Did you know that humans are only able to see a very short part of the electromagnetic spectrum? Specifically we are able to see between 380 to 740 nanometres (nm)! What that means is that visible light waves – all the colors of the rainbow – are the only electromagnetic waves we can see. Each color has a different wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength (740nm) and violet has the shortest wavelength (380nm). When all the waves are seen together, they make white light. The above diagram from NASA visualizes this nicely.
With this in mind, I’d like to say that I’m halfway through the visible spectrum with my photo project. After starting with the color red in March, I’ve now had two months to cover yellow and orange.
The results have gone beyond my expectations even though I’ve taken every one of the photos. The surprising thing is that when you see them all together the results are brilliant in color and concept. Both yellow and orange are a very difficult color to capture everyday. It’s no surprise that they aren’t used more like the color red. But, I appreciated the challenge and found it, at times, fun to try to find the color in everyday settings. Even though I’ve used Lightroom to accentuate the colors in some of the photos, the interesting thing is the types of images I take when comparing the beginning and end of the month. You’ll notice that the month starts of with an image that’s ‘easy’ (i.e. something recognizable) and progressively gets more creative in where I have to stretch my brain and eyes to find the color.
Next up…. Green.
Love it! Very interesting visual on the colors and their wavelength…