Light and Colour
The physics and perception of light and colour that every photographer and cinematographer works with: what light is and how it behaves, measuring light, quality, direction and contrast, natural light, colour temperature and white balance, colour vision, colour spaces, colour harmony, exposure tools and lighting in practice.
VIS-110 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 53 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Explain light as electromagnetic radiation, the visible spectrum, photons and how sources produce light
- Predict how reflection, absorption, transmission, refraction, scattering, diffraction and polarization affect images
- Use photometric units, the inverse square law, stops and exposure values to quantify light
- Control the quality of light through source size, distance, diffusion, bounce and negative fill
- Use lighting direction, portrait patterns and lighting ratios to shape form and control contrast
- Read and plan natural light through the day, seasons and weather, and modify it on location
- Manage colour temperature, tint, white balance, gels, mixed lighting, colour rendering and flicker
- Explain how human vision perceives colour, including adaptation, context effects, metamerism and colour vision deficiency
- Work with colour models, colour spaces, gamuts, transfer functions, bit depth and colour management
- Apply colour harmony, contrast and cultural meaning to plan palettes for images and films
- Measure and place exposure with meters, the Zone System, histograms, waveforms, false colour and zebras
- Analyze and plan lighting for a scene safely, ethically and sustainably
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 53 min total · final exam
- 1 What light is 24 min · quiz
- 2 How light behaves: reflection, refraction, absorption and scattering 24 min · quiz
- 3 Measuring light: units, the inverse square law and stops 26 min · quiz
- 4 Quality of light: hard and soft 24 min · quiz
- 5 Direction and contrast 24 min · quiz
- 6 Natural light through the day and the year 26 min · quiz
- 7 Colour temperature, white balance and colour rendering 24 min · quiz
- 8 How we see colour 24 min · quiz
- 9 Describing and reproducing colour: models, spaces and gamuts 24 min · quiz
- 10 Colour harmony, contrast and meaning 24 min · quiz
- 11 Meters, histograms and exposure tools 24 min · quiz
- 12 Putting light and colour to work 25 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
The physics and perception of light and colour that every photographer and cinematographer works with: what light is and how it behaves, measuring light, quality, direction and contrast, natural light, colour temperature and white balance, colour vision, colour spaces, colour harmony, exposure tools and lighting in practice.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 1.