Notes on

coroR
TV provides us with a
photographic recording of what
has been captured by a camera
or created by digital means. This
"captured
or digital vigw" is now
available to the viewdr/"user" with
interactive ability to trbnsform the
information on the TV screen
The development of computer
technology has allowed the artist
the opportunity to create images
using light-transmitted color.
Before this development, the
manipulation of light-transmitted
color, or additive color, was
reserved for theatre lighting and
other specialized purposes.
There are many ways to see color:
on a color monitor
on the
printed
page
The widest variety bf colors is the visible spectrum. We see some
of these colors in nature, and the others are manmade colors.
in nature
Page I of 4
Notes on
COLOR
RGB color - light-transmitted color
Newton looked through a prism
and discovered that white light could
be broken up into a rainbow of colors. This discovery and later
White light consists ol
three bands of color
-
red,
green
and blue; this
is the visible spectrum
of light that we see, i.e.,
the light waves in the
color spectrum. Whe light
hits an object, some light waves are
absorbed, and others are not. The ones that
are not absorbed are reflected off the surface of an
object and are interpreted as color in our eyes and brain.
r,
1--eq.
Reflected light
- how we see color
The arrows
pointing to the cup represent white light
spectrum of lightwaves) from a light source such as
a light bulb. The arrows
pointing
away from the sun
represent the reflected light waves, or light that bounces
off the surface of the cup. This light is what we see
tr
,Z
>1 L'.-
the cuP' The blue
\
,
lighrwave is reflected
+ off the surface and this
I
t.l
is the lightwave that our eye sees and
interprets as the color blue.
Page 2 of +
and'"-"';
ru ;*"ct
or'?
o
H
-3
(the vissible
the sun or
*ISEE
a blue cup.
Notes on
COLOR
Color ranges
Gamut is the range of all colors that can be expressed
in a
given
color system. The largest color range is that seen
by the eyei colors shown on the monitor have a more limited range,
and the
gamut
of
printed
colors is even more limited.
Four Color Systems
Visible Color Gamut
-
what we see
RGB Color Gamut
-
the additive colors
Pantone Color Gamut
-
pre-mixecUspot
colcr
CMYK Color Gamut
-
process or printed colors used
to print full color on a printing
press from the 4rcolor separation
process
TV or Color Monitor - RGB Color Monitor - RGB/CYMK
RecV Green and Blue are
the additive
primary colors.
When combined, they
Pro
duce white light; when mixed
together in varying intensities,
they can form all the colors
that we can see on a monitor.
The absence of all three colorb
is black.
Yellow, cyan and magenta are the
subtractive primary colors (Process
colors) used in printing.When one
primary color - Red, Green or Blue
-
is subtracted, the other two primary
colors form a secondary color, or a
subtractive primary color for use in
printing. tror example, yellow is a
combination of red and
green,
or the
absence of blue.
Page 3 df 4
Notes on
coroR
TV or @lq Uorrnoi
RecV Green and Blue are
the addiiive
primary rlolors.
when combined, they produce
white lilht; when mixed together
in varying intensities, they can form
all the colors that we can see on a
monitor.The absence
qf
all three
colors is black.
i
Pigment Color Wheel
Manmade colors include dyes,
synthetic colors, natural pigments,
etc. Primary colors are red, yellow
and blue. Secondary colors are orange
(red and Yellow), green
lyellow
and blue)
and purple (red and blue). we are familiar with this color system because most of us
have mixed paints to create a picture,
or used colored pencils or crayons to create
a drawing. when a color is applied to paper, it is the reflected hght off the color on
the paper that we see as the color we are painting or drawirg with.
Page 4 of 4
Copyright O1995 by #arron Evans. All Righrs Resen,ed.
Color lilonfror
Yellow, cyan and magenta are the
subtractive primary colors used in
printing. Yellow is a combination of
red and green,
or the absence of blue.
Cyan is the combination of
green
and
blue, or the absence of red. Magenta
is the combination of red and blue, or
the absence of green.
|,
Subtractive color theory is the basis of
four-color printing. Printers create color
separations, using a series of filters to
subtract light from one of the primary
colors
-
red, green
or blue. The result is
., re formation of one of the subtractive
printing colors. ln theory, all 3 subtractive
primaries, when combined, should
produce
black. However, there are
impurities in the inks and therefore only
a dark gray is produced. For this reason
a forth color, black, has to be added
to the printing process in order to pro-
duce a true black (C - cyan, Y - yellow,
M - magenta and K - black).
Yellow
Orange
Purple
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