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philosophy

Philosophy. Of lighting.

Colors Exist

And, Why It Is Not Just Philosophical Navel-Gazing To Say So This is a response to an article I most recently saw in PLSN, but in fairness to my friend and author of that article, Chris Lose, this is an argument I’ve heard put forward by many people over the years. The argument goes like this: color is a perceptual phenomenon, and therefore, “does not exist”. It exists, the argument goes, only in our minds, and this somehow makes it less real. I find this line of reasoning to be highly suspect. It places all perceptual phenomenon on “non-existent” footing, including a lot of things that I think we would all agree exist, like smells, flavors, all of music, language,… Read More »Colors Exist

Reference Fixtures and the Pursuit of Semi-Objectivity

Color is a subjective experience*. While we can be reasonably sure that when you and I look at, say, The Starry Night, we’re seeing the same field of variegated blues with pale yellow stars, rich canary moon and rolling blue hills, we’re never entirely certain. However, while whether you and I experience orange in the same way is a question without either an answer or any action whatsoever to take attached to it, what is interesting is creating colors that match, and in particular, creating colors that match across fixtures. This is of particular importance in entertainment lighting scenarios, where we often (usually, even) have lighting fixtures that are vastly different across manufacturers. Within that ecosystem, there might be different color modes or curves that affect the values that we… Read More »Reference Fixtures and the Pursuit of Semi-Objectivity