Blue
Saturday, June 03, 2017
Blue is the colour between violet and green on the
optical spectrum of visible light. Human eyes perceive blue when observing
light with a wavelength between 450 and 495 nanometres, which is between 4500
and 4950 ångströms. Blues with a higher frequency and thus a shorter wavelength
gradually look more violet, while those with a lower frequency and a longer
wavelength gradually appear more green. Pure blue, in the middle, has a
wavelength of 470 nanometers (4700 ångströms). In painting and traditional colour
theory, blue is one of the three primary colours of pigments, along with red
and yellow, which can be mixed to form a wide gamut of colours. Red and blue
mixed together form violet, blue and yellow together form green. Blue is also a
primary colour in the RGB colour model, used to create all the colours on the
screen of a television or computer monitor.
The modern English word blue comes from Middle English
bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu, a word of Germanic origin related to
Old Dutch, Old High German, Old Saxon blāo
and Old Frisian blāw,
blau. The clear sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect
known as Rayleigh scattering. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the
blue wavelengths are scattered more widely by the oxygen and nitrogen
molecules, and more blue comes to our eyes. An optical effect called Tyndall
scattering, similar to Rayleigh scattering, explains blue eyes; there is no
blue pigment in blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another
optical effect called atmospheric perspective.
Blue has been used for art and decoration since ancient
times. The semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, coming from mines in Afghanistan,
was used in ancient Egypt for jewelry and ornament and later, in The
Renaissance, to make the pigment ultramarine, the most expensive of all
pigments. It is the most important color in Judaism. In the Middle Ages, cobalt
blue was used to colour the stained glass windows of cathedrals. Beginning in
the 9th century, Chinese artists used cobalt to make fine blue and white porcelain.
Blue dyes for clothing were made from woad [a flower] in Europe and indigo in
Asia and Africa. In 1828 a synthetic ultramarine pigment was developed, and
synthetic blue dyes and pigments gradually replaced mineral pigments and
vegetable dyes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and other late 19th
century painters used ultramarine and cobalt blue not just to depict nature,
but to create moods and emotions. In the late 18th century and 19th century,
blue became a popular colour for military uniforms and police uniforms. In the
20th century, because blue was commonly associated with harmony, it was chosen
as the colour of the flags of the United Nations and the European Union. Toward
the end of the 20th century, dark blue replaced dark grey as the most common
colour for business suits; surveys showed that blue was the colour most
associated with the masculine, just ahead of black, and was also the colour
most associated with intelligence, knowledge, calm and concentration.
Surveys in the US and Europe show that blue is the colour
most commonly associated with harmony, faithfulness, confidence, distance,
infinity, the imagination, cold, and sometimes with sadness. In US and European
public opinion polls it is the most popular colour, chosen by almost half of
both men and women as their favourite colour.
Wikipedia
Curiously my image was taken with Kodak b+w Infrared film. I scan the negative in RGB colour in my scanner and I make the colour by mixing blue with cyan.
Red
Wikipedia
Curiously my image was taken with Kodak b+w Infrared film. I scan the negative in RGB colour in my scanner and I make the colour by mixing blue with cyan.
Red