Back in the day, we had film in our cameras and some of us had darkrooms where we processed that film into photographs. Those darkrooms were lit by a reddish light that totally changed the color of everything in the
darkroom.
The local color of the photo paper boxes was yellow-orange, but under that reddish light, they appeared purple. I knew them to be yellow-orange so my labeling mind called them yellow orange, until a sudden awareness allowed me to
see through the cones in my eyes rather than the labeling mind. That's when I saw the purplish color of yellow-orange under red light.
THE FILTERS OF MIND CHATTER
A similar thing happens when the color of light changes like it does late in the afternoon as the sun is setting. Because our mind chatter
filter knows palms to be green, if we allow that filter to override what the cones in our eyes are perceiving, we might paint dark green palms at sunset even though the light has changed them to deep reddish.
Notice the changes in color of the sky and water, too. And that boat that might be white in local color becomes a mix of variations of violets.
We can see those when we bypass the mind chatter filter and allow ourselves to register what our eyes are seeing rather than permit them to label what we "know" the local color to be.
Invest in a set of color transparencies (perhaps from Amazon or Office Depot rather than go out for them).
Once they arrive, either set up a still life or go outside and find yourself a reference. Choose any color transparency and look through it as you do a color
study of what you've chosen. Then choose a different colored transparency and looking through it, do another color study. Take this as far a you like, even as far as a study for each transparency in your collection. Take a photo of your subject in normal light and compare what happened to each color through each transparency.
This just might turn out to be a universal truth!
Stay well! Stay safe! And have yourself a colorful weekend.
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