About color spaces. Basic characteristics of colors: concept, types, features, similarities and differences between colors. How saturation differs from brightness
Color plays a huge role not only in art, but also in Everyday life. Few people think about how much different combinations of shades affect human perception, mood and even thinking. This is a kind of phenomenon that operates according to its own seemingly illusory, but clear laws. Therefore, it is not so difficult to subjugate him to your will so that he works for good: you just have to figure out how he acts.
Concept
Color is a subjective characteristic of electromagnetic radiation in the optical range, which is determined on the basis of the resulting visual impression. The latter depends on many physiological and psychological reasons. Its understanding can be equally influenced by its spectral composition and the personality of the person perceiving it.
To put it simply, color is the impression a person receives when a beam of light rays penetrates the retina. A beam of light with the same spectral composition can cause different sensations in different people due to the distinctive characteristics of the sensitivity of the eye, therefore, for each person the shade may be perceived differently.
Physics
The color vision that appears in the human mind includes semantic content. Tone is created by the absorption of light waves: for example, a blue ball appears that way only because the material from which it is made absorbs all shades of light except the blue, which it reflects. Therefore, when we talk about a blue ball, we only mean that the molecular composition of its surface is capable of absorbing all colors of the spectrum except blue. The ball itself has no tone, like any object on the planet. Color is born only in the process of lighting, in the process of perception of waves by the eye and processing of this information by the brain.
A clear distinction between the shade and its main characteristics can be achieved by the eye and brain through comparison. Therefore, values can only be determined by comparing the color with other achromatic shades, including black, white and gray. The brain is also able to compare the hue with other chromatic tones in the spectrum by analyzing tone. Perception is a psychophysiological factor.
Psychophysiological reality is, in essence, a color effect. The shade and its effect may coincide when using harmonic halftones; in other situations, the color may vary.
It is important to know the basic characteristics of colors. This concept includes not only its actual perception, but also the influence of various factors on it.
Basic and additional
Mixing certain pairs of colors can create the impression of white. Complementary are opposite tones that, when mixed, produce gray. The RGB triad is named after the main colors of the spectrum - red, green and blue. In this case, cyan, magenta and yellow will be additional. On color wheel these shades are located in opposition, opposite each other so that the meanings of the two triplets of colors alternate.
Let's talk in more detail
The main physical characteristics of color include the following points:
- brightness;
- contrast (saturation).
Each characteristic can be measured quantitatively. The fundamental differences in the main characteristics of color are that brightness implies lightness or darkness. This is the content of a light or dark component, black or white, while contrast provides information about the content of gray tone: the less it is, the higher the contrast.
Also, each shade can be specified by three unique coordinates, representing the main characteristics of the color:
- lightness;
- saturation.
These three indicators are able to determine a specific shade, starting from the main tone. The main characteristics of color and their fundamental differences are described by the science of colorism, which deals with an in-depth study of the properties of this phenomenon and its influence on art and life.
Tone
The color characteristic is responsible for the location of the hue in the spectrum. Chromatic tone is one way or another assigned to one or another part of the spectrum. Thus, shades located in the same part of the spectrum (but differing, for example, in brightness) will belong to the same tone. When changing the position of a hue along the spectrum, its color characteristic changes. For example, when blue is shifted towards green, the tone changes to cyan. Moving in reverse side, blue will tend towards red, taking on a purple tint.
Warm-coldness
Often a change in tone is associated with the warmth and coldness of the color. Red, red and yellow shades are considered warm, associating them with fiery, “warming” colors. They are associated with corresponding psychophysical reactions in human perception. Blue, violet, light blue symbolize water and ice, referring to cold shades. The perception of “warmth” is associated with both physical and psychological factors of the individual personality: preferences, the mood of the observer, his psycho-emotional state, adaptation to environmental conditions, and much more. Red is considered the warmest, blue is considered the coldest.
It is also necessary to highlight the physical characteristics of the sources. Color temperature is largely associated with the subjective feeling of warmness of a particular shade. For example, the tone of a thermal study as the temperature increases passes through the “warm” tones of the spectrum from scarlet to yellow and, finally, white. However, cyan has the highest color temperature, which is nevertheless considered a cold shade.
Among the main characteristics within the hue factor is also activity. Red is said to be the most active, while green is the most passive. This characteristic can also be somewhat modified under the influence of the subjective views of different people.
Lightness
Shades of the same hue and saturation can refer to different degrees of lightness. Let's consider this characteristic in terms of blue. With the maximum value of this characteristic, it will be close to white, having a soft bluish tint, and as the value drops, blue will become more and more like black.
Any tone will turn into black when the lightness is decreased, and when increased absolutely - white.
It should be noted that this indicator, like all other basic physical characteristics of color, can largely depend on subjective conditions related to the psychology of human perception.
By the way, shades of different tones, even with similar actual lightness and saturation, are perceived differently by a person. Yellow is in fact the lightest, while blue is the darkest shade of the chromatic spectrum.
At high performance yellow is even less distinguishable from white than blue is from black. It turns out yellow tone has even greater intrinsic lightness than the “darkness” characteristic of blue.
Saturation
Saturation is the level of difference between a chromatic hue and an achromatic hue of equal lightness. In essence, saturation is a characteristic of depth and purity of color. Two shades of the same tone can be different levels fadedness. As saturation decreases, every color will become closer to gray.
Harmony
Another one of general characteristics color, which describes a person’s impressions of a combination of several shades. Each person has his own preferences and tastes. Therefore, people have different ideas about harmony and disharmony different types colors (with color characteristics characteristic of them). Harmonious combinations are shades that are close in tone or from different parts of the spectrum, but with similar lightness. As a rule, harmonious combinations do not have high contrast.
As for the rationale for this phenomenon, this concept should be considered in isolation from subjective opinions and personal tastes. The impression of harmony arises under conditions of fulfillment of the law on complementary colors: the equilibrium state corresponds to a gray tone of medium lightness. It is obtained not only by mixing black and white, but also a couple of additional shades, if they contain the main colors of the spectrum in a certain proportion. All combinations that do not produce gray when mixed are considered disharmonious.
Contrasts
Contrast is the difference between two shades, revealed by comparing them. By studying the main characteristics of color and their fundamental differences, we can identify seven types of contrast manifestations:
- Contrast of comparisons. The most pronounced ones are variegated blue, yellow and red. As you move away from these three tones, the intensity of the hue weakens.
- Contrast of dark and light. There are maximally light and maximally dark shades of the same color, and in between there are countless manifestations.
- Contrast of cold and warm. The poles of contrast are recognized as red and blue, and other colors can be warmer or cooler in accordance with how they relate to other cold or warm tones. This contrast can only be known through comparison.
- Contrast of complementary colors - those shades that, when mixed, produce neutral gray. Opposite tones need each other to balance. Couples have their own types of contrasts: yellow and violet represent the contrast of light and dark, and red-orange and blue-green represent warmth and coldness.
- Simultaneous contrast - simultaneous. This is a phenomenon in which the eyes, when perceiving a particular color, need an additional shade, and in its absence, it generates it on its own. Simultaneously generated shades are an illusion that does not exist in reality, but it creates special impressions from perception color combinations.
- Saturation contrast characterizes the contrast between saturated colors and faded ones. The phenomenon is relative: the tone, even without being pure, may seem brighter next to a faded shade.
- Color spread contrast describes the relationships between color planes. It has the ability to enhance the manifestations of all other contrasts.
Spatial impact
Color has properties that can influence the perception of depth through contrasts of dark and light, as well as changes in saturation. For example, all light colors against a dark background will visually come forward.
As for warm and cool shades, then warm colors will come to the fore, and cold ones will go deeper.
Saturation contrast makes bright colors stand out against muted tones.
Spread contrast, also called color plane magnitude contrast, plays a huge role in creating the illusion of depth.
Color - amazing phenomenon of this world. It is able to influence perception, deceive the eye and brain. But if you understand how this phenomenon works, you can not only maintain clarity of perception, but also make color become a faithful assistant in life and art.
Since ancient times, color theorists have developed their ideas and understanding of the interaction of colors. The first attempts to systematize views were made during the lifetime of Aristotle (384-322 BC), but the most serious research in color theory began under Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Leonardo noticed that certain colors enhance each other and discovered contrasting (opposite) and complementary colors.
The first color wheel was invented by Isaac Newton (1642-1727). He divided a ray of white light into rays of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, and then connected the ends of the spectrum into a color wheel. He noticed that when two colors from opposite positions are mixed, a neutral color is produced.
Thomas Young (1773-1829) proved that a white light beam actually splits into only three spectral colors: red, green and blue. These three colors are the original ones. Based on his work, the German physiologist Hermann Helmholtz (1821-1894) showed that the human eye perceives color as a combination of red, green and blue light waves. This theory proved that our brain "breaks down" the color of each object into different percentages of red, green and blue, and it is because of this that we perceive different colors differently.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) divided colors into two groups. He included warm colors (red-orange-yellow) in the positive group, and cool colors (green-blue-violet) in the negative group. He found that positive group colors made viewers feel uplifted, while negative group colors were associated with a feeling of unsettledness.
Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932), a Russian-German chemist, in his book “The ABC of Color” (1916) developed a color system depending on psychological harmony and order.
Itten Johanns (1888-1967), a color theorist from Switzerland, developed color schemes and modified the color wheel, which was based on three primary colors - red, yellow and blue, and included twelve shades. In his experiments, he explored the relationship between color and visual effects.
In 1936, American artist Albert Munsell (1858-1918) created a new universal color model. It is called the Munsell Tree, where the shades are arranged along branches of varying lengths in order of their saturation. Munsell's work was adopted by American industry as the standard for naming colors.
Color harmony
A successful color combination can be designated as “ color harmony" Whether they consist of similar colors that give a softer impression to the eye, or contrasting colors that attract attention, harmonious color combinations are a matter of personal taste. The practice of art and design puts forward color theories, principles for using color, which allow you to make decisions regarding the choice of a particular color.
Color evokes an emotional and physical response, however the nature of the response can be changed by placing the original color in combination with one or more colors. Color combinations can be varied to create combinations that are related or contrasting, thereby influencing the viewer's experience.
Basic Concepts
Complementary colors (optional)
Colors are located opposite each other on the color wheel. They provide the most contrasting combination. Using two opposing colors will create visual vibration and excite the eye.
Similar colors + complementary (contrasting)
One color is accompanied by two colors located in the immediate vicinity of the color opposite the main one. Softening the contrast results in an intricate color combination.
Twin complimentary colors
They are a combination of two pairs of complementary colors. Since the colors involved in this combination enhance the apparent intensity of each of them, some pairs may be unpleasant to the eye. When using 4 colors, avoid color spots of the same area.
Similar colors
These are combinations of two or more colors that are in close proximity on the color wheel. They have similar wavelengths, making them easy to perceive.
Process colors
It is a combination of any three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. Triads of primary colors are perceived more sharply, while secondary and tertiary triads provide a softer contrast.
Monochromatic colors
These are color schemes made up of shades of the same color. Use one color, explore variations in saturation and opacity.
There are several signs of color, the main ones being THREE: hue, saturation and lightness.
Color tone determines the place of color in the spectrum ("red-green-yellow-blue", etc.). This main characteristic colors. In a physical sense, COLOR TONE depends on the wavelength of light. Long waves are the red part of the spectrum. Short ones - shift to the blue-violet side. The average wavelength is yellow and green colors, they are most optimal for the eye.
In our minds, color tone is associated with the color of familiar objects. Many color names come directly from objects with a characteristic color: sand, sea wave, emerald, chocolate, coral, raspberry, cherry, creamy. It is easy to guess that the color tone is determined by the name of the color (yellow, red, blue) and depends on its place in the spectrum.
It is interesting to know that a trained eye, in bright daylight, can distinguish up to 180 color tones and up to 10 levels of saturation. In general, a developed human eye can distinguish about 360 shades of color.
The degree of color chromaticity is determined saturation. This is the degree of distance of a color from gray of the same lightness. Imagine how the fresh grass next to the road is covered with layer after layer of dust. The more layers of dust, the weaker the original pure green color is visible, the less SATURATION of this green. Colors with maximum saturation are spectral colors, minimum saturation gives complete achromaticity (absence of color tone).
You can change saturation in 3 ways:
§ adding to the spectral black color,
§ adding white to the spectral color,
§ adding its contrasting pair to the spectral color (for example: add blue and green to red-orange)
The third sign of color is LIGHTNESS. Any colors and shades, regardless of color tone, can be compared by lightness, that is, it can be determined which one is darker and which one is lighter.
Lightness– this is a set of colors. Initially (spectrally) the lightest is yellow. The darkest is blue. it is the position of a color on a scale from white to black. Characterized by the words “red dark” or “red light”. For achromatic, it has maximum LIGHTNESS White color, minimal - black.
Lightness is a quality inherent in both chromatic and achromatic colors. Lightness should not be confused with whiteness (as the quality of the color of an object).
It is customary for artists to call lightness relationships tonal, so one should not confuse lightness and color tone, light and shadow and color structure of a work. When they say that a picture is painted in light colors, they primarily mean light relations, and in color it can be gray-white, pinkish-yellow, light lilac, in a word, very different.
You can compare any colors and shades by lightness: pale green with dark green, pink with blue, red with purple.
It is interesting to note that red, pink, green, brown and other colors can be both light and dark colors.
Thanks to the fact that we remember the colors of the objects around us, we imagine their lightness. For example, a yellow lemon is lighter than a blue tablecloth, and we remember that yellow is lighter than blue.
Achromatic colors, that is, gray, white and black, are characterized only by lightness. Differences in lightness consist in the fact that some colors are darker and others are lighter.
Any chromatic color can be compared in lightness with an achromatic color.
You can compare colors: red and gray, pink and light gray, dark green and dark gray, purple and black. Achromatic colors are chosen to be equal in lightness to chromatic ones.
Every object in nature can be seen by a person as an object of one color or another.
This is due to the ability various items absorb or reflect electromagnetic waves of a certain length. And the ability of the human eye to perceive this reflection through special cells in the retina. The object itself has no color, it has only physical properties - to absorb or reflect light.
Where do these same waves come from? Any light source consists of these waves. Thus, a person can see the color of an object only when it is illuminated. Moreover, depending on the light source (sun during the day, sun at sunset or sunrise, moon, incandescent lamps, fire, etc.), the intensity of light (brighter, dimmer), as well as on the ability of personal perception by a specific person, color item may look different. Although the subject itself does not change, of course. So, color is a subjective characteristic of an object, which depends on various factors.
Some people, due to the developmental characteristics of the body, do not distinguish colors at all. But most of people are able to perceive waves of a certain length with the eye - from 380 to 780 nm. Therefore, this area was called visible radiation.
If sunlight pass through a prism, this beam will decompose into separate waves. These are exactly the same colors that the human eye can perceive: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. These are 7 electromagnetic waves of different lengths, which together make up white light (we see it as white with the eye), i.e. its "spectrum".
So, each color is a wave of a certain length that a person can see and recognize!
The apparent color of an object is determined by the way that object interacts with light, i.e. with its constituent waves. If an object reflects waves of a certain length, then these waves determine how we see this color. For example, an orange reflects waves with a length of approximately 590 to 625 nm - these are waves orange color, and absorbs the remaining waves. It is these reflected waves that are perceived by the eye. Therefore, a person sees an orange as orange. And grass looks green because, thanks to its molecular structure, it absorbs waves of red and of blue color and reflects waves in the green part of the spectrum.
If an object reflects all waves, and as we already know, all 7 colors together form white light (color), then we see such an object as white. And if an object absorbs all waves, then we see such an object as black.
Intermediate options between white and black are shades of gray. These three colors - white, gray and black - are called achromatic, i.e. containing no “colored” color, they are not included in the spectrum. Colors from the spectrum are chromatic.
As I already said, the perceived color depends on the light source. Without light there are no waves and nothing to be reflected; the eye sees nothing. If the lighting is insufficient, then the eye sees only the outlines of objects - darker or less dark, but all in the same gray-black range. Other areas of the retina are responsible for the eye's ability to see in poor lighting conditions.
Thus, depending on the nature of the light falling on an object, we see different color options for this object.
If an object is well lit, we see it clearly, the color is pure. If there is too much light, the color appears washed out (think of overexposed photographs). If there is little light, the color appears darker, gradually tending to black.
Each color can be analyzed according to several parameters. These are the characteristics of color.
Characteristics of color.
1) COLOR TONE. This is the same wavelength that determines the position of the color in the spectrum, its name: red, blue, yellow, etc.
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “tone” and “subtone”.
Tone is the main paint. Undertone is an admixture of another color.
Due to the difference in undertones, different shades of the same color are formed. For example, yellow-green and blue-green. The main tone is green, the subtone (in smaller quantities) is yellow or blue.
It is precisely the undertone that defines such a concept as TEMPERATURE colors. If you add yellow pigment to the main tone, the color temperature will feel warm. Associations with red-yellow-orange colors are fire, sun, warmth, heat. Objects in warm colors seem closer.
If you add blue pigment to the main tone, the color temperature will be perceived as cold (the colors blue and blue are associated with ice, frost, and cold). Objects in cool colors appear further away.
It is important to remember here and not confuse the concepts. There are two meanings of the phrases “warm colors” and “cool colors”. In one case, they talk about color tone, then red, orange and yellow are warm colors, and blue, blue-green and violet are cool colors. Green and lilac are neutral.
In the second case, we are talking about the undertone of the color, its predominant shade. It is in this meaning that this term will be used in the future to describe the colors of appearance - warm and cold color types. And speaking about color temperature in this meaning, we mean that Each color can have both warm and cold shades depending on itsundertone! Apart from orange, it is always warm (due to the peculiarities of its location in the spectrum). White and black are not included in the color wheel at all and therefore the concept of color tone is not applicable to them, but since we are talking about the temperature of all colors, I will immediately indicate that these two belong to cool colors.
2) The second characteristic of each color is BRIGHTNESS.
It shows how strong the light emission is. If strong, then the color is as bright as possible. The less light there is, the darker the color looks and the brightness decreases. Any color becomes black when the brightness is reduced to the maximum. Present the objects bright color in twilight conditions, the color appears dark, its brightness is not visible. Lowering the brightness by adding black makes the color more SATURATE. Dark red is a rich (deep) red, dark blue is a rich (deep) blue, etc. IN English language for thicker dark color synonymous words are used: deep (deep) and dark (dark). You will also find these terms in the names of color types.
Light brightness and color brightness – different concepts. Above we talked specifically about the color of an object in bright light. In graphics programs (including Painte), brightness is used precisely in this value. In the picture below you can see the decrease in the “brightness” parameter when darkening the color.
But there is also the term “brightness”, meaning “purity”, “richness” of color, i.e. the most intense color without any admixtures of black, white or gray. And it is in this sense that I will use this term further. If it says “brightness parameter”, then we are talking about changing the lighting (i.e. lightness/darkness).
3) The third characteristic of each color is LIGHTNESS.
This is a characteristic opposite to the saturation (darkness, strength) of color.
The higher the lightness, the closer the color is to white. The maximum lightness of any color is white. At the same time, the “brightness” parameter increases. But this brightness is not color (purity), but an increase in illumination; once again I emphasize the difference between these concepts.
Shades with increasing degrees of lightness are perceived as more and more bleached, pale, and weak. Those. with low saturation.
4) The fourth characteristic of each color is CHROMATICITY (INTENSITY). This is the degree of “purity” of color, the absence of impurities in its tone, its richness. When gray pigment is added to the main color, the color becomes less bright, otherwise it becomes muted and soft. Those. its chromaticity (color) decreases. With the chromaticity of color reduced to the maximum, any color becomes one of the shades of gray.
It is important not to confuse the concepts of “juicy” and “saturated” color. Let me remind you that saturated is a dark shade, and juicy is a bright tone, without impurities.
Often, when they say that a color is bright, they mean that it is as chromatic as possible, a pure, rich color. It is in this meaning that this term is used in the theory of color types, which will be discussed further.
If we talk about the “brightness” parameter in terms of illumination (a lot of light - higher brightness - whiter color, little light - lower brightness - darker color), then we will see that when the chromaticity decreases, this parameter does not change. Those. the chromaticity characteristic applies to objects with the same color tone under the same lighting conditions. But one object at the same time looks more “alive”, and the other more “faded” (faded - having lost its bright color).
If you increase the “brightness” parameter, i.e. add white color, then at this level of lightness you can make the color more muted in the same way by adding a gray tint.
It’s the same with more saturated (darker) shades - they also come in both purer and more muted shades. The main thing that we see in all cases as the chromaticity decreases is an increasingly pronounced gray undertone. This is what distinguishes soft colors from bright (pure) ones.
Another important nuance is that when you add any achromatic color (white, gray, black) to the main tone, the color temperature changes. It does not change to the opposite, i.e. a warm color will not become cold in this way or vice versa. But these colors will approach the “temperature” characteristic to neutral shades. Those. without pronounced temperature. That is why representatives of soft, dark or light color types can wear some colors from neutral-cold or neutral-warm, regardless of their main color type. But I will talk about this later.
Thus, according to their main characteristics, all shades are divided into:
1) Warm(with golden undertones) / cold(with blue undertone)
2) Light(unsaturated) / dark(saturated)
3) Bright(clean) / soft(muffled)
And each color has one leading characteristic and two additional ones, which determines the name of some shades. For example, light pink - the leading characteristic is “light”, additional ones - can be both warm and cold, both bright and soft.
Let's practice identifying the leading characteristic.
Or one leading and one additional.
The above examples clearly show the influence of halftone on the leading characteristic of the shade:
Dark colors– colors with the addition of black (saturated).
Light colors– colors with the addition of white (bleached).
Warm colors– colors with warm (yellow, golden) undertones.
Cool colors– colors with cold (blue) undertones appear icy.
Bright colors– clean, without adding gray.
Soft colors– muted, with the addition of gray.
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From this article you will learn
- What is color saturation
- How the main characteristics of color are interconnected
- What does color saturation depend on and what does it affect?
- How to change color saturation using special programs
- How does color saturation affect the choice of paper for printing?
Good color rendering is an important issue when printing any printed products. Clarity and maximum color saturation are the features of attractive printing, which can become a truly working way of promotion. Bright flyers and catalogs that catch attention information stands, booklets will make you remember their contents and ideas for a long time.
What is color saturation?
Saturation is the level of expression of a color tone. Colors can only be saturated in their pure form, but not when they are combined with others. The most intense colors are not used often. There are many answers to the question “how to increase color saturation?” and techniques that allow you to change the level of saturation. For example, if you add black, white or shades of gray to a bright paint, the intensity of the main color will decrease. For the same purpose, paints of different colors are mixed.
Another way to change the degree of saturation is to mix the selected tone with a complementary color. This is considered to be located opposite in the traditional color wheel. For example, orange will become muted if you add its complementary blue.
In reality, you rarely see pure colors, which means that when making an image it is important to change the color saturation in time. Since there are many subtle undertones, it is necessary to be able to distinguish between them when choosing a color combination.
Lightness and color saturation as the main characteristics
The functioning of the color-sensitive receptors of the human eye affects the vision of color. This is due to the relationship between the reactions of all receptors, there are 3 types. Their overall behavior affects how light the image will be. Changing the radiation power affects lightness, and changing the wavelength changes the apparent color tone and color saturation. Let's consider the above concepts by imagining a painted board. One part of it is in direct sunlight, and the second is in the shade. These halves are characterized by the same color tone, but they are distinguished by lightness. All these properties are united by the concept of “color”. As the example shows, hue and color saturation are included in the qualitative subjective characteristics of color, and lightness is considered a subjective quantitative characteristic.
Thus, all 3 of the above phenomena are properties of colors that the eye recognizes, with the exception of white, gray and black. Let's look at them in order.
Color tone
Color tone is a feature determined by sensations. It is described by the words: blue, orange, etc. If the object is not a light source, then its tone is proportional to the level of spectral transparency of objects and reflection for objects that do not possess the first property. For a person, the phenomenon we discuss in this section is directly related to the familiar environment. Therefore, most names come from the names of things of a similar color. These are colors such as lemon, emerald, azure, blood red, sand, etc. However, perception is subjective and depends, in addition to physical laws, on emotions, professional skills, habits, and other characteristics of a person.
Color saturation
The next characteristic of color perceived by a person – saturation – determines its richness. So, in a row of reds, it is easy to choose options that have a more active red tone. They appear bright red. Brightness and color saturation are related to the concentration of the dye. By increasing the quantity, it is easy to increase the saturation of the solution and paint.
The color saturation of objects becomes highest as soon as the objects are exposed to illumination of the color corresponding to them. An experienced person in this field is able to distinguish a maximum of 180 tones and sixteen levels of saturation in natural light. That is, this area contains 1880 varieties of pure flowers and a huge, specific number of complex ones. In dim light, the volume of perceived colors is reduced. The perception of objects is radically transformed when colored light is applied. It is known that in the blue reflections of the moon everything appears black.
Chroma and color saturation are expressed by objective physical parameters. The color tone is characterized by the wavelength of “single-frequency” radiation. Let us add that in colorless lighting it is perceived to be the same color as the object in question. The wavelength with such monochromatic radiation is considered dominant. Purity quantifies saturation. It is a fraction of the single-frequency flow combined with white lighting. In other words, purity is defined as the power of monochromatic radiation divided by the power of all visible radiation that forms a particular color. As a result, the color will be purer if the intensity of the first is higher and the level of white light is lower. The maximum purity of spectral colors is 1. In them, the white level corresponds to 0.
Lightness
Lightness is the last indicator that describes objective brightness. If you take things of different colors, obviously some of them will be lighter, some will be darker. Their difference in color tone does not bother us. By comparing the colors of a particular object in light and shadow, the viewer notices the difference in light and color in its areas. Thus, yellow objects are lighter than purple objects.
What determines color saturation?
Saturation, in other words, color purity is associated with the volume of white, black, gray spectral color tones in the paint. If there is a lot of one of them in the composition, then the shade becomes duller. It will be lighter or darker than the original version.
Depending on the degree of saturation, colors can be of three types:
- Maximum saturated colors- these are the colors of the spectrum and the purple series (non-spectral).
- Saturated– colors with pronounced chromaticity.
- Low saturated colors- these are colors with achromatic inclusions, that is: light blue, pale yellow, cream, as well as gray-blue, light green, burgundy, gray-violet, dark brown.
Chromatic have such a qualitative feature as color: tone and color saturation. For achromatic ones, the only thing that matters is how light or dark they are.
Color saturation, like brightness, varies when compared. Yellow in the center of the spectrum is less saturated than closer to the edges. But in lightness (brightness) it stands above other colors in its group.
Achromatic color is a color that has no color. It sounds illogical, but this definition is accepted among scientists studying this issue. This concept includes black, gray, white colors. According to the spectral theory of color, it is incorrect to include achromatic colors in the list of colors, since they do not have the main feature of chromatic ones - hue and color saturation. If the purity of the latter corresponds to 100%, then for achromatic ones this figure is zero. Therefore, you should not blindly believe the meaning of the phrase “white.” However, these phrases are well-established, they are simple, and therefore have been preserved in science.
The combination of chromatic and achromatic colors makes up the variety of colors and shades that exist in the world and in the everyday environment of man.
How to adjust color saturation when developing a print layout
The computer screen is capable of displaying objects with high color saturation. But with offset printing, four primary inks are superimposed on each other. This is important to remember when choosing shades and combinations in your design. Too much thick layer The paint may not have time to dry and will stain the next sheet.
When you use uniform fills with CMYK shades in a layout, the best result can be achieved using shades consisting of 1 or 2 colors out of four (for example, magenta and cyan).
Do not choose shades of primary colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) with a density of less than 10%, since when printed they come out much lighter than on the monitor. If possible, choose shades between 10% and 30%.
Beware of homogeneous fills that take up a lot of space, because even minor deviations in color will be visible on them. Instead, it is better to use textures.
Offset printing is carried out liquid paints Therefore, they need time to dry once they hit the paper. If the substance does not have time to do this, then the sheets will stain each other upon contact. This is called "over-squeezing." There are various methods to eliminate it. One of them is correct preliminary preparation layout.
In full-color printing, each color is built from shades of the base colors. For example, blue contains 100% cyan, 72% purple and 10% black. When adding these numbers, you get a total saturation of 182% (100% + 72% + 10%). The maximum possible density is 400% (100%C+100%M+100%Y+100%B). We advise you not to exceed the total amount of 225%. In other words, if you add up the percentages of all paints, you should get no more than 225%. Small volumes, headlines and logos will accept up to 275%. However, exceeding this figure will lead to printing problems and a significant increase in production time.
Also, when designing your layout, pay attention to black in the CMYK color model. As you know, a combination of CMY inks at 100% does not produce pure black, but rather dark brown. There is another problem - the overlap of 3 color channels on small details. The error makes this printing method impossible for printing, where the main thing is text. Of course, large letters can be printed with three layers of paint, but letters smaller than 6 pt will cause a lot of difficulties.
It is also important to remember the high cost of use three colors, when only black is required. In addition to the price, there are a number of difficulties, for example, the wetness of newsprint from three layers of paint. Business card paper will accept colors, but newspapers will be difficult.
Despite the existing advantages, individual black has a serious problem: it is a very gray and poorly saturated color. Although it works on small text, it is completely useless in creativity. Hence, experts choose “rich black” or Progressive Black.
Setting it up is easy. You just need to put K100 and add 50% Cyan, 50% Yellow and 50% Magenta. Many industries - newspapers in most cases - have limits on the total percentage of ink. Since the rich black C100 M100 Y100 K100 gives 400%, it is stupid to spend such an amount on one piece of newsprint, especially since there will be stains and streaks.
How is it possible to change color saturation?
The tools that let you adjust saturation in Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom are very similar. How to increase color saturation in Photoshop? Very simple: Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. There are three items in the dialog box: “Hue”, “Saturation”, “Lightness”. "Saturation" allows you to vary the strength of the colors visible in a photo, while "Hue" affects the color itself. It is possible to edit images through a general channel or select a specific option in the drop-down menu. And also change only the selected color using the “Color Eye dropper” in the lower right corner of the dialog box. To do this, click the tool at the selected point in the drawing. The sliders near the color scales at the bottom allow you to determine the width of the selected color area.
As mentioned, the Hue engine physically changes the colors in a photo, redistributing them to new values. What is happening is demonstrated by two colored bars towards the bottom of the dialog box. The top bar shows the color that is currently present in the image, and the second bar shows what it will be after conversion by this function. You can move along both stripes using the “Hue” engine, it will change colors in accordance with the position of the pointers on both stripes at once.
Applying color correction to an entire image is limited, but combining the Hue setting with the Color Eye droppers gives plenty of scope for local color changes. This option is much more convenient.
Photoshop also offers a tool for controlling color saturation - Vibrance. In Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom, it affects colors in the same way as Hue/Saturation, but protects skin tones. It works more intensely in areas of weak colors than in areas of strong colors.
How to Use Color Saturation to Create Contrast
The quality of the paint implies purity and richness. The phrase “contrast in saturation” defines the comparison of saturated, pure colors with faded, muted ones. Colors formed by the refraction of white light have maximum saturation.
Pigment colors also come in the highest saturation. But as soon as darkening and lightening operations are performed on pure colors, their saturation evaporates.
The purity of flowers can disappear for four reasons:
- Pure color can be mixed with white, which gives a relatively cool tone. Carmine red, when combined with white, develops a bluish tint, which radically changes its perception. In this case, yellow also turns into a relatively cold color, while blue remains virtually unchanged and does not lose color saturation. Violet is incredibly susceptible to the influence of white. So, deep dark purple looks menacing, when adding white it appears purple shades, and this gives the viewer a feeling of calm when looking at an object of this color.
- Pure color can be mixed with black. With this option, the yellow color loses its radiance, and a touch of pain and toxicity appears. Black accentuates the anxiety characteristic of violet tones and gives a peculiar feeling of weakness and lethargy. By adding black to bright red we get purple. The blue gets darker. Even a small amount of black paint can negate its purity. Green is more flexible, unlike purple and blue. Black takes all of the listed colors away from the light and destroys the purity of color.
- Rich color fades easily thanks to the addition of a mixture of black and white, that is, gray. From its appearance, the tones come out lighter or darker, but undoubtedly less active than before. Paints into which gray is mixed are called “blind”.
- Pure colors are easy to diversify by adding appropriate additional colors. Add to purple yellow and get intermediate options from light yellow to dark purple. Green and red are close in lightness to each other, so together they form gray-black. Combinations of two complementary colors with white create interesting shades of great complexity.
When a mixture contains 3 “first order” colors, it seems dull and inexpressive. Depending on the ratio, it may be closer to yellowish, reddish, bluish or black hues. With the help of 3 primary colors, all degrees of reduced color saturation in paint are achievable. The same rule applies to 3 “second order” colors and any combination where 3 primary colors are observed: yellow, red and blue.
The contrast “faded - saturated” is not always unconditional. Absolutely every color will seem saturated to you in comparison with a clearly faded one, and vice versa.
If you need to get an expressive composition by exclusively playing with color saturation, then we recommend creating faded colors on the basis of saturated ones. Then pure red should compete with its faded version, and rich blue should compete with faded blue. However, it is unacceptable to use, for example, pure red with faded blue or red with faded green. Here the comparison by saturation will be replaced by any other comparisons, for example, cold and warm. And the action of the initially opposite will become controversial.
It is interesting that the gray variants seem alive to the viewer thanks to the pure colors adjacent to them. Let's illustrate this. Let every other square on the “chessboard” be painted gray, and the remaining squares contain pure, saturated colors of the same lightness. Obviously, the gray color will be given vivacity, and the chromatic colors will be less rich, more weakened.
How does printing method affect color saturation?
Printing houses use two methods of printing printed products:
- Digital seal. This printing is done using laser beam on a laser printer. With it you can get a deeper and richer color. The peculiarity of this type is the ability to make changes to the finished template. Digital printing is typical for short-run printing, and any type of paper is suitable for it. Finished products It is heat treated, so the paint dries quickly. This characteristic allows for fast post-printing processing.
- Offset printing is more economical than the first option. When producing large quantities, the cost per unit of production is not so high. But this comes at the price of low color saturation. Color rendering in this version is also difficult to control. Note that the sample is expensive. Because of this, the customer may end up receiving a product in a different format, less deep in color than what was intended.
How color saturation affects the choice of printing paper
High-quality color rendering, in addition to a correctly composed layout, requires high-quality ink, paper and proper modern printing equipment. The characteristics that the printer works with are the size and density of the paper, the circulation. Paper comes in the following types:
- newspaper;
- designer;
- coated and offset.
The higher the paper density, the greater color saturation and better color rendition you will be provided with. Thin newsprint quickly absorbs paint and distorts shades; therefore, such publications are usually produced in black and white on low-quality paper. Printing in a full range of colors can be done on offset paper. What’s important is that it includes options for budget printing.
Coated paper has a dense structure and is suitable for good color rendition. Glossing allows you to enhance colors on thick paper. This makes the product pleasant not only visually, but also to the touch. This technology is common in magazine printing. In addition to gloss, customers love matte coated paper. It maintains rich color without glare for a natural, vibrant look.
The size and density of paper for printing in a printing house depends on the needs and requests of the client. If color rendition and color saturation are important, it is better to choose among quality options thick paper. It allows you to convey the necessary shades without streaks and achieve the desired effect without additional equipment settings.
