Can I use Photoshop 6 to figure out complimentary/opposite colors of a specific shade of pink?

Question

Can I use Photoshop 6 to figure out complimentary/opposite colors of a specific shade of pink?

Answer 1

The complementary color is just the color which added to your color would give white.

All you do is use the color picker to get your exact shade. Then read the RGB values for this color. Double click on the color field and it should tell you.

Subtract each value from 255. Enter the result as your new RGB value and you should have the perfect complementary color (I think, haven't tried it out, but I think it should be).  

Answer 2

Something like this might be easier to use: http://www.colorschemer.com

Answer 3

I can't find any reference to it in the Photoshop help, but Illustrator does this. Maybe their information on how the program actually figures out the values can help you do the same in Photoshop and you can figure out the numbers yourself.

If you want to take the easy way out, you can always just download Illustrator CS3 at http://www.adobe.com. When using Illustrator, choose your initial color, then go to the menu in the color palette (not the dialog box, the palette off to the right) and select Complement.

If you only need one color, just post the numbers and I can do it for you in a flash since I'm sitting right here in front of it.

Complement:

Changes each component of a color to a new value based on the sum of the highest and lowest RGB values in the selected color. Illustrator adds the lowest and highest RGB values of the current color, and then subtracts the value of each component from that number to create new RGB values. For example, suppose you select a color with an RGB value of 102 for red, 153 for green, and 51 for blue. Illustrator adds the high (153) and low (51) values, to end up with a new value (204). Each of the RGB values in the existing color is subtracted from the new value to create new complementary RGB values: 204 – 102 (the current red value) = 102 for the new red value, 204 – 153 (the current green value) = 51 for the new green value, and 204 – 51 (the current blue value) = 153 for the new blue value.

EDIT

Subtracting the values from 255 will get you the inverse, not the complement.