Abstract
Color surrounds us. It is a sensation that adds excitement and emotion to our lives. Everything from the clothes we wear to the pictures we paint revolves around color. In this chapter, methods of producing and manipulating color through the use of paints, dyes, filters, and lighting will be explored.
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Further Reading
Coren, S., Porac, C., & Ward, L. M. (1984). Sensation & Perception. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Eckstut, J., & Eckstut, A. (2013). The Secret Language of Color. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, Inc.
Finlay, V. (2014). The Brilliant History of Color in Art. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
Franklin, B. (1996). Teaching about Color and Color Vision. College Park, MD: American Association of Physics Teachers.
Goldstein, E. B. (1989). Sensation and Perception, 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Judd, D. B., & Kelly, K. L. (1965). The ISCC-NBS Method of Designating Colors and a Dictionary of Color Names. U.S. National Bureau of Standards Circular 553, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: U.S. National Bureau of Standards.
Overheim, R. D., & Wagner, D. L. (1982). Light and Color. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Williamson, S. J., & Cummins, H. Z. (1983). Light and Color in Nature and Art. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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Glossary of Terms
- complementary colors (of light)
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Two colors that produce white light when added together.
- complementary colors (of pigment)
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Two colors that produce black when added together.
- dye
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A solution of molecules that selectively absorbs light of different colors.
- enamel
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A thin layer of glass fused to a metal.
- glaze
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A thin layer of glass covering the surface of pottery.
- halftone process
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Printing with black dots of various sizes to represent shades of gray.
- hue
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Color name; what distinguishes one color from another.
- lake
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Coloring agent consisting of alumina particles covered with dye.
- monochromatic filter
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Filter that allows only one wavelength (color) to pass through.
- neutral density filter
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Gray filter that reduces the intensity of light without changing its spectral distribution (color).
- Newton’s color circle
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Three primary colors arranged around a circle with the complementary secondary colors directly opposite.
- paint pigments
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Color-absorbing powders suspended in a medium such as oil or acrylic.
- primary colors (additive, of light)
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Three colors that can produce white light .
- primary colors (subtractive, of filters or pigments)
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Three colors that can produce black.
- saturation
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Purity of a color; spectral colors have the greatest saturation ; white light is unsaturated.
- spectral filter
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Filter that passes a distribution of wavelengths of light.
- spectral reflectance curve
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Graph indicating the portion of light reflected at each wavelength.
- spectroscope
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Instrument that measures the power (in watts) of light at each wavelength.
- spectral power distribution (SPD)
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Power of light as a function of wavelength.
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Rossing, T.D., Chiaverina, C.J. (2019). Sources of Color. In: Light Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27103-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27103-9_8
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