Incollection,
Chapter 1 Fundamentals of color science
volume 1 of \AZimuth\, North-Holland, (1998)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1387-6783(98)80004-4
Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter outlines some color fundamentals and corrects those misconceptions that may cause difficulties in grasping more advanced concepts. Early views on color and Newton's spectrum are discussed. The beginning of the science of color was described by Sir Isaac Newton. Newton designated the spectrum as containing seven major colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. All colors that are possibly perceived are the colors in this pure spectrum and various combinations of these colors with each other and with white (by diluting a colored paint with white paint or a colored light beam with white light) and black (by darkening a colored paint by adding black paint or by reducing the intensity of a colored light beam; this is frequently and incorrectly called “mixing with black,”). Light in the strictest sense is that part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is perceived by the eye, with wavelengths between about 400 nm and about 700 nm. The smallest possible quantity of spectrally pure, single color light is called a photon. The chapter presents color descriptions, color appearance, color mixing (additive and subtractive), color vision and color theories. These theories include opponent theory, trichromacy theory, modern theories, Goethe's theory and color circles (wheels).
