The Color Wheel and Olympus Color - Part 3

Last Update:- 11th April 2021

Olympus EM1 II with 7-14mm f2.8 - ISO64, f8, 1/160 (Edited with Viewer 3)

Introduction to Olympus

Hobby photographers are typically forced to work on their portrait skills when asked to do a wedding or photo shoot. They consider portrait locations, colors, and the clothes they like to see for the photo shoot. This article reviews the different color features we have with Olympus.

The first article in this series hinted that photographers focus too much on camera specifications. For example, most digital photographers want more Dynamic Range, perfect IQ (details), perfect lenses, less image noise, and NO highlight clipping.

It is OK to ignore those "perfect" specifications and regard your camera as the ultimate 
creative tool. You should always experiment with your camera to develop your 
unique skillset. That said, it's no secret why younger photographers

 dominate social media with mostly their mobile phones.

Olympus OMD and PEN cameras offer a broad range of creative possibilities. They offer a collection of Creative features that help us create impressions of our daily experiences.

List of Olympus' Creative Features: (All of these are available with the Pen F & EP-7)

1. ART Filters (EP-7 has the latest features)
2. SCN Modes (Pen F, you need to assign SCN modes to C4)
3. Color Creator (Pen-F - Creative Dial, EP-7 - AP Button)
4. Color Profile (Pen-F - Creative Dial, EP-7 - Color/Mono Lever)
5. Monochrome Profile (Pen-F - Creative Dial, EP-7 - Color/Mono Lever)
6. Different White Balance options & fine-tuning
7. Shadows and Highlight adjustments (Tweaking the Tone Curve)
8. Several options to adapt SCN and ART filters
9. Various in-camera HDR Modes
10. Video and Time Lapse options & filters
11. Multiple images and the Image Overlay function
12. Several blue-hour options or long-exposure photography
13. High Res Imaging - (Pen F only - Functions also as a creative feature)
14. Standard image adjustments (Saturation, Sharpness, Contrast)
15. Gradation (High Key, Low Key, Normal, and Auto)
16. In-camera RAW editing (other editing options also available)
17. My Clips video mode (including slow motion)
18. Image storytelling with different image templates - Pen F
19. Standard PASM exposure modes
20. e-Portrait for softer skin tones
21. Various Bracketing options (HDR, Focus Stacking, and more)
22. Multiple Flash photography options

A quick introduction to Color with Olympus

Olympus selected a regular Color Wheel to enable functions like the Olympus Color Creator. That means we can access lots of experience from the existing Color Wheel. It was challenging to familiarize myself with most new concepts like Color Harmonies. The Enhanced Raw Format and Workspace helped me to experiment with the different color functions from Olympus. I use the Color Creator, Color Filters, and Adjust Color tools each week in my camera or Workspace...

For example, I thought it was only another feature when I first saw the Color Creator on my EM-5 MKII. Like any new function, I could not see the value of the Color Creator. Studying color and basic concepts like color harmonies was similar to always using Auto Exposure and changing to Manual Exposure. It's always a process of learning and trying new techniques and features.

This Color Wheel mimics the color wheel in Olympus cameras. The outside diameter shows different hues (colors) at 100% saturation. This color wheel is based on an Additive Model and is white in the center. This Color Wheel's primary colors are Red, Green, and Blue, and the secondary colors are Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow. You will find the monochrome colors market on the outside diameter. The top half of the Color Wheel shows warm colors and the lower half cold colors.

I also added the Olympus White Balance information on the Color Wheel. This enables us to visualize the effect of adjustments like CWB (Custom White Balance). I also added the WB compensation "sliders" to this Color Wheel. See the camera's SCP (Super Control Panel).

The Color Wheel helps us to create color harmonies. We can use the Color Wheel to find harmonious color combinations (further down) for our photo shoot. Most OMD and PEN cameras from Olympus have the Color Creator (Color Wheel) function.

I learned about color harmonies when I created my first website in 2007. Some designers claim that colors impact your views more than content. Golden sunrise or sunset photos create positive reactions, and pastel colors are more pleasing to younger viewers than bright colors. Do you only focus on your subject, or do you also consider the colors in the background of your photo?

Why do we have RGB, CYM, or RYB (Painter) Colors? Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) are the Primary Colors in the above Color Wheel, and Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta (CYM) are Secondary Colors. You will find a short summary of the Color Wheel in the video below.

An interesting video explaining the Color Wheel.

Opposite Colors are used with the color functions available in Olympus cameras. For example, the Color Creator and the White Balance function use Opposite Colors. For example, how do we identify color casts, and how do we correct them? We use opposite colors to correct color casts. A unique difference between photography and videography is photographers typically like to have neutral colors, and videographers are more inclined to use Color Profiles.

Photographers work with subtractive and additive colors. Electronic equipment (TVs) use RGB colors to create color. This is called an Additive System. CYM colors are reflected (Reflected Light) from paint or printed media when illuminated. This is called a Subtractive System. 

How do we apply these two color systems in digital photography? The image signal (Reflected Light) passes through the lens and consists of additive colors. The sensor captures the reflected light, and the image processor converts it into RGB colors. Your PC screen uses RGB colors to display color.

What happens if we mix RGB and CYM colors equally? The resulting RGB mix will be white, and the CYM mix black. See the above image. Also, see this article. Which other Color Combinations are available to Olympus photographers if the Color Creator and the White Balance function are based on opposite colors? See this website for more information on color pallets.

There are 6 handy Color Combinations in the above illustration. They are primary, analogous, secondary, complementary, intermediate, and split complementary color combinations. Photographers create color pallets to harmonize the color combinations for an image. Photographers use complementary or opposite colors for projects when they target two colors. For example, magenta with green or yellow with blue are complementary colors. Yellow with green or red with magenta are analogous colors. Study this "must-see" video.

Why would photographers create a color cast? Color helps photographers to create specific emotions or emphasize unique situations. For example, we can set our Olympus cameras to warm or neutral colors in artificial lighting. We can also correct warm color casts with the Color Creator.

Tiny color adjustments are more effective...

It's critical to apply tiny steps with functions like the Color Creator. Study the effect first before making another adjustment. The Pen-F gives us a choice between 4 or 6 adjustments. That means each step equates to an adjustment of 25% or 15%. These are NOT increments, especially 2 steps.

WorkSpace offers a great way to familiarize yourself with functions like the Color Creator, the Color Adjust (Profile), and the Monochrome Profile. The visual feedback with Workspace is also superior. It's simply impossible to effectively practice on a camera display...

Different Image manipulation options

I edited the above image in Photoshop. The yellow subject in the front was edited separately from the background. The final image style consists of a vivid subject against a desaturated background. This was a popular image style for Instagram. It's not possible to create similar results with Workspace.

Different Image effects for the Olympus Color Creator? 

You will see the Color Creator works best with opposite colors. One typically targets a dominant color in the image. A quick test is to decrease the targetted color's vividness with -4 steps. You will see both the targetted and opposite colors change.

Study the following examples with 2 colors:-

The above image has two dominant colors. Both can become targetted colors. I selected the color blue as my targetted color in this example. The Color Creator's effect is instantaneous. The vividness of the targetted color increases and the opposite color will be less vivid. These effects increase with each adjustment. Always check and evaluate your image after each adjustment.

I increased the vivid setting by one step in the above image. The targetted color is a mix between the colors blue and cyan. We can see the effect of this adjustment in the sky and the leaves. The opposite color is a mix between the colors yellow and orange. The colors green and brown are more when we decrease yellow and orange. One can see this effect in the above image...

I targeted the color yellow in the above example. That means the color blue was the opposite color. You can test your knowledge by explaining the effects in the above image. The changes will be the opposite of what we saw in the first image...

I increased the vivid setting of yellow/orange to +2. This lightened the cyan/blue (sky) while adding more yellow/orange to the leaves. The colors cyan and orange were the more dominant colors.

The above image is an interesting example. I increased the Color Creator setting with one step and used the WB compensation sliders to up the color blue. It's possible to explain the above effects as we did with the first three examples. Also, see the article I did on the Color Creator.

My next article will focus on Color Profiles and how to use Color Harmony Templates to create image profiles. Until the next time, have fun and have fun practicing.

Which color functions are available in WorkSpace and Olympus cameras? We can activate the used camera functions in WorkSpace. All the adjustments are available when we edit jpegs in Workspace. See the RAW file compatibility list below:

I haven't had an opportunity to test the EM5 III or the EM1 III, or the EM1X