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Color Theory Basics – Missing Color Syndrome

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Building upon ideas from our discussions of Hue and Saturation and Chroma we will now explore a phenomenon called Missing Color Syndrome. If you did not read the first two essays I would encourage you to do so as they provide foundational concepts which will be necessary to understand for this post to be of any real use.

Before I begin, I want to preface this essay by saying that this concept and the effects we are discussing here are some of the most difficult to understand through words. Writing about lighting color theory at all is a bit of a losing battle, but Missing Color Syndrome in particular only lands when you directly observe the problem, and the solution. I would encourage you to test these ideas and play around with different color combinations to see the different instances of these effects.

And now, on with the show.

Missing Color Syndrome is the name of the phenomenon that occurs when two lights with more saturated color media play against a less saturated or Clear light. The less saturated light takes on the quality of the shadow color of the more dominant light(s). The result is a light that does not look the way the designer intended it to. While this might be a problem for the unprepared, when we analyze the problem clearly, or even ahead of time, with the proper tools, we can bring greater awareness and precision to our color palettes for every show we light.

How does Missing Color Syndrome arise?

The human eye (or more accurately the human brain) has a propensity to create patterns. Add to that the evolution of the human eye to see what we know as the “visible spectrum” of light and you end up with a piece of technology that tries to see White light (or at least all three primary colors) in its field of vision at all times. Should we compose a look with only two of those colors, the eye will do its best to turn the least saturated light into that missing third color. If you use only Red and Blue, for example, the eye will desperately search for Green and will take liberties to turn non-Green colors Green if it has to.

Let’s return to our Woman-in-a-Red-Dress, once again, to see where this problem might arise. Perhaps our earlier choice of a G250 Frontlight was not the best. It toned her skin a too rosy pink and the director was interested in very natural skin tones for her actors. Further, the costume designer felt that while the color popped, his patterns and textures were lost. For our own reasons we decide against a true Red and choose a sympathetic color, Magenta. We put our L126 in a Backlight special and turn it on. It looks fantastic. Now to light her face. Excited by the Magenta we turn on our Frontlight and it looks a little Green. So we turn it up brighter. Still Green. By the time we have cranked it up to Full we do not notice the Green, but that fantastic Magenta halo effect is gone and she no longer looks like the stunning ingenue but rather like some too bright mannequin from a poorly lit department store.

This could be a disaster, but with our new found color tools, it is a solvable problem.

Returning to our Color Wheel we see that Magenta and Green are opposite one another. As we learned in our discussion of Hue, a shadow will take on the opposite color of its light. Because of this, when we put Magenta color media in front of one of the lights it makes the other light appear Green. This is not physics but physiology. How the human eye perceives something is wholly dependent upon the context.

To put it simply, everything is relative.

Now, one solution would be to put a Magenta color filter in our Frontlight. However, we already discussed the problems with heavily saturated Frontlight color and know that is not a viable solution. Returning to our discussion of Saturation we see that there are myriad options available to us to solve this problem without saturated colors. A Tint of Magenta is commonly known as Lavender. Further, Red is a sympathetic color to Magenta (and the same Hue as the dress). So in addition to a whole range of Lavenders we have many Pinks to choose from as well. We could use a warm Blue but it would need to be selected very carefully to avoid killing (or significantly altering) the dress color.

By using R53 (a very pale Lavender) instead of Clear we can have a huge impact. The Lavender, when set against the L126, will appear as White light. Because of the Lavender our eye is unable to make up the missing color and resigns itself to White. Our shadow color goes away and our look is preserved.

Missing Color Syndrome is most egregious in very colorful shows but can certainly arise in more monochromatic situations. The above case of Missing Color Syndrome is overt. A more subtle version of this phenomenon can be far more deadly. That is when we are working in a palette of Tints. Often it is not readily apparent what the trouble is because nothing is saturated enough to clearly see the missing color. All we know is that something doesn’t look right.

Missing Color Syndrome is often not caused by a single dominant color. Let’s say we have Pink and Blue Booms coming from either side. When we turn on our Clear Frontlight to fill out the figure we notice it taking on a Green tinge. This is due to the Pink and Blue acting in concert to create the shadow color of Magenta (the color Pink and Blue would make if mixed together).

Depending on the saturation of our first two colors the problem will need to be solved with varying saturations of our third color. If our Booms are L201 and G105 we may only need a very slight boost, perhaps an R53 or G109. If our colors are more saturated, like an R68 and L106, then we will need a much more saturated Tint to overcome the eye’s perception of the Clear light as Green.

We can turn this information around and use it to create striking color combinations in our palettes. Tom Skelton’s repertory colors for ABT use these very ideas to their advantage. There, the Backlight color is R70 and the Frontlight is R51. The Green Backlight contrasts strongly with the Lavender Frontlight (they are complementary colors). The effect is to push the Lavender (and the Blues as well) into a warmer and more inviting tone. Perfect for Ballet.

Understanding Missing Color Syndrome and how to cure it is one of the first practical applications of lighting Color Theory. If you missed my post on Hue or Saturation and Chroma I would encourage you to go back and read them through. In later posts I will be exploring Dominant and Recessive Colors, Color Correction, Gray, The Effect of Lamp Type, and Additive vs. Subtractive color mixing.

I hope you found this useful. Please take any new ideas and start experimenting. We will continue to build on these concepts throughout this series. Stay tuned.

Was this useful to you? Please let me know what you thought in comments. Or leave any questions you may have and I (or other commenters) would be happy to answer.

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Color Theory Basics – Saturation and Chroma

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Continuing our discussion of Color Theory we move on from Hue to Saturation and Chroma. These are two closely related but distinct properties of color. Learning these distinctions and understanding them implicitly is what will give us a deep and sophisticated understanding of the uses of color.

In order to discuss these ideas we must first take a quick look at color media for lighting. The three major brands of color filters are Lee, Rosco, and Gam. Each of them produce similar but importantly distinct ranges of colors. Regardless of the particulars of the color media they all operate in a similar manner.

Clear incandescent light emits a range of colors in the visible spectrum. In fact, it is that range which makes us perceive it as White light. A color filter is precisely that, a filter which eliminates all excess wavelengths to allow only those wavelengths desired by the designer to get through. A filter like Lee 201, for example, pulls out many of the wavelengths along the Red and Amber end of the color spectrum to give a clean 5700° K color. We will get more in depth on Color Temperature and lighting design in a later post. But for now it is useful to know that L201 is a pale Daylight color.

If Hue is what we would commonly call the color, then Saturation and Chroma deal with different aspects of brightness. Saturation is how much of a given Hue might be found while Chroma deals with where that Hue falls in a spectrum from Gray to full Chroma. Let’s look at Saturation first.

Saturation is how much of a given Hue is in the filter. Low saturation is closer to White light and colors in that range are called Tints. High saturation has a lot of one particular Hue, are very chromatic, and we call colors in that range Shades.

Tints tend to allow a lot of light to pass through. It can be tempting to forgo heavily saturated colors, particularly deep and rich Congo Blues, because they allow so little light through (1-4% typically) that one might easily choose a lighter saturation for greater transmission. It is important to not be afraid here. Bold color choices demand a degree of risk. Even though there is such a small amount of light actually getting through the filter, the effect can be quite strong. If you need the saturated color, use it.

Since we looked at very saturated and chromatic colors in our exploration of Hue I thought it would be nice to look at some Tints this week. On the left you will see the Rosco CTB filters. You can see the colors ranging from nearly White to a nice middle Blue.

You will also note that while the Hue of these colors is a Blue, they tend to fall closer to Gray than a purely chromatic color. Thus we see here an example of variance by Chroma.

Below we have a low saturation Red, commonly referred to as Pink. What is interesting in this image is the spectral analysis of the filters. The black curve in each image shows us how much of each color in the visible spectrum is contained in the filter. You will note that while the warm end of the color spectrum, from the end of Yellow through Red, remains the same we see a marked shift in the middle Blues through Green and into Yellow. This allows us to see not only how much color is filtered out but also how each filter relates to the other one.

On the right hand side of the picture we see the manufacturer’s name and number for the filter. Then below that is the Transmission. This tells us how much light passes through the filter. The lower the Saturation, the higher the Transmission.

Because all color is relative, nothing is objectively a Tint or a Shade. Comparing G108 and G105 we see that 105 is a Shade of 108. Yet compared with a solid Red like G250 we see that G105 is also a Tint.

We will go much more in depth on the relativity of Tints and Shades when we cover Missing Color Syndrome in the next part of this series. For now, let’s move on to some practical applications.

Returning to our example of the Woman-in-a-Red-Dress we can immediately see an application for color of differing saturation, yet utilizing the same Hue. Our woman enters and the lights change. We turn on a Frontlight special in G250 but immediately notice that while the dress looks fantastic, our Woman has turned rather garish. Loving the dress, but hating how our actor looks, we decide to turn on our G108 Crosslight. The effect now is of a deep red dress with rich and brilliant shadows sculpted by a pale Pink Tint. Because of the G108, our actor’s skin looks beautiful and healthy. We have just achieved a happy costume designer, a happy actor, and a happy director. All with some simple color tricks.

Beware: death by Tints.

While the proper use of tints, as we see above, can be a real life saver, they can also cause us unbelievable headache. I have seen plenty of Yellow and Pink costumes ruined by a “why bother blue” that had just too much Green in it. Colors, and by extension actors, can disappear in what appears to be white light all because of a tint we did not pay enough attention to. Healthy actors can look sick because that Amber front light we fell in love with in the studio has just a hint of Green.

Knowledge of Saturation is a useful tool in the designer’s tool kit. Without such information, our Woman-in-a-Red-Dress would be left looking like some freakish alien, instead of a stunning ingenue. Using Shades to fill in shadows and Tints to highlight can be a great way to sculpt a figure with color.

We need not use the exact same Hue either. G250 which falls pretty solidly in the Red camp could easily be paired with sympathetic colors in tints. Instead of the Magenta and Amber I proposed in the post on Hue, one could use Tints like R53 (a Lavender) and R302 (a pale Rosy Amber).

A solid understanding of Saturation and Chroma will allow you to really start mastering the use of color. If you missed my post on Hue I would encourage you to go back and read it through. In later posts I will be exploring Missing Color Syndrome, Dominant and Recessive Colors, Color Correction, Gray, The Effect of Lamp Type, and Additive vs. Subtractive Color Mixing.

I hope you found this useful. Please take any new ideas and start experimenting. We will continue to build on these concepts throughout this series. Stay tuned.

Was this useful to you? Please let me know what you thought in comments. Or leave any questions you may have and I (or other commenters) would be happy to answer.

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Color Theory Basics – Hue

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Our discussion of color theory begins with a look at Hue. Hue is the most basic element of a color and what most people think of when they think “color.” Hue refers to the specific wavelengths of light which hit your retina and cause you to experience sensations like “red” or “yellow” or “green.” Because this is such a foundational element of color theory this post will be a bit long and involved. But it’s worth it!

While the colors of pigments and the colors of light are all the same, their relationships differ between mediums. Primary and Secondary Colors differ when discussing pigment or light. The relationship of these colors, as well as what you can mix to make which colors, vary depending on what medium you are using. The first rule of color: Everything is Relative.

We have all been introduced to a color wheel at some point in our lives. The color wheel is a visual representation of colors and their various relationships to one another. To make a color wheel we draw a circle and then divide it into six even sized wedges. We fill every other wedge with the three Primary Colors; Red, Yellow, and Blue. With the remaining three alternate wedges we put in our Secondary Colors; Orange, Purple, and Green.

Primary colors are those which can not be mixed together through the use of other colors. Secondary Colors are a combination of equal parts of two Primary Colors. Thus Red+Yellow=Orange, Yellow+Blue=Green, and Blue+Red=Purple. The formula of combining colors follows to create Tertiary Colors and so on. The mixing of all these colors will affect both the Hue and the Chroma. Chroma is where the hue lands in a range of Gray to pure Hue.

Special Note: Modern printing techniques using Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (and Black) seem to indicate that this traditional view of color pigment relationships is incorrect. Cyan and Yellow ink, for example, combine to make Green.

With all that said, here is the traditional color wheel we all learned in elementary school art class:

When we mix all three primary colors together in equal parts we get Black. In theory. In reality you tend to get a dark brown and can actually create some wonderful variations in brown by slightly altering the proportions of the different colors used.

The behavior of light is very different. The primary colors are Red, Green, and Blue. While the secondary colors are Cyan, Magenta, and Amber (Yellow). With light Red+Green=Amber, Green+Blue=Cyan, and Blue+Red=Magenta. Not only that but an even mixture of all three primary colors produces White light. In theory. In reality one tends to create shades of Gray.

The lighting Color Wheel looks like this:

It is interesting to note that if we replace the traditional pigment color wheel with the revised one based on CMYK printing we discover that the Primary and Secondary Colors of light and pigment are not just different, but are totally inverted. We can use this to our advantage by turning brightly colored surfaces black with differently colored light as I will discuss below.

The effect of Hue variation on the color of Costumes and Scenery can be tremendous. By knowing the relationship between the Primary and Secondary colors you can create striking effects. What I call “Sympathetic Hues” are colors in light which contain elements of, but are distinct from, the Hue of a Costume or Scenic piece.

Let’s take the classic Woman-in-a-Red-Dress. When she enters at the top of the staircase we really want her to shine. As such we would use colors on the dress which are sympathetic to, or enhance, the dress color. In this case we could use a red like the dress. If we wanted two colors from opposite sides we could use a combination of colors like Magenta and Amber. Here we see the Hue of the light is making the intent of our collaborator (the Costume designer) stronger by reinforcing her bold color statement.

The drawbacks of this are that we could ruin the designer’s intent. This typically happens with heavily saturated light and delicate or intricate costumes or scenery. The color becomes so dominant that we lose the pattern, which may have been for a particular design purpose. One of our primary jobs is to make our collaborator’s work look the best it can (and how they intend it to look!). A deep understanding of color will allow us to do that.

Another drawback to such a broad statement would be the light on the performer. I don’t know many people in real life who have saturated red skin (or blue or green). So while the color might be the right idea for the dress, it might not be the right idea for the performer. The Woman-in-the-Yellow-Dress should not look jaundiced, for example.

A color whose position is opposite another color on the wheel in known as a “Complementary Color.” Complementary colors can create striking and dynamic effects when placed next to one another (or in lighting, when coming from opposing angles). This strength does a curious thing when a pigment is lit with its compliment. A Cyan floor, bathed in Red light, will appear Black to the human eye. We can use this to great effect by obscuring a scenic element until just the right moment of revelation. The risk, of course, is in destroying our collaborator’s intent by deadening the colors of their impeccably designed scenery.

Here we can see the relationship between compliments:

In addition to Primary, Secondary, or Complementary Colors we can also group Hue into one of three categories; Warm, Cool, and Neutral. Warm Hues include Red and Orange. Cool Hues include Blue and Cyan. Neutral Hues include Green and Magenta.

Warm, Cool, and Neutral are not absolute, but relative. In our example above, the red dress is treated as Neutral while a Cool Red (Red with a little blue, but not so much as to be Magenta) light might come from one side and a Warm Red (Red veering towards Amber, but still clearly Red) from the other. In this way we have the effect of complimentary colors (Blue and Yellow) creating a striking effect, while using only Hues which are sympathetic to the color choice of our collaborator.

One final word on Complementary colors and light is worth noting at this point. If you have a single source of light, say the sun at midday, which casts a shadow, the color of the shadow is the complementary color of the light. While this can be hard to see with something so subtle as sunlight, try it some time under a Sodium Vapor (Orange) street light. The shadow should have a faint tinge of Blue or Cyan.

This color effect can be used to the designer’s advantage in myriad ways. One could simply exaggerate the shadow color on stage through a hard directional light in one’s chosen Hue and a soft diffuse light in the shadow color. Alternately this idea could be employed by choosing opposing colors of Head Hi booms.

One of the most famous uses of this color effect is in the lighting method outlined by Stanley McCandless in his A Method of Lighting the Stage in which he suggests using Diagonal Frontlight in complementary colors from opposite directions. His “warm” and “cool” area lights could easily be made more specific using this knowledge of the shadow color of a light.

Hue is a foundational element to our understanding of color but it is by no means all there is. In later posts I will be exploring Saturation and Chroma, Missing Color Syndrome, Dominant and Recessive Colors, Color Correction, Gray, The Effect of Lamp Type, and Additive vs. Subtractive Color Mixing.

Stay Tuned!

I hope you found this post useful. Please take any new ideas and start experimenting. There is a lot more to cover on Hue alone and I may do so in later supplements to this series.

Was this useful to you? Please let me know what you thought in comments. Or leave any questions you may have and I (or other commenters) would be happy to answer.

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Translucent Daydreams

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Being in New York again has reminded me of that particular mega-urban experience of immediate distance. The fact that you can be standing shoulder to shoulder with someone on the subway and yet functionally be worlds apart. There is, as a friend of mine once described it, a forcefield that keeps strangers at bay. This is necessary for functioning somewhere like Manhattan, for if one were to truly take in all the social energy inherent in a day, one would fast become schitzophrenic.

I imagine these walls dissolving yet they feel real as brick or wood. What would occur if we treated these walls we depend on as permeable? What if our protective shells became transparent thus giving strangers unfettered access to our internal worlds?

I think of an egg. At once solid and yet so fragile. Easy to break with the slightest error in movement. But eggs have another quality. While solid they are translucent. Light can, to a limited degree, pass through them. So too with our social walls. No matter how strong a front we put on some spark of that inner world is accessible to the acute observer. At times one must invert the actions of another to understand them, rage as fear for example, while other times the truth hides to the side in a nervous tic or an unconscious sigh.

The human soul has often been represented in spiritual writings as a light. A brightly(or dimly) shining light which expresses the true essence and Being of the individual. One image I have heard often is of the light of a lamp. The lamp may get covered in dirt and soot. It may scratch and become dull. Through all these transformations, the light inside the lamp remains unchanged.

Perhaps the dirt metaphor is true but it is an incomplete truth. I have seen that “inner light” grow brighter and dimmer over time. Perhaps then actualizing human authenticity is a more complex thing than merely wiping away the accumulated dirt. One must also stoke the flames of that inner light. Authenticity is not merely finding a deeply hidden secret, it is the very quest itself. It is a searching. A reaching. It is a going beyond the now and into the possible. That is where the authentic lies.

We return to that egg. An egg is not whole and complete in itself. It is a beginning. It is a possibility. The being that is in the process of becoming must break through that egg shell in order to become.

When we are around people who are easily excitable or easily upset we talk of “walking on egg shells” to avoid causing upset. Those egg shells, at the risk of now mixing my metaphors, are the dirt and scratches which diminish the glow from our inner light. Perhaps those shells are a false lamp containing the inner light. Perhaps those egg shells should be walked upon. Perhaps those eggshells should be broken open to reveal what is inside. For hiding in the comfort of excitability and upset hurts both the individual and those around them.

Those egg shells provide the individual with a great protection or so it first appears. At the risk of causing upset, those around the excitable person go to great and extreme lengths to avoid causing upset. As such the shell grows larger, the triggers for upset grow slighter, and those in constant reaction must now be on an even greater vigilance to not upset the shell.

But those shells are just that, shells. A covering that masks from view the inner uncertainty, self doubt, ineptitude or incompetence. Flying into rages force those around you to focus on the rage rather than what it is hiding. If these shells could be illuminated to see through them into the inner core beyond them, their inherently thin and translucent nature would fast be revealed.

The image of an egg is a metaphor of manifold meaning. It is the very symbol of beginning and possibility. It is a spirit on the verge of being born.

I am not sure how this will manifest in my work, but I am curious in exploring the translucent nature of these human shells. Installations or sculpture is the immediate medium that comes to mind. Possibly performance although doing so would necessitate a wider scope than mere lighting design provides.

I am enjoying this avenue of thought and am curious to see where it leads.

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An analysis of lighting angles – Backlight

Monday, June 15th, 2009

I wrote an overview a while back about the different angles of light that a designer employs. This and the next few posts comprise a kind of basic primer, for those interested in lighting who may not have a strong background in it, wherein I flesh out each of those ideas and how they might be used in a design. While the angle article was more theoretical in nature, this series will be about basics and practicalities.

Speaking about the use of backlight I said that it “defines that object as distinct from its background and contextual surroundings.” Backlighting keeps the human form distinct, not only from the background setting, but also distinct from other people and objects on stage. The slight halo effect of backlighting visually breaks up the field of vision and gives us unique entities. With that in mind, I went on to say that it reveals the “[b]ody as existential entity.” Through defining the human form, the subject, as separate and distinct from its context, we bring that form, that entity into our presence as something to be considered and evaluated.

One of the jobs of the lighting designer is to communicate to the audience what we should be looking at. Put simply we place light where it should be and take it away from where it should not be. We focus the attention of the audience on certain parts of the stage or certain performers. We expand the focus to include a large ensemble moment and then narrow that focus to highlight a solo or monologue. While there are many tools available for achieving that goal, the use of backlighting is a powerful one, as we can visually separate the crowd from the scenery, or the lead from the crowd.

Another powerful use of backlighting is the role it plays in defining the space around the performer. Be it through the use of a cyc or simply backlight from overhead, the light not hitting the performer greatly impacts the visual experience of the audience. The cyc example is obvious as it provides a backdrop in front of which action happens. Backlighting from overhead provides a powerful means of lighting the floor and thus transforming the space on which the performer is standing. This can be done through modulating the intensity and making the floor brighter or darker. It could be through the use of color, whereby the designer changes the floor from an icy blue to a deep burning red. It could be through texture where we appear to move from an open space into one shrouded by foliage.

backlight

Because the light is moving in the direction of the audience, if you have a backlight and a front light on at the same intensity the effect of the backlight on the floor will be considerably stronger as the backlight bounces off the floor and continues on towards the audience, while the front light continues moving away. This wonderfully simple act of physics provides the lighting designer with a fantastic tool to create vast and multivarious landscapes upon a relatively simple stage. Through modulating intensity, color and texture the stage floor can be transformed such that a performer appears to traverse worlds instead of a mere few feet.

The effect is similar if one is using backlighting from directly behind of from a diagonal position. The main difference here is that the halo effect created by the lighting is different. With lighting from straight back, the halo covers the entire form while the use of diagonal lighting shifts the halo to one side or the other.

backdiagonal

Another function of backlighting has to do with how we perceive the stage space as a volumetric entity. Light has the perceived effect of elongating the axis on which the light moves. For example, straight backlight(or top light) will have the effect of making the vertical space feel higher. It will give a feeling of more air between the floor and the borders. Backlighting on the diagonal will have the perceived effect of expanding the floor along all three axes. Some designers say that diagonal backlighting “opens up” the stage. In truth, all lighting does this, but diagonals work on several angles at once while straight backlighting, for example, only effects our perception of height.

The effect of backlight to expand a space can be heightened through the use of atmospheric effects. Smoke, haze and mist are all means of filing the air with particulates that will catch the light and dramatize its already powerful effect. This can be seen quite often in concert situations where backlighting is used almost architecturally to cast beams of color and texture through the air or at the audience. The Tribute in Light, using the natural haze of the city, is another good example of this.

Backlighting is an infinitely variable tool that allows the lighting designer numerous opportunities to transform the visual experience of the audience. From bringing focus or obscurity to a performer to stretching the height of the performance space, backlighting is central to creating the necessary mood and feel of the moment.

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It always amazes me what God can do with a single light source

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Amazing

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The Fountain of Youth is Well Lit

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

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Researchers in Germany are describing a potential alternative to Botox and cosmetic surgery for easing facial wrinkles. Their study, scheduled for the November 5 issue of ACS’ Crystal Growth & Design reports that high intensity visible light from light emitting diodes (LEDs) applied daily for several weeks resulted in “rejuvenated skin, reduced wrinkle levels, juvenile complexion and lasting resilience.” LEDs are the miniature lights used in an array of products, from TV remote controls to traffic lights.

In the study, Andrei P. Sommer and Dan Zhu point out that high-intensity visible light has been used in medicine for more than 40 years to speed healing of wounds. That light actually penetrates into the skin, causing changes in the sub-surface tissue. Until now, however, scientists have not known the physicochemical nature of those changes.

They report identifying how the visible light works — by changing the molecular structure of a glue-like layer of water on elastin, the protein that provides elasticity in skin, blood vessels, heart and other body structures.

Figuratively speaking, the light strips away those water molecules that are involved in the immobilization of elastin, gradually restoring its elastic function and thus reducing facial wrinkles. “We are justified in believing that our approach can be easily converted to deep body rejuvenation programs,” the researchers state.

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Flourescent Farming

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

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The 1301 fluorescent tubes are powered only by the electric fields generated by overhead powerlines.
Richard Box, artist-in-residence at Bristol University’s physics department, got the idea for the installation after a chance conversation with a friend. ‘He was telling me he used to play with a fluorescent tube under the pylons by his house,’ says Box. ‘He said it lit up like a light sabre.’
Box decided to see if he could fill a field with tubes lit by powerlines. After a few weeks hunting for a site, he found a field, slipped the local farmer £200 and planted 3,600 square metres with tubes collected from hospitals.
A fluorescent tube glows when an electrical voltage is set up across it. The electric field set up inside the tube excites atoms of mercury gas, making them emit ultraviolet light. This invisible light strikes the phosphor coating on the glass tube, making it glow. Because powerlines are typically 400,000 volts, and Earth is at an electrical potential voltage of zero volts, pylons create electric fields between the cables they carry and the ground.
Box denies that he aimed to draw attention to the potential dangers of powerlines, ‘For me, it was just the amazement of taking something that’s invisible and making it visible,’ he says. ‘When it worked, I thought: ‘This is amazing.’’

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This is too awesome to wait until Sunday

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Link

Luxim labs recently unveiled an incredibly energy efficient light bulb that packs more luminosity than a street lamp into a pill-sized form factor. Each bulb is filled with argon gas, which turns to plasma when electricity is focused through it. The energy is driven to the bulb without electrodes. The resulting light is intensely bright and mirrors the quality of light radiated by the sun, yet is produced by one of the smallest, most energy efficient light sources we’ve seen.

Luxim, Pill bulb, tiny pill light bulb plasma bulb, halodes, super bright light bulb, eco lighting, green lighting, sustainable lighting, energy efficient lighting, lumen, pill-sized plasma bulb, argon gas, super-bulb, LED, light bulb

A substantial portion of energy is converted into light instead of heat, which makes the bulbs highly efficient. Each super-bulb produces a stunning 140 lumens per watt, doubling the output of high-end LEDs (70 lumens per watt) and leaving standard light bulbs in the dust (15 lumens per watt). While cost and longevity have yet to be released, these brilliant bulbs represent a bright future for energy efficient lighting.

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What a difference an octave makes

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

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I have been interested in the attributes of light and sound for a long
time. The effects of resonance, harmonics, harmony, discord and the
many other aspects of sound have fed my interest in music for some
forty years now. Though I have some degree of red-green
color-blindness I have enjoyed painting and I have made my living in
the printing trade for twenty five years, developing some expertise in
the subtle manipulation of colored pigments to achieve a variety of
results.

When I encountered the system of correspondence between color and
sound which is presented as “The Queens Scale” in much esoteric
teaching I was intrigued. Of course my first question was “What is the
connection?” Why is it said that the pitches of the western
twelve-tone scale correspond to the twelve primary, secondary and
tertiary colors? Besides the very nice (and suggestive) fact that
there are twelve members of each set, what do they have in common? It
seems to me that the clear answer is that light and sound are both
conveniently described as waves, albeit of greatly different
frequencies. Perhaps, I thought, there is an instructive relationship
between the frequencies of the light of the twelve colors and the
frequencies of the sounds of the twelve tones. I decided to
investigate.

[SNIP]

I was surprised to find that the wavelengths of the colors did fall
approximately within the range of one octave! Perhaps they actually do
correspond mathematically to the pitches of the twelve tone scale. The
next step was to determine what note each of the colors actually is.

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