Multimedia Communication (SW-416)

COLOR CONCEPTS

Dr. Areej Fatemah email: [email protected]

Everyone should be able to see
the number 12 in this image.

The number pictured above is 29.

Most individuals with normal color
vision will see this number.
 The number pictured below is 16.
Most color blind people won't see
this number clearly.

The number pictured above is 5.

Most color blind people won't
see this number clearly.
The number pictured above is 73.
Most color blind people won't see this
number clearly.
Color and the Human Eye
• Light is an electromagnetic wave
• White light contains all the colors
of a rainbow.

• Sensor: Eye
◦ Most sensitive to red (R), green (G), and blue (B)
• Processor: Brain
◦ R, G, B
◦ Because the eye’s receptors are sensitive to red, green and blue light, by adjusting
combinations of these three primary colors the eye and brain will interpolate the
combinations of colors in between.
Color and the Human Eye
• Red, green and blue are the
additive primary colors of the
color spectrum. Combining
balanced amounts of red, green
and blue lights also produces pure
white.
• By varying the amount of red,
green and blue light, all of the
colors in the visible spectrum can
be produced.
Color and the Human Eye
• The human eye and brain together translate light into color. Light
receptors within the eye transmit messages to the brain, which
produces the familiar sensations of color.
• Newton observed that color is not inherent in objects. Rather, the
surface of an object reflects some colors and absorbs all the
others. We perceive only the reflected colors.

• Thus, red is not "in" an apple.

• The surface of the apple is reflecting the wavelengths we see
as red and absorbing all the rest.
• An object appears white when it reflects all wavelengths
and black when it absorbs them all.
How do we see color?
• Light travels into the eye and to the retina, located on the back of the eye.
• The retina is covered with millions of light receptive cells called rods and cones.
• When these cells detect light, they send signals to the brain.

• Most people have three kinds of cone cells, and every

color stimulates more than one cone.
◦ The proportions of R, G, B cones are 40:20:1
• Their combined response produces a unique signal for
each color, and millions of different colors can be
distinguished this way.
• These cells, working in combination with connecting
nerve cells, give the brain enough information to
interpret and name colors.
How do we see color?
• Rods are most highly concentrated around the edge of the retina. There are over 120
million of them in each eye.
• Rods transmit mostly black and white information to the brain. As rods are more
sensitive to dim light than cones, you lose most color vision in dusky light and your
peripheral vision is less colorful.
◦ It is the rods that help your eyes adjust when you enter a darkened room.
• Cones are concentrated in the middle of the retina, with fewer on the periphery.
• Six million cones in each eye transmit the higher levels of light intensity that create
the sensation of color and visual sharpness. There are three types of cone-shaped
cells, each sensitive to the long, medium or short wavelengths of light.
◦ These cells, working in combination with connecting nerve cells, give the brain enough
information to interpret and name colors.
Color
• Color is a vital component of multimedia and computer graphics.

• Picking the right color and combinations of colors for your project can involve
many tries until you feel the result is right.

• Color is a very general term used to describe every hue, tint, tone, or shade we
can see.

• An artist creates a color painting by mixing color pigments with white and
black pigments to form the various shades, tints, and tones in the scene.
Color
Hue
• Hue refers to the dominant color family.
• Hues are origin of the colors we can
see.
• Primary and Secondary colors (Yellow,
Orange, Red, Violet, Blue, and Green)
are considered hues; however, tertiary
colors (mixed colors where neither color
is dominant) would also be considered
hues.
Color
Tint and Tone
• Tint refers to any hue or mixture of pure colors to which white is added.
• Pastel colors are generally tinted colors.
• Tinted color remains the same color, but it is paler than the original. When mixing
a tint, always begin with white paint and gradually mix in small amounts of color
until you’ve achieved the tint you want.

• Tone is a hue or mixture of pure colors to which only pure gray is added (equal
amounts of black and white). Adding gray to a color will make the intensity much
duller. Beware of mixing too much gray into a hue as it can become over-dulled
and virtually impossible to restore the brilliance.
Color
Shade
• Shade is a hue or mixture of pure
colors to which only black is added.
• It contains no white or gray.
• Shade darkens the color, but the
hue remains the same.
• When mixing a shade, begin with
the color itself then add black one
drop at a time.
Color
• Tints
Obtained by adding white pigment to
original color.
• Shades
Obtained by adding black pigment to
produce different shades.

• Tones
Obtained by adding both white and
black pigments.
Color Models
• A color model is a method for explaining properties and behavior of color within
some particular context.
• No single color model can explain all aspects of color, so we make use of different
models to describe different perceived characteristics of color.
• Graphics packages providing color palettes to a user often employ two or more
color models.
• One model provides an intuitive color interface for the user, and other describe
the color components for the output devices.
• The color of a pixel on your computer monitor is typically expressed as an amount
of red, green, and blue.
RGB Color Model R G B Color

Colors are Additive 0 0 0 Black

1 0 0 Red
0 1 0 Green
0 0 1 Blue
1 1 0 Yellow
1 0 1 Magenta
0 1 1 Cyan
1 1 1 White
Color Models
RGB
• The RGB model is used when working with screen based designs.
• A value between 0 and 255 is assigned to each of the colors, Red, Green and Blue.
• So for example, if you wanted to create a purely blue color, Red would have a
value of 0, Green would have a value of 0 and Blue would have a value of 255
(pure blue).
• To create black, Red, Green and Blue would each have a value of 0 and to create
white, each would have a value of 255.
• RGB is known as an “additive” model.
Color Models
RGB
• The Additive color model uses a mixture of light to display colors. The perceived color
depends on the transmission of light. It is used in digital media
Color Models
CMYK
• The CMYK or CMY model is used for print work and it describes colors based on
their percentage of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
Color Models
CMYK
• These four colors are used by commercial printers and bureaus and you may also
find that your home color printer uses these colors too.
• These four colors are needed to reproduce full color artwork in magazines, books
and brochures.
• C, M, Y do not mix to form real black: Muddy brown.
◦ Black ink is in fact cheaper than mixing colored inks.
• By combining Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black on paper in varying percentages,
the illusion of lots of colors is created.
CMYK Color Model
C M Y
Colors are Subtractive
0 0 0 White
1 0 0 Cyan
0 1 0 Magenta
0 0 1 Yellow
1 1 0 Blue
1 0 1 Green
0 1 1 Red
1 1 1 Black
Color Models
CMYK
• In the CMY model, point (1, 1, 1) represents black. The origin represents white light.
• Equal amounts of each of the primary colors produce grays, along the main diagonal of
the cube.
• Conversion from a CMY color representation to an RGB representation with the matrix
transformation:  R  1 C 
G   1  M 
    
 B  1 Y 
• The conversion from an RGB representation to a CMY representation with the matrix
transformation:
C  1  R 
 M   1  G 
    
Y  1  B 
Color Models
HSV
• Unlike RGB and CMYK, which use primary colors, HSV is closer to how humans
perceive color.
• It has three components: hue, saturation, and value.
• This color space describes colors (hue) in terms of their tone (saturation or
amount of gray) and their brightness value.
• Some color pickers, like the one in Adobe Photoshop, use the acronym HSB, which
substitutes the term "brightness" for "value," but HSV and HSB refer to the same
color model.
Color Models
HSV
• Hue: a specific color

More Grey Less Grey

• Saturation: It is the intensity of a hue
from grey. At maximum saturation a color
would contain no grey at all. At minimum
saturation, a color would contain mostly
grey.

More White Less White

• Brightness refers to how much white, or
black, is contained within a color.
Color Models
HSV
• To give a color specification, a user selects a spectral color and the amounts of
white and black that are to be added to obtain different shades, tints, and
tones.
• For most graphics applications, 128 hues, 8 saturation levels, and 15 value
settings are sufficient.
◦ With this range of parameters in the HSV color model, 15,384 colors would be
available to a user, and the system would need 14 bits of color storage per pixel.
Color Models
HSV
Hue is the color portion of the model (number - 0 to 360°)
Red falls between 0 and 60 degrees.
Yellow falls between 61 and 120 degrees.
Green falls between 121 and 180 degrees.
Cyan falls between 181 and 240 degrees.
Blue falls between 241 and 300 degrees.
Magenta falls between 301 and 360 degrees.

Saturation describes the amount of gray in a particular color, from 0 to 100 percent. Reducing this
component toward zero introduces more gray and produces a faded effect. Sometimes, saturation
appears as a range from 0 to 1, where 0 is gray, and 1 is a primary color.

Value works in conjunction with saturation and describes the brightness or intensity of the color, from
0 to 100 percent, where 0 is completely black, and 100 is the brightest and reveals the most color.
Color Models
HSV - Uses
• Designers use the HSV color model when selecting colors for paint or ink because
HSV better represents how people relate to colors than the RGB color model does.
• The HSV color wheel also contributes to high-quality graphics. Although less well-
known than its RGB and CMYK cousins, the HSV approach is available in many
high-end image editing software programs.

• Selecting an HSV color begins with picking one

of the available hues and then adjusting the
shade and brightness values.
Color Models
HSV - Uses

HSB
Color Models
HSV - Uses