COLOR THEORY

Ryan High School Physics

What is color?

Color is the byproduct of the spectrum of light, as it is reflected or absorbed, it is a perception, received by the human eye and processed by the human brain.

What is color?

White light is a combination of light of ALL visible frequencies

Sunlight is an example of white light.

-Black is the absence of light; objects that appear black absorb all visible frequencies.

Vantablack2 absorbs >99.99%

of light, our eyes are unable to

distinguish 3 dimensional details on

objects coated with Vantablack2.

What happens to ROY G BIV on a black object?

On black all color is absorbed, none of the color is reflected.

What color is a mirror?

What is color?

The color of an object is due to the color of the light it reflects (if opaque) or transmits (if transparent).

Light is absorbed when its frequency matches a natural vibration; frequency of electrons in the material illuminated by the light..NOTE: An object can reflect only light frequencies present in the illuminating light; perceived color is subjective and depends on the light source.

The material in glass that selectively absorbs colored light is known as pigment (electrons in the pigment atoms selectively

absorb light of certain frequencies in the illuminating light;

Energy increases the KE of the atoms and the glass becomes warm; glass will be colorless if it transmits light of ALL visible

frequencies.

Color mixing by addition is the mixing of different frequencies.

• Red & Green over lap = Yellow• Red & Blue = Magenta• Green & Blue = Cyan

When the eye sees a combination of red, green, and blue light of equal brightness it will perceive the overlapping color as white.

Red, green, and blue are the additive colors.

Color mixing by subtraction is the mixing of colored paints or dyes, which absorb most frequencies except for the one that gives

them their characteristic color.

When paints or dyes are mixed, the mixture absorbs all the frequencies each paint or dye absorbs.

Magenta, cyan, and yellow are the subtractive primary colors.

Light Crash Course

The scattering of violet and blue frequencies of sunlight in all directions is what gives the sky its blue color

When sunlight travels a long path through the atmosphere, as at dawn or sunset, only the lower frequencies of light are

transmitted (red), the higher ones are scattered out.

The sky is blue since blue is reemitted in all directions by

molecules in the atmosphere;

Water is green-blue because red is absorbed by

molecules in the water;

Colors of things depend on what colors are reflected by

molecules and by what colors are absorbed by

molecules.

Atoms of each element have characteristic line spectra

that can be used to identify the element. *****Basis of

atomic structure and identification of unknown atoms.

The tinier the particle, the higher the frequency of light it

will scatter. Small bells ring with higher notes than do

larger bells. The nitrogen and oxygen molecules and the

tiny particles that make up the atmosphere are like tiny

bells that “ring” with high frequencies when energized by

sunlight.

PRIMARY: RED, BLUE and YELLOW. Cannot be mixed from any other color.

SECONDARY: ORANGE, GREEN and VIOLET. Made by mixing two primarycolors.

TERTIARY: RED-ORANGE, YELLOW-ORANGE, YELLOW-GREEN, BLUE-GREEN, BLUE-VIOLET and RED-VIOLET. Made by mixing one primary and one secondary color.

Neutrals are colors without hue.

NEUTRALS: These are WHITE, BLACK and GRAY. White reflects all colors and black absorbs them all. Gray results from mixing white and black.

The 3 families of colors: primary, secondary and tertiary.

ACHROMATIC SCHEME

Achromatic colors possess no hue. They consist of the neutrals: white, black and gray. Neutrals modify the values and intensities of all hues.

MONOCHROMATIC SCHEME

A monochromatic color scheme is comprised of the tints, tones and shades of any one color or neutral.

ANALOGOUS SCHEME

An analogous color scheme uses any 3 shades, tints or tones of colors that lie adjacent to each other on the color wheel.

EXTENDED ANALOGOUS SCHEME

An extended analogous color scheme uses any 4 or more shades, tints or tones of colors that lie adjacent to each other on the color wheel.

COMPLEMENTARY SCHEME

A complementary color scheme uses a tint, tone or shade of one color and combines it with the color that lies directly across from it on the color wheel.

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY SCHEME

A split complementary color scheme uses a tint, tone or shade of one color and combines it with the colors that lie adjacent to the color directly across from it on the color wheel.

TRIADIC SCHEME

A triadic color scheme is comprised of 3 colors on the color wheel which are equally spaced from each other.

CONTRASTING SCHEME

Contrasting colors are very similar to complementary colors. Colors that contrast help each other to stand out more vibrantly.

FULL SPECTRUM

All the colors on the color wheel or “all the colors of the rainbow”.

VALUE & SATURATION

Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. Saturation (or purity) describes how pure a color is. A color that is pure is clear and bright. Adding black causes it to become muddy and dark, giving it a shade. Adding white causes the color to become washed out or tinted.

COLOR TEMPERATURE

Colors can be divided into 2 groups: the warm (or aggressive) colors of reds, oranges and yellows, and the cool (or receding) colors of greens, blues and violets.

THE TWELVE HUES

The 12 colors that comprise the color wheel are red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet and red-violet.

RED

RED-ORANGE

ORANGE

YELLOW-ORANGE

YELLOW

YELLOW-GREEN

GREEN

BLUE-GREEN

BLUE

BLUE-VIOLET

VIOLET

RED-VIOLET