Fundamentals of color theory

José M. Saiz, 2018

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

CONCEPT OF COLOR: Perception

· Detection of radiation as a function of l  Radiometry, spectrometry

· Visual perception of radiation  Photometry, colorimetry.

· Perceived color vs Psicophysical color

· Perception colors vs spectral colors .

[Not an unambiguous relation: Spectral curve  Color ; Color  Spectral curve]

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

CONCEPT OF COLOR: A bit of history

· Historicaly white was ‘pure’ and the rest were ‘contaminations’ of it.
· Newton changes this concept introducing the colored spectrum: White is ‘structured’.
· 1802: T. Young: Trivalence hipothesis: There must be just three receptor in the eye.
· 1855: J. C. Maxwell confirms the hipothesis: Representation of color in a 3D space.
· Maxwell measures the amount of primary colors necessary to obtain spectral colors.
· 1924: First CIE meeting (Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage ).
· 1931: CIE defines the standard observer.
· From the XVII to the XX century: Color catalogues, Human eye:
guides, collections, atlas… Cone Sensitivity.

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

 Blanco

COLOR: Empirical systems.

Eje  Color
de 
neutros
· Collections and guides:
Used in industry, like RAL collection, Pantone guide. 2 3 1
2 Negro
Use fixed composition of pigments. 3
1
Amarillo Naranja
3
1
2 2
Verde 
1 hoja Rojo 3

· Oswald system: Tries to reproduce all existing colors… 3

2
Verde 
mar
Púrpura
1
2
Ultra 
1 Turquesa marino
3
3 1
· Munsell system: (Still used un USA) Hue, Value, Chrome 2
1 3
2

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLOR: Empirical systems.

· DIN system (1940’s): Similar to Munsell, but uses spectral colors for the hue.

· NCS system (1985): Uses six ‘poles’ or coordinates. More systematic

· Differences: Color selection criteria, specification, differences in perceived color…

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

RADIOMETRY AND PHOTOMETRY

 dF 
· Spectral flux F =  0 dl
dl   Fl dl
0

780
· Luminous flux F 380
Vl·Feldl

Units Radiant Luminous Units

Magnitudes Magnitudes
W Radiant flux Luminous flux Lumen
W/sr Intensity Luminous intensity Candela
W/sr·m2 Radiance Luminance Candela/m2
W/m2 Irradiance Illuminance Lux

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

RADIOMETRY AND PHOTOMETRY: Sources

· Color perception requires light. The available light is given by the source.
· Sources: Primary or secondary.

Continuous spectrum
Mixed spectrum

Typical
Incandescent lamp fluorescent
bulb
Sunlight spectrum

[Link]

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

RADIOMETRY AND PHOTOMETRY: Illuminants (CIE)

· Illuminant ‘A’: Black body emission at 2855,5 K. (In practice: Spiral W lamp in air).

· Illuminants ‘B’ and ‘C’: Direct and average sunlight, respectively. (Not in use today).

· Illuminants ‘D’: Represent Daylight. The most important one is the D65 (T=6500K)

· Illuminant ‘E’: Flat Spectrum (not real, just used for

theoretical purposes)

· Illuminant ‘F’: Represents the spectrum of a fluorescent

lamp. (There are 12 standard patterns for CIE).

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

ATTRIBUTES: Description of perceived color

· Brightness: The propery that tells us about how bright or dark a surface is.

· Hue: The propery that tells us about how reddish or bluish, etc. a surface is.

· Saturation: The propery that tells us about how vivid or dull a surface is.

· ACTUALLY: It is the way in which color guides and color especification systems work.

· Q: What is color measurement?

· R: To Link color attributes to the physical magnitudes of light that reaches the observer.

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: Trichromacy [R, G, B]

·Trichromatic Principle:
Any color can be obtained by the addition of 3 primary colors adequately chosen.
The amounts of each color are named triestimulus values.

· 1931: The CIE proposes 3 spectral lines of a Hg lamp: [R, G, B]

· Grassman laws work under this principle:

c(C) = r(R) + g(G) + b(B)

· But… some values are negative !

For instance, to obtain the spectral colors,
these are the coefficients:

· In general: given three real sources, they cannot cover the gamut of human vision

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: Trichromacy
COLORIMETRY: Trichromacy [X, Y, Z]

· Then, the CIE proposes another set of 3 primary colors [X, Y, Z]:
- Positive triestimulus values (all colors lie in the triangle)
- One of the triestimulus -Y- values carries all the information
about the luminous flux.
- But… this primary colors are NOT REAL.

· When trying to obtain the x (X) + y (Y) + z (Z)

spectral colors we have
positive curves:
Notice the shape of y!
· These are the 1931 CIE 2° standard It is the Photopic Curve
observer color-matching functions.

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: Color Space [X, Y, Z]  Chromaticity Diagram [x, y, Y]

· Triestimulus values are not normalized (depend on the intensity  don’t specify a color)

· Chromaticity values:
X Y Z
x y z
XYZ XYZ XYZ

· Chromaticity Diagram (gamut of human vision):

LIMITS: Spectrum or ‘monochromatic locus’ + ‘Purple line’

Mixtures: Straight lines(2) and triangles(3)…
Flat Power spectrum locates in: (x, y) = (1/3, 1/3)

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: Color of a radiation

· Radiation: Pc,l (It can be a primary or a secondary source… )

l2 l2 l2
· Triestimulus values: X  Pc,l  x l   dl Y  Pc,l  y l   dl Z   Pc,l  z  l   dl
l1 l1 l1
Pc,l dl is the spectral radiant flux

are the color matching functions

· For calculation it is a summatory: (values of color-matching functions are in 5nm steps)

X   Pc,l  x  l   l Y   Pc,l  y l   l Z   Pc,l  z  l   l

X Y Z
· Chromatic Coordinates: x y z
XYZ XYZ XYZ

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: Color of an object

· Lets asume a source with spectrum Pl + a Surface with Reflectance r(l):

· Triestimulus values: X = K  Y = K  Z = K 

· Value of K introduced so that the illuminant always has a luminosity of 100:

K =  

· X, Y, Z depend and the illuminant. For these reason color especification for objects
requires standard illumination (Remember D65)

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: CIELab Color Space

· Many color spaces have been defined, trying to obtain uniformity in the space.
· 1976: CIELab was introduced by CIE. It is today the most succesful one.
- It is a Cartesian system. The metric is transformed in pursue of uniformity.
- It reminds Munsell Color System
- It requires the triestimulus values of a perfect white diffuser: Xn, Yn, Zn.
- Mathematically:
 Y 
L*  116  3  0.1379 
 Yn 
 X Y 
a*  500 3 3
 Xn Yn 
 Y Z 
b*  200 3 3
 Yn Z n 

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

COLORIMETRY: CIELab Color Space: L C h

· Passing a, b to Polar Coordinates: C (modulusChroma) ; h (angleHue)

· L, C, h is directly connected with the attributes used to describe perceived color.

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

 Fundamentals of color theory

José M. Saiz, 2018

Introduction History Photometry Attributes Colorimetry

Apuntes de color de José Federico Echávarri Granado.
Universidad de la Rioja. Departamento de Química. Grupo de color.