The Art of Darkness Unveiled: How Projectors Master the Color Black

The article from WIRED explores the physics behind how movie projectors display the color black, emphasizing the concept that black is perceived as the absence of light. It begins by discussing human perception in darkness and offers a demonstration illustrating that without light entering the eye, the brain interprets the scene as black. The author explains how color perception works through the mixing of red, green, and blue wavelengths and how projectors replicate this by selectively illuminating areas on a screen. The crux of projecting black is turning off the light in that specific region, making it blend with the surrounding screen that reflects ambient light. Thus, when projecting black, it appears as a void or absence of light against brightly illuminated surroundings.

Key Points:

• Black is perceived as the absence of light.
• In complete darkness, the brain interprets the lack of light as a color—black.
• Visible light is a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and human eyes perceive colors by mixing red, green, and blue light.
• Projectors create images by selectively lighting up regions on a screen.
• To project black, the projector turns off the light in that specific region, which integrates with the ambient light reflecting off the screen.
• Viewing black in cinema is enhanced by dark theater settings, allowing contrasts to be more pronounced.
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