Color Science
By
Dr Bushra Nisar
Light and Color
Light is a specific type of energy—radiant energy—
radiated from a source into the surrounding space
can be projected through empty space (a vacuum) or
through transparent matter
It is electromagnetic energy
Electromagnetism is the force responsible for the emission
of tiny packets of energy from a source
The packets of light energy are called photons or quanta
Energy of photon can also be expressed as wavelength
(380 nanometers (nm) to about 750 nm (often rounded to
400-700 nm)) or frequency
Light and Color
Light is a small portion of the
complete range of
electromagnetic energy
photons can have the same
energy level (wavelength). In
this case the light is called
monochromatic eg laser (610
nm)
may have a variety of
wavelengths. This is called
polychromatic light. Daylight
Composition of Sunlight
Composition of light
Light is made up of many
different COLORS.
The different colors appear when
white light is passed through a
prism separated into a spectrum.
- The colors represent different
amounts of energy.
The colors of the visible light spectrum
wavelength
color frequency interval
interval
red ~ 700–635 nm ~ 430–480 THz
orange ~ 635–590 nm ~ 480–510 THz
yellow ~ 590–560 nm ~ 510–540 THz
green ~ 560–490 nm ~ 540–610 THz
blue ~ 490–450 nm ~ 610–670 THz
violet ~ 450–400 nm ~ 670–750 THz
Color
The visible light you see is the light that is NOT
absorbed by objects. Green plants for example, are
green because they absorb all of the colors of the
visible spectrum EXCEPT the green color
The colour of an object is seen by the eye when white
light is shone upon the object's surface. The surface
reflects some colours and absorbs others. It is the
reflected light (or wavelength) that is picked up by the
eye
How Light Travels
through objects
A transparent material allows light to pass through it
because it is not absorbed or reflected.
Objects can be seen clearly when viewed through
transparent materials.
Air, glass, and water are examples of
materials that are transparent.
A translucent material scatters or absorbs some of the light that strikes it
and allows some of the light to pass through it.
Objects appear as blurry shapes when viewed through translucent
materials.
Waxed paper and frosted glass are
examples of materials that are translucent.
An opaque material does not allow light to pass
through, light is either reflected from or absorbed by an
opaque material.
Wood, metals, and thick paper are examples
of materials that are opaque.
Color Perception
The ability to discriminate light on the basis of Hue, value or brightness
Requirements to see
A light source
An object
An observer
The human eye senses this spectrum using a combination of rod and cone
cells for vision.
Rod cells are better for low-light vision, but can only sense the intensity of light
While cone cells can also discern color, they function best in bright light
The properties of color which are inherently distinguishable by the human
eye are hue,saturation, and brightness
Color Specification
Hue
Hue refers to a specific tone of colour
Hue is the wavelength within the visible-light spectrum
at which the energy output from a source is greatest
Saturation
the purity of the color
It is the intensity of a hue from grey. At maximum
saturation a colour would contain no grey at all
Brightness
refers to how much white, or black, is contained within
a colour.
Color definitions
Complementary colors - two colors combine to produce
white light
Primary colors - (two or) three colors used for describing
other colors
Two main principles for mixing colors:
additive mixing
subtractive mixing
Human Color Perception
Within the retina
are RGB receptors
How We See Colored Surfaces
Additive LIGHT System
vs.
Subtractive PIGMENT System
Red, YELLOW & Blue (RYB):
3 Primaries of Pigment
When PIGMENTS are mixed…
R+Y+B = black
Only when you SUBTRACT one pigment, subtract
another pigment, subtract all pigments… do you
reach WHITE, returning to that single ray of light…
LESS LIGHT is reflected; the color becomes DARKER.
You are essentially SUBTRACTING the amount of
light reflected.
