There's no such thing as "true" black.

[rosemadder]

I have been looking up care info on my Fdk. After Dark. I keep running into debates on black orchids (and other types of flowers for that matter), and in every single discussion somebody-- or everybody-- expresses disappointment or even contempt, that this plant or that plant doesn't have "true" black flowers. Turns out-- gasp!-- if you look REALLY CLOSELY, it's a dark purple, or a dark red, or a dark brown, or whatever.



Okay, look. There IS no such thing as "twue black". There really isn't. That's one of the first things an art student learns in color and design or painting classes. If you look close enough, your black sweatshirt, your black patent leather shoes, your black hair-- damn near everything is a really dark shade of some actual color. Even charcoal. Even when you close your eyes, there are colors in that darkness. Even the night sky has color (especially if you live in LA ).

In Photoshop, when you turn a color all the way down to black, it has no hue any longer. That's not how things work in real life. A very dark object or substance can still have a very rich, complex color, even if it's barely perceptible to the human eye. Even in photoshop, when you turn a color all the way to black, you're left with the color of the surface of your screen.

If a flower is dark enough that people can glance at it and say, "Wow, that looks black!", isn't that close enough? What are we looking for, a flower that sucks in all the light that hits it, forms a singularity, and then eats the planet??

Yeah, some are blacker than others. But still. None of them will ever be TOTALLY black.


So, like... chill, people.

[Andrew]

100% agree. Add to that all of the debates about whether blue orchids are blue or purple.

[tuvoc]

Right on!

Kim

[Vanda lover]

I agree too. A black dog or horse is either brown or blue.

[Discus]

Pink isn't a colour. At least, it's not a colour in the spectrum.
e.g. Does the Color Pink Exist? Scientists Aren't Sure | TIME.com

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by rosemadder

What are we looking for, a flower that sucks in all the light that hits it, forms a singularity, and then eats the planet??

Exactly my thought as I read your title. A true black absorbs all light and reflects absolutely nothing back. Not something I actually want to be near

[iammadeofdreams]

Originally Posted by rosemadder

What are we looking for, a flower that sucks in all the light that hits it, forms a singularity, and then eats the planet??

Well, eating the planet would definitely be a downer, but the rest might be neat to see in a well controlled lab environment...

[Bud]

black is the absence of color whereas white is the presence of all colors(as the color wheel turns)....that's what we learned in first grade as the teacher introduced us to crayons....
a black orchid or a blue one is merely descriptive adjectives....

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Bud

black is the absence of color whereas white is the presence of all colors(as the color wheel turns)....that's what we learned in first grade as the teacher introduced us to crayons....
a black orchid or a blue one is merely descriptive adjectives....

I suppose it has been a long time since first grade, But...

Your statement is true if you're referring to a colored beam of light. When it comes to pigments (as in an object reflecting light), the same does not hold true. Mix all of your crayons together, and you do not see white.


Ray Barkalow
Sent using Tapatalk

[rosemadder]

Originally Posted by Ray

When it comes to pigments (as in an object reflecting light), the same does not hold true. Mix all of your crayons together, and you do not see white.

Quite so. Subtractive and additive colors are two very different animals (and 1st grade ain't art school). Oh, and I LOVE mixing crayons, ever done that thing where you take a bunch of scraps of crayon and melt them together into one giant multicolor crayon? So cool!

Most artists combine various colors to arrive at a "black" shade for their work-- usually with important underlying hues that work with the color scheme of the rest of the piece. There is a lot of richness and complexity to be had.

One of the things that frustrates me the most about being a digital artist is the way computers break down color, losing information at the low end and the high end. It can make it very hard to bring out the layered richness I would like. Most digital artists avoid #000000 black like the plague. Same thing with #FFFFFF white. They are dead, unnatural colors that just aren't very useful.

Originally Posted by Discus

Pink isn't a colour. At least, it's not a colour in the spectrum.

It's truly bizarre how the brain processes color. Purple doesn't really exist either. Spectral violet is very definitely not a mix of red and blue. The light spectrum does NOT go in a "wheel". And yet, my utterly red/green colorblind father knows EXACTLY what green is supposed to look like-- because when he looks at a magazine, his brain translates tiny blue and yellow dots into green. Meanwhile, Mtn Dew looks exactly the same as iced tea to him, and he has to read traffic signals by the position of the lights. Go figure.

Originally Posted by iammadeofdreams

Well, eating the planet would definitely be a downer, but the rest might be neat to see in a well controlled lab environment...

Okay, now that you mention it, yeah that could be pretty awesome. ...But it will take a LOT of breeding work to get there.