HECOL250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Color Theory, Cmyk Color Model, Grayscale
13 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Colour Theory
need to understand power of colour and also how to work
with colour
visible spectrum taken and made into the colour wheel
when there is no light, we do not see colour
colour is all about light
the amount of light that we get to our eyes changes the
colour that we actually see
two types of primary colour - that we speak about as designers
working on a screen - CMYK and RGB
1. CMYK:
• cyan, magenta, yellow, k stands for black - three subtractive primaries - when you put them
together it takes away light and actually creates a black when you put the first three together
2. RGB:
•red, blue, green - additive primaries, all about light pushing through and getting color
Colour wheel
three primaries
red, blue, and yellow
secondary
when you mix two primaries
orange, green, and violet
tertiary
colours that we make with our secondary colours
yellow-green, orange-yellow, etc
Properties of Colour
1. Hue
2. Value
3. Intensity/ Saturation
Hue
pure colours - fully saturated
the colour
Value
the lightness or darkness of the hue
can be altered by adding white or black paint to the colour
white adds brightness to the hue and provides a tint
black adds darkness to the hue and provides a shade
high value colour - has a lot of white in it
low value colour - has a lot of black in it
most people can distinguish at least 40 different tints and shades of colour
value + hue - the value in colour, pure hues have inherent value (lightness or darkness)
•blue is thought to have the lowest value
•yellow is thought to have the highest value
grayscale also has value
•white has the highest value
•black has the lowest value
keywords: tint, shade, low value, high value, hue
Intensity/ Saturation
when you lower or higher the saturation in a photo that you are editing, it either mutes or
intensifies everything
refers to the brilliance or dullness
at full intensity only when pure and unmixed
mixing with black or white changes value and also its intensity
tones - neutralized, low intensity versions of a colour
achromatic grey - a grey that you come to through two complimentary colours
can produce a tone one of two ways:
1. dulled colour that you achieve my mixing two complimentary colours
2. adding either white, black, or grey
tints and shades are tones because you are adding white or black
relationship with value and saturation - when you make a colour lighter or darker you are
automatically changing the saturation of the colour
brightness - high intensity
dullness - low intensity
