Scribd
Upload
71 views

Color Science: DR Bushra Nisar

The document discusses light and color science. It explains that [1] light is a type of radiant energy that can travel through space or matter as electromagnetic waves or photons, [2] white light is composed of all visible wavelengths which appear as different colors when separated, and [3] the color we see is determined by which wavelengths of light are absorbed and which are reflected by an object.

Uploaded by

Quratul Ain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
71 views

Color Science: DR Bushra Nisar

The document discusses light and color science. It explains that [1] light is a type of radiant energy that can travel through space or matter as electromagnetic waves or photons, [2] white light is composed of all visible wavelengths which appear as different colors when separated, and [3] the color we see is determined by which wavelengths of light are absorbed and which are reflected by an object.

Uploaded by

Quratul Ain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

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.

You might also like