Aberdeen Grammar School Colour Theory 2. Color is the light reflected from a surface. Visible light is made up of the wavelengths of light between infrared.

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Colour Theory 2

Color is the light reflected from a surface.

Visible light is made up of the wavelengths of light between infrared and ultraviolet radiation (between 400 and 700 nanometers).

Because water and dust particles in the air scatter light, objects seen at great distance lose contrast, sharpness, and brightness, and have a blue-ish tint. This effect is called Atmospheric Perspective.

What is Color?

Additive Model RGB, Light

Color Models

Subtractitive Model CMYK, Pigment

HueThe ‘color’ of the color. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

ValueLightness (tint) or darkness (shade) of a color.

Saturation (Chroma)Intensity of the hue in the color. Desaturated colors tend to look gray.

Describing Color

HSV Color

HSV Cone

from a Mac HSV Color Picker

from a PC HSV Color Picker

LABDesigned to be device independent.Represents the entire visible light spectrumL = LuminanceA = Green to RedB = Blue to Yellow

Other Color Models

YUVColor Model of European PAL TV standard. Developed for backwards compatibility with Black-and-White TVsY= LuminanceU = Red - YV = Blue – Y

Color Temperature

COOL

WARM

Temperature can be measured absolutely, or relatively.

For example, yellow-green is warmer than cyan-green, but both are cool colors.

Absolute color temperatures are denoted below:

Cool colors appear more distant than warm colors due to atmospheric perspective

Color Contrast

Contrast Of Hue

Contrast Of Value

Contrast Of Saturation

Low Contrast High Contrast

Color Contrast For Text

Colors with strongly different hues are easy to distinguish.

But reading one on top of another can strain the eyes.

A contrast of hue is not enough to make text readable.

It needs a contrast of value or saturation, too.

Not Good!

This is better.

Color Interaction

The colors surrounding a color affect its appearance.

Common Color Schemes

Achromatic Monochromatic

ComplementaryAnalogous Triadic

Chromatic Grays

Color Scheme Examples

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The Meaning of Color

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