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  • Writer's pictureJoe Martin

Color Theory Basics for Beginners: A Guide to Video Color Correction

Even if you used the best video editing software, knowing and recognizing colors and their significance on the human psyche is critical to nail your video editing and content creation game.

Color theory is the science and the art of using color. It explains how people perceive color; and the visual effects of mixing, matching, or contrasting colors. The color theory also includes messages that convey colors and the methods used to recreate the color.

Theoretically, the colors are organized on the color wheel and grouped into categories that are: primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. In the field of art, color theory also deals with the selection of the right colors for your graphic designs. For example, you may know which colors will work on a particular poster, but ultimately the artist has to decide how and where to use those colors.

Color theory is not that daunting because you only need to know the theoretical categories organized on the color wheel. There are primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. If you know all of these, it's relatively easy to spot them if you recognize their relationship.

What is Color Theory?

We often don't think about how our brain perceives light through our eyes and tells us what colors we see. However, we find light associations. We've looked at the sky enough times to realize it is blue and enough to see the grass to know it is green. The same theory applies to graphic design; if we went to the grocery store looking for Sprite, our eyes would quickly turn to something green.

The emphasis on color can influence whether a product is attractive to customers or not. It is one of the many reasons why you should pay attention to color in commercial graphic design. A commitment to color theory can work wonders for your brand.

RGB

The most popular form of color mixing is the RGB model. As the anagram suggests, this is a pattern that uses red, green, and blue. These three colors are then mixed and matched to create different colors. When they are all folded, the color is white.

RGB composing for stunning images is handled by Bayer's patented filter. This color gamut balances the color mix: 50% green, 25% blue, and 25% red. When all these patterns come together, they begin to create distinct and attractive looks.

CMYK

CMYK differs from RGB in that it is more suitable for printing than digital. CMYK graphics can appear cloudy in a web browser, and RGB graphics appear blurry in the printout. This form of color theory is known as the subtractive color mixing model.

CMYK is used for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key/black. Printers use this color set when printing because it provides options for printing an image. For this reason, print projects are edited in CMYK for the best quality. For best results, try using editing software like Invideo that gives you guidance and best results.

Conclusion

Knowing this information can significantly complicate the color theory. Color correction can be very detailed when editing a video. Many video editing programs on the market include tools to recognize the spectrum and make the appropriate adjustments.


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