than the West; and yellow has an unusually high value in Thailand, more than anywhere else. But human beings seem to be very much alike when it comes to our perceptions and responses to other colors. Gray is typically regarded as weak, whereas red is almost universally seen as active and powerful. Have you ever heard a man's red necktie referred to as a "power tie?" Blue is accepted as a soothing color by almost everyone around the globe. Those perceptions defi- nitely affect the way we respond to colors in a photograph or painting. The most spectacular evidence of the existence of color in light is a rainbow--that spectrum of colors separated by the refraction of sunlight through raindrops. The addition, subtraction, and mixing of the rainbow's three primary colors (red, green, and blue) creates the entire color palette of light in seemingly unlimited permutations. other hand, are in sharp con- trast with each other by exhibit- ing wider-ranging color value, intensity, and hue. Juxtaposing complementary colors creates a clashing vibrancy that dif- fers markedly from the more placid, harmonic appearance of analogous colors. Complementary colors are those directly opposite one another on the color wheel. When placed side by side, complementary colors intensify each other, making the colors seem more vibrant. Reddish and yellow- ish hues are often described as warm, suggesting an associa- Analogous versus complementary color Contrast in black-and-white photography simply refers to the relative difference between