Color Theory

Broken Hue

A combination of unequal proportions of all the primaries

Hue

Undiluted colors; the true colors of the spectrum

Value

lightness and darkness of color

Saturation

brightness of a color

Chroma

Brightness and dullness of color

Tint

A color with the presence of white. Lighter shade of a color.

Shade

A color with the presence of black. Darker shade of a color.

Color

name for any color

Intervals

a step of change between color samples

Gradient

series of progressive intervals that are so close that individual steps cannot be distinguished ; it is a seamless transition between color differences

Achromatic

gray, white and black are its colors

Chromatic

red, purple, pink, etc. and all other colors with Hue are its colors

Primary Colors

Consists of red, yellow and blue colors

Secondary Colors

these colors are produced from mixing one primary color with another

Tertiary Colors

these colors are created when mixing one secondary and one primary

Even Interval

the center is a middle step between two parents

Uneven Interval

the center is more like one parent than the other

CMYK Mode

imitates the results of mixing process colors and used for printing; it stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black)

RGB Mode

this software color display mode is a screen display parallel to the behavior of light; it stands for red, green and blue

Subtractive Color

process of mixing pigments together, such as we see in paintings; the pigments in an object enable it to absorb some light waves and reflect others

Additive Color

the process of mixing colored light, such as in theatrical lighting or television, the lights are mixed by placing colored filters in front of a projected light ray

Partitive Color

Based on the viewer's reaction to colors when they are placed next to each other.

Gamut

The range of colors reproduced in a color mode.

Calibrating

to adjust so that specific combinations of red, green, and blue signals produce specific colors on screen

Color Wheel

color arrangement or structures that enable us to organize and predict such color reactions and interactions

Pigment Wheel

the basis for working with subtractive color, it imparts the information about the reactions of colors have when they are actually mixed

Process Wheel

This type of color wheel gives us three basic primaries- cyan, magenta and yellow- that do upon mixing, result in purer hues

Light Wheel

a color wheel based on the additive color system and provides information concerning light rays and transparent color; since these are combinations of colored light, when all the primaries are combined, white results

Pantone Matching System

a color communication system, with each color referred to as a Pantone Spot Color

Aristotle

Believed that all colors are derived from mixtures of black and white

Leonardo da Vinci

According to this color theorist, black and white were indeed colors. He assigned white, yellow, green, blue, red and black as the simple or primary colors.

Simultaneous Contrast

certain responses took place when colors are placed next to each other

Isaac Newton

He discovered that as a ray of white light passes and is bent, or refracted, through a prism it is broken into an array of colors, or spectral hues-red, orang, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The 1st color wheel was attributed to him.

Johann Goethe

He was one of the first modern thinkers to investigate and record the function of the eye and its interpretation of color, rather than properties of light.

Afterimaging

An optical reaction that occurs after we stare intensely at a hue and then shift out eyes to a white surface, the second hue refers to this term.

Color Hemisphere

pure hues to grayish color

Pointilism

A painting technique in which dots of pure hues are placed together on a white ground so that they are mixed by the eye.

Albert Munsell

He developed a partitive color system based on five primary hues/principal color: yellow, red, green, blue and violet.

Johannes Itten

He developed his color sphere and "star" for his Bauhaus preliminary course . The star was simply a flattened version of the sphere developed by Runge. However, this color theorist placed yellow at the top of the diagram because it was the brightest of the hues and the closest visually white light.

Josef Albers

The teaching diagram that this color theorist used was a triangle. It had red, yellow, and blue at its points. Orange, violet, and green at the midpoints, with red-gray, yellow-gray, and blue-gray in between.

Monochromatic

One hue or a harmony based on one hue

Analogous

A color combination using two or three hues that lie side by side on the color wheel.

Direct Complementary

A harmony using two hues that lie directly opposite one another on the color wheel.

Near Complementary

One of the hues lies to one side of what would otherwise be a direct complementary.

Split Complementary

One hue and the two hues that lie on either side of its direct complementary

Triadic

A combination of three hues that lie equidistant from one another on the color wheel.

Tetradic

Uses 4 equidistant hues

Color

A phenomenon of light and visual perception that may be described in terms of an individual's perception of hue, saturation, and lightness for objects, and hue, saturation, and brightness for light sources.

Spectrum

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths, especially the band of colors produced when sunlight is refracted and dispersed by a prism, comprising red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Pale

Designating a color having high lightness and low saturation.

Dark

Designating a color having low lightness and low saturation, and reflecting only a small fraction of incident light.

Brilliant

Designating a color having high lightness and strong saturation.

Deep

Designating a color having low lightness and strong saturation.

Reflected Color

The perceived color of an object, determined by the wavelengths of the light reflected from its surface after selective absorption of other wavelengths of the incident light.

Advancing Light

A warm color that appears to move toward an observer, giving an illusion of space.

Receding Color

A cool color that appears to move away from an observer, giving an illusion of space.

Tone

An intermediate value of a color between a tint and a shade.

Raster Image

A digital image that consists of a grid of closely spaced pixels.

Bitmap

A data structure representing a generally square or rectangular grid of pixels.

Pixel

Contraction of picture+element: the smallest addressable area of illumination on a display screen.

Vector Image

A digital image created and defined by mathematically based software routines for such geometric primitives as points, straight lines, curves, and shapes, and from which more complex graphic elements can be created.