Photo-Trichromatic Printing. Part II. Harmony and Contrast.

Photo-Trichromatic Printing
C. G. Zander
Published by Raithby, Lawrence & Co., Ld., Leicester
1896Harmony of colour may briefly be stated to exist between two colours which lie very closely together within a few degrees of the chromatic circle, or between two colours of the same hue but of different luminosity, the same hue either diluted with white or broken with grey. A glance at our chromatic dial will make the matter clearer.

To give a few examples: — brown and orange will harmonise, so will pink and maroon, azure and navy blue, azure and pure blue, cream and amber, etc. Neutral grey will harmonise with any colour, although various effects are not equally pleasing. Hard and fast scientific rules cannot be laid down on this subject, which is more a matter of opmion and artistic taste. It may be remarked, however, that neighbouring colours of small interval, and of the same luminosity, should be separated by a neutral grey or black, or one of them should be of a different luminosity from the other.

Contrast colours are hues which are far apart in the chromatic circle, i.e., more than 90° or ¼ hour of our chromatic clock-dial. Rood, also Church, state that colours less than 80° or 90° apart suffer from harmful contrast. Contrast colours more than 90° apart, help each other, and appear more luminous to the eye, although some combinations are not very pleasing but sometimes rather harsh. Scientific rules cannot be laid down for such combination, but only hints may be given. The further apart the two colours are, and the nearer the distance approaches 180°, or ½ hour on the clock, the stronger will be the contrast. When the distance reaches 180° they will be complementary colours. Black and white also form a contrast. Likewise white with broken colours, though these combinations are not always pleasing to the eye. Black will always heighten the apparent luminosity of any colour which is surrounded by it; likewise, in a lesser degree, will grey, whilst white will lessen the apparent luminosity.