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> But absolutely none of this has anything to do with #000 being "too black" that's "not natural". That's just utter nonsense. It would be if that point was ma

by brmgb 6y ago

> But absolutely none of this has anything to do with #000 being "too black" that's "not natural". That's just utter nonsense. It would be if that point was made anywhere in the article. Thankfully, it's not. The article points are : - you are surrounded by black which are actually not black but rather dark grey with a significant amount of color mixed in ; - pure black should be avoided as it tends to overpower other colors in a palette ; - mixing an increasing amount of color to your grey as they get darker will make them softer and feels less dull.

crazygringo 6y ago
> It would be if that point was made anywhere in the article. Thankfully, it's not. The article literally says: "When you put pure black next to a set of meticulously picked colors, the black overpowers everything else. It stands out because it’s not natural." Pretty sure that's exactly the point I'm describing. The author literally uses the words "not natural". And my point is that the author's worries about pure black are irrelevant because #000 isn't pure black either. It's already just dark gray on any real screen, so there's no need to avoid it.
- httpsterio 6y ago
  Well, it is not natural. In almost any literal situation you're not surrounded by black, but various shades of dark. As a concept it's foreign and thus, not natural.
  - crazygringo 6y ago
    Right, but the author is confusing the "pure black" you're describing with #000. That's the error. #000 is perfectly natural. It's my unlit laptop screen, which is basically the same color as my black chair, my black printer, etc. So using the idea that "pure black" is unnatural is zero justification for avoiding #000 on screen.
    - dorkwood 6y ago
      It seems like you're making the argument that no color palettes are any more natural than any other color palettes, since all colors exist in nature, but I don't think that's the point of the article. You may be right that #000 is not actually pure black, because of the light reflecting off the laptop screen and other such reasons, but when looking at an image, our brain tends to compensate for these things. It interprets colors based on the surrounding colors in the image. Introducing pure black into a color palette without being thoughtful can throw off the balance and create a color combination that feels "unnatural", since it would be rare to see colors with that sort of contrast side-by-side in nature.
      - crazygringo 6y ago
        > Introducing pure black into a color palette without being thoughtful can throw off the balance But my point is precisely that this is incorrect, that there is nothing special about #000. In reality, let's say your other #888 color is giving off 54 units of luminence according to some measure. And maybe your #111 gives off 8 units of luminence and your #000 appears to have 6 units of luminence because of ambient reflection and diffusion. There is nothing special about those 6 units of luminence. You're still far away from 0 units of luminence. > it would be rare to see colors with that sort of contrast side-by-side in nature. This is also not correct. Our eyes interpret a gigantic range of contrast. What any screen can produce is a tiny fraction of that. We see far, far, far more contrast side-by-side in nature than we can on any computer screen.
        dorkwood 6y ago
        We're discussing different things, I think. As someone with painting experience, I'm focusing on palettes and value ranges, and what colors and values when put next to each other feel the most pleasing and 'natural'. You seem to be focusing on the objective experience of color, how 'pure black' on a screen is not truly pure black, and how nature contains all the colors we experience on an LCD screen, and more. I don't disagree with your points, these are just two separate discussions.
    - 6y ago
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    In modern times it's hard sometimes to find darkness, but go on a cave out our in a woodland on a dark night: pitch black. I'm in a city and walked down a side lane at night (new moon) and it was so dark I couldn't see my feet. It's the contrast (seeing black next to light colours) that's not natural - but, I'm not sure how relevant that is.
    - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
      But, if you’re out there in the country on a clear night with a full moon, the moon/background sky contrast is pretty close to #000/#fff

by brmgb 6y ago

crazygringo 6y ago

> It would be if that point was made anywhere in the article. Thankfully, it's not. The article literally says: "When you put pure black next to a set of meticulously picked colors, the black overpowers everything else. It stands out because it’s not natural." Pretty sure that's exactly the point I'm describing. The author literally uses the words "not natural". And my point is that the author's worries about pure black are irrelevant because #000 isn't pure black either. It's already just dark gray on any real screen, so there's no need to avoid it.

httpsterio 6y ago
Well, it is not natural. In almost any literal situation you're not surrounded by black, but various shades of dark. As a concept it's foreign and thus, not natural.
- crazygringo 6y ago
  Right, but the author is confusing the "pure black" you're describing with #000. That's the error. #000 is perfectly natural. It's my unlit laptop screen, which is basically the same color as my black chair, my black printer, etc. So using the idea that "pure black" is unnatural is zero justification for avoiding #000 on screen.
  - dorkwood 6y ago
    It seems like you're making the argument that no color palettes are any more natural than any other color palettes, since all colors exist in nature, but I don't think that's the point of the article. You may be right that #000 is not actually pure black, because of the light reflecting off the laptop screen and other such reasons, but when looking at an image, our brain tends to compensate for these things. It interprets colors based on the surrounding colors in the image. Introducing pure black into a color palette without being thoughtful can throw off the balance and create a color combination that feels "unnatural", since it would be rare to see colors with that sort of contrast side-by-side in nature.
    - crazygringo 6y ago
      > Introducing pure black into a color palette without being thoughtful can throw off the balance But my point is precisely that this is incorrect, that there is nothing special about #000. In reality, let's say your other #888 color is giving off 54 units of luminence according to some measure. And maybe your #111 gives off 8 units of luminence and your #000 appears to have 6 units of luminence because of ambient reflection and diffusion. There is nothing special about those 6 units of luminence. You're still far away from 0 units of luminence. > it would be rare to see colors with that sort of contrast side-by-side in nature. This is also not correct. Our eyes interpret a gigantic range of contrast. What any screen can produce is a tiny fraction of that. We see far, far, far more contrast side-by-side in nature than we can on any computer screen.
      - dorkwood 6y ago
        We're discussing different things, I think. As someone with painting experience, I'm focusing on palettes and value ranges, and what colors and values when put next to each other feel the most pleasing and 'natural'. You seem to be focusing on the objective experience of color, how 'pure black' on a screen is not truly pure black, and how nature contains all the colors we experience on an LCD screen, and more. I don't disagree with your points, these are just two separate discussions.
  - 6y ago
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago
  In modern times it's hard sometimes to find darkness, but go on a cave out our in a woodland on a dark night: pitch black. I'm in a city and walked down a side lane at night (new moon) and it was so dark I couldn't see my feet. It's the contrast (seeing black next to light colours) that's not natural - but, I'm not sure how relevant that is.
  - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
    But, if you’re out there in the country on a clear night with a full moon, the moon/background sky contrast is pretty close to #000/#fff