code in hex box in the color picker. Open Mac's DigitalColor Meter. Mouse over the colorpicker color box with the meter, and wtf, Adobe says it's #ec7f1d but the meter says it's #e06c1f.

2) Color fill rectangular image with #ec7f1d and save for Web as a GIF, being careful that it's a two color GIF and that the important color is still #ec7f1d. Insert said image in Web page with a background of #ec7f1d. Refresh page, and wtf, the image is noticeably lighter/darker (usually darker I think) than the background.

Once in a while, #2 may happen because I've forgotten to change the mode from indexed to RGB or something dumb like that, must most of the time I'm stumped.

I know nothing about color management, so use small words, and lots of 'em, please. Or just point me to resources that will explain it adequately for me to fix this problem (or problems).

Why do I sometimes find hair that is black at root but white at the tip?

Anonymous — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:15:11 -0800

Occasionally, I will find one or two hairs that are white at the tip but black (my normal hair color) at the root/base - the bottom 2-3cm of hair will be black, the top will be white. What's going on here? I've not noticed this happen anywhere on my body but ... down there. I'm a 22 yr old female. Both my parents started finding a few white hairs in their early thirties, but my mother at least had never found hair that was white at the tip but black at the bottom. What's going on here?

The hairs are never clustered together, and I only ever find just one. I'm a little freaked out.

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie?

drjimmy11 — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:32:24 -0800

70s style character intro freeze-framey thingie? I need some examples (ideally on Youtube) of a technique used in film to introduce characters. it's kind of like the intros from Trainspotting, where there's a freezeframe with the character's name printed on it.

Except that there's also colorization on the freezeframe. I'm thinking of this kind of 70s style where the background goes to a solid color, there's a thick, usually white border around the character, who himself stays in normal color (or is maybe colorized too). I want to say it's been used in martial arts films, but I could be off on that.

Does this make sense to anyone? I'm pretty sure this exists and I have not hallucinated it. Any links to video would be fantastic!

thanks!!