Understanding color begins with understanding light. Light travels in waves like water. Visible light waves are so short that they are measured in units equal to one billionth of a meter. These units are called nanometers from "nanons", which is Greek for nine.
Visible light waves are categorized by length, and a waves length determines the colors that we will see. Violet wavelengths are the shortest waves of visible light. They measure about 400 nanometers or about 1/64,000 of an inch. Red wavelengths are at the other end of the spectrum. They measure 700 nanometers or about 1/36,000 of an inch. These waves travel at fantastic speeds - 186,000 miles per second.
Color perception is also affected by the environment in which the color is seen. Daylight is rich in bluish tones because of the presence of ultraviolet radiation. Incandescent light and candle light are rich in yellow tones. The perception of any color requires the presence of light.
Our perception of color changes as the light source is changed or when the surface that reflects the light is stained or coated with a pigment.
What we commonly think of as color refers to the chromatic colors. These colors relate to the spectrum that can be seen in a rainbow. The neutral colors of black, white and grays are not part of these colors and are referred to as achromatic colors.
Chromatic colors can be described in three different ways: Hue, Value and Chroma.
Hue is the dimension of color that is referred to as a scale of perceptions ranging from red through yellow, green, and blue, and circularly back to red. Hue can be more precisely described by the colors actual relative position from one hue to the next. For example, a certain blue may be more accurately identified as blue-violet.
Value refers to the degree of lightness or darkness in a color. For example, a blue is said to be light blue if it is lighter than a standard blue.
Chroma corresponds to the intensity or purity of a color. The most brilliant and vivid colors have a strong chroma. Colors that have a large amount of gray are dull and have a weak chroma.
To manipulate the color value and maintain maximum chroma, a hue must be of considerable brilliance. Black is added to obtain steps of darker values and white added to obtain steps of lighter value. White and black are not added together. Addition of white creates clear tints, and black clear shades.
The term hue and color are often confused. There is a difference: variations of a single hue produce different colors. For example, a red hue can be light red, dark red, dull or brilliant red, these are all color variations within the same hue.
Nature does not provide the pigments to describe every hue in the spectrum. Pigments that are now available are the products of many centuries of human efforts.
Red, yellow and blue can be intermixed to obtain almost any hue. Secondary hues include: orange (a mixture of red and yellow), green (a mixture of yellow and blue) and purple (a mixture of blue and red). These colors represent the six basic hues.
Additional information about color and its proprieties will be available soon, please be sure and check back.
Some of the information on this page was obtained from the Principles of Color by Wucius Wong.
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