Cream "Gibson" Color Survey?

[soundmasterg]

This kinda like asking "what color are white people."

Sunburned.

Greg

[JGundry]

I actually think this is an interesting test. When I stared in commercial photography everything was still shot with color transparency film. You had to bracket exposures for everything. Without fail clients would always pick the brightest exposure you presented to them. Even if it was overexposed they would usually pick the brighter exposure over the darker better exposure. I think in A/B/C.. comparison like this most people will just naturally prefer the brightest colored swatch as long as it is in the ballpark of expectation. Just an observation.

I think there are two things to judge. Density (or brightness) and color. That is why I thought the second equalized set might be useful.

[Possum]

...

I chose 7 because its closer to what I see in every photograph of real double cremes, I collect photos off Ebay and dealer sites, most of your color swatches are real dark. It would make more sense to show the real parts against say a modern buty color swatch sample or a known commercial part like OTP rings or Gibson's historical rings etc. (which are a rather odd color I don't like, they are more tan than anything else).

[David King]

Everything looks rather pink to me on my mac with a Sony M81 LCD that's calibrated. Then again I've never seen a Gib$on pickup in the flesh so I don't know what to say except I wouldn't put any cream in my tea that looked like any of your samples.

If I have to choose a color I choose 10

[uvacom]

I like 4. Kind of has a natural chalkasian tone to it.

[cryptozoo]

Just out of curiosity, why are you collecting the opinions?

[JGundry]

I chose 7 because its closer to what I see in every photograph of real double cremes, I collect photos off Ebay and dealer sites, most of your color swatches are real dark. It would make more sense to show the real parts against say a modern buty color swatch sample or a known commercial part like OTP rings or Gibson's historical rings etc. (which are a rather odd color I don't like, they are more tan than anything else).

Actually I did that.

The color and perceived density for this sort of thing is relative. In a swatch like this they look dark. But in a photo with other parts where you see it in context it will seem the right color and density. Also if I make it too light in density the colors will become less distinct. These were shot with a soft box which seemed the logical way to do it given the different sheens and also since even lighting is needed. With a hard light you would get a bit more luminance within the part itself and the colors would appear a bit more saturated.

[David Schwab]

The blue background on the forum doesn't help matters.

[David Schwab]

When I stared in commercial photography everything was still shot with color transparency film. You had to bracket exposures for everything. Without fail clients would always pick the brightest exposure you presented to them. Even if it was overexposed they would usually pick the brighter exposure over the darker better exposure.

My brother is a photographer (well now he's adjunct professor at Brooklyn Collage), and when he was doing comercial photography he had a saying... "make it good, or make it red". He used to point out how people would ooh and ah over a cheesy photo of a sunset, but not a nice crisp B&W photo.

[JGundry]

Dave,

Change the settings for the site. I have mine set for a white background.

Your brother is right. People are just attracted visually to the brightest looking photo that includes saturated colors.

The color of these samples is just what they are. I have been doing this for years. I have cut back with photography because the ThroBak stuff is such a big part of my business now but I still have Kawasaki and Bissell as regular clients. I'm sure I would have heard from them if the color calibration was off at this point.

[Kazooman]

Color Perception

The blue/white background issue is one thing, but the relative placement of the swatches will have an effect as well. If they were scrambled up the perception of the color would be different.

I will try to post a classic example here. This is clearly a much more extreme example, but it does provide a dramatic demonstration of the effect.

The color and luminance of the center square on the top and the one on the face are identical.

[David King]

You can see that easily if you squint at it. Which one sounds more vintage?

[Kazooman]

I thnk this is actually a cover off an old Rubik's pickup.

One good way to see that the colors are the same is to cut two holes in an opaque sheet of paper (white will do fine) and line them up with the squares.

[David Schwab]

Dave,

Change the settings for the site. I have mine set for a white background.

Where do you find that?

Your brother is right. People are just attracted visually to the brightest looking photo that includes saturated colors.

And louder sounds better.

The color of these samples is just what they are. I have been doing this for years. I have cut back with photography because the ThroBak stuff is such a big part of my business now but I still have Kawasaki and Bissell as regular clients. I'm sure I would have heard from them if the color calibration was off at this point.

Oh I think the samples look great. I have a good eye for color and can see when the white point is off. Then you get a nasty ting to the image. I just didn't see a need for the equal density version since it makes some colors darker than they look to the eye.

[David Schwab]

The color and luminance of the center square on the top and the one on the face are identical.

I love that image. Of course the one on the face also has no shadow, unlike its neighbors. But it really is the same color as the top, give or take:

Top: R165 G108 B34

Face: R165 G106 B36