What are the photonegatives of colors?

Question

Hello. I'd like to know what are the photonegatives of colors, i.e., the negatives of colors in photography? I know black and white are one pair, blue and yellow is another, and red and cyan are another? Can someone please list some others? Please let me know. Thank you. :D

I'd like to know what is the photonegative of:
orange
pink
violet
brown
indigo
gray
tan?

Answer 1

in RGB space, Red is a primary and the negative is cyan. Blue is a primary and yellow is opposite, Green is the third primary with magneta opposite. White, gray and black are not colors in this sense but considered pure luminence, they have equal composition of RGB components. The negative of medium gray is medium gray, as any B/W photographer can recognize.

The other colors are all blends, that is they have all 3 components of RGB. They do have negatives but a little bit more complicated.

For example, Tan is medium gray (equal RGB) but less a little blue. Its negative is Slate, which is medium gray plus a little extra blue.

So you can figure all the negatives, first determine what the RGB componets are and then reverse the order of prominence. In RGB, red is red only with no green or blue, its negative (cyan) is green and blue, with no red.