Donnerstag, 20. November 2008

COLOR NOTES

Color Theory:

-If you are involved in the creation or design of visual documents, an understanding of color will help when incorporating it into your own designs. Choices regarding color often seem rather mystical, as many seem to base decisions on nothing other than "it looks right." Although often told I had an eye for color, the reason why some colors worked together while others did not always intrigued me and I found the study of color theory fascinating.

-Chroma, intensity, saturation and luminance/value are inter-related terms and have to do with the description of a color.

 

Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray 
Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue. 
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black. 
Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value.

Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

 

Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black. 
Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.


Subtractive Color. When we mix colors using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive color method. Subtractive color mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and tends to black.

Those colors used in painting—an example of the subtractive color method

small-painters-wheel.gif


Additive Color. If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are created with light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black and ends with white; as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.



RGB color wheelPercentages of red, green, & blue light are used to generate color on a computer screen.













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