COLOR THEORY
What is Color?
 We
perceive light as being white
 Visible spectrum
 Color Perception
 Rainbow (Sir Issac Newton)
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Moisture in the air causes visible light to be
separated.
VISIBLE LIGHT SPECTRUM
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A small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Measured in Nanometers (one billionth of a
meter)
400-700 is the visible color spectrum. This is
what the human eye can see.
Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet
(Roy G Biv)
All these colors mix to make white light.
Below violet(400) is Ultraviolet.
Above Red (700) is infrared.
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Basic Color Terminology
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Hue (Position of a color in the spectrum.)
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Saturation
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How pure the hue is.
Primary red is the most saturated version of red.
Value
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Dominant wavelength.
A measurement of the amount of light reflected from a hue.
Hues with a higher amount of white have a higher value.
Brightness of the color
Chroma
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How pure a hue is in relationship to gray
The lightness of a color , light blue or pastel blue.
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Using Color
 Dominant
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Vs. Recessive
The color with the highest value or brightest
source will dominate the scene.
Warm colors often dominate cool colors.
Lavender is the hardest to perceive.
• Lavender is a tone and difficult for our eyes to see.
• Lavender can act as a warm or cool color.
The Human Eye
 The
eye consists of four types of
receptors.
 Everybody perceives light differently.
 Rods
 Three cones
COLOR MIXING
 ADDITIVE
COLOR MIXING
 SUBTRACTIVE COLOR MIXING
Color Reflection
 Unlike
Wavelengths absorb and like
wavelengths reflect.
 A red rose will only reflect red light.
 Depending how much red a rose reflect
depends on the amount of red in the light
source.
 All atoms and molecules have their own
natural frequencies.
Color Fatigue
 When
you focus on a strong predominent
light source, your photoreceptors become
desensitized to that color.
After Image
 This
process of desentizing will create an
after immage.
Stare at the eye of the red parrot while you slowly count to 20,
then immediately look at one spot in the empty birdcage.
The faint, ghostly image of a blue-green bird should appear in the cage.
Try the same thing with the green cardinal, and a faint magenta bird should appear.
Rods
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Sensitive to black, white and shades of grey.
Rod receptors are less sensitive than cone
receptors.
Rod receptors function in low light.
This is the reason for temporary blindness when
you move from a bright area to a dark area.
The rods need time to adjust.
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Cones
 The
human eye has three cones that
respond to different colors.
 Red, Green and Blue-Violet
 Blue violet cones are less sensitive light.
Twice as much light is needed to obtain
the same results.
 There is and overlap between cone
response especially red and blue.
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Visible Light Spectrum
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ADDITIVE COLOR MIXING
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As more color is added, the closer to white we
get.
 Three additive primaries
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Red
Blue
Green
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Artist who use light with more than one source
use additive color mixing.
 Digital artists use additive color mixing.
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The colors on the screen are made by light.
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Subtractive Color Mixing
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Begins with white and ends with black. As an artists
adds color, the pigment gets darker and darker.
Subtractive Primary Colors for paint
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Red, Blue, and Yellow
Subtractive Primary Colors for printing
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Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta
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Used when dealing with reflected light.
 Artist who deal with pigment use subtractive color
mixing.
 Printers use subtractive color mixing.
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ADDITIVE COLOR MIXING
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HUE
These are examples of six different hues. There are many
More possibilities.
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VALUE
Different values of red,
Magenta and blue.
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SATURATION
Different saturations of red, magenta and blue
With a medium value.
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CHROMA
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HUE, VALUE, CHROMA
Hues change as you move around the
center.
Value changes from top-to-bottom;
Chroma changes as you move from the
center outward.
SUBTRACTIVE
COLOR MIXING
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CMY COLOR MIXING
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