Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) Practice Exam

What color mode is used in digital photography that utilizes primary colors red, green, and blue?

1. CMYK

2. RGB

3. HSB

4. Lab

The correct answer is: RGB

The color mode utilized in digital photography that employs the primary colors red, green, and blue is RGB. This model is based on the additive color theory, where colors are created by combining light of these three primary colors in various intensities. By adjusting the levels of red, green, and blue light, a wide spectrum of colors can be reproduced. This is particularly relevant in digital photography, where images are captured as pixel data on electronic sensors that interpret incoming light in terms of these three color channels. Each pixel can represent different colors based on the light that is received, making RGB the standard color space for devices like cameras and monitors. In contrast, other options such as CMYK are used primarily for printing purposes and involve subtractive color mixing. HSB and Lab are different color models that offer various approaches to defining colors but do not use red, green, and blue as their primary components. Understanding RGB is essential for photographers as it directly aligns with how monitors display images and how digital cameras process color.