by Darryl Roman
Choice of color for the blade of your lightsaber can be a very personal decision. It is a relection of the personality of the knight or sith wielding it. Some people choose to use only the 4 colors seen in ANH, ESB, ROTJ, TPM, and AOTC. Others choose colors that have appeared in the books, games, or other EU sources.
What some film makers don't consider is that some colors have horrible contrast against certain backgrounds. For example, against a bare sky a light blue blade will be difficult to see. Also, the color blade used to film with will effect the final rotoscoped color. Filming the green Hasbro Qui-Gon blade and rotoscoping it red will alter the final color. Try using a prop that is of similar color to the blade you want. And don't hesitate to experiment, it's the best way to learn.
I made this page to help people wth their color choice by showing what some of the different color blades look like. Let's get to it.
Red 255,0,0
Light Blue 0,255,255
Green 0,255,0
Orange 255,180,0
Blue 0,0,255
Yellow 255,255,0
Purple 255,0,255
All of these saber were created with Adobe Photoshop 5.5 with a frame captured on a blue screen and a simple CGI background. The blade is a white core with a Gaussian Blur of 1.5, and an outer glow of 90%, 15 blur, and 200 intensity. But settings will vary with the size of the desired blade in the scene.
Related Links:
Creating Lightsaber Blades in Adobe Photoshop 5.5