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Why are there different theories about color?
It appears that color is as much a part of human vision as it is of the physics of light and matter. The study of color and light is still a part of scientific theory. Knowledge about how color works is constantly being adjusted and refined, even as you read this. However, enough practical knowledge about color is understood to enable its use in many ways. The information on this website is based on some of these observations.
Why isn't there just one set of primary colors?
One way to look at it is that all color mixing needs light. Without light, we would see nothing at all.
The main reason for two sets of primary colors is the way the colors combine, and the way the eye sees the new color. Color is mixed from direct light one way, while reflected objects and filters mix color in another way.
| How are the two ways to mix color different? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
With television and computer monitors, the three primary colors of red - green - blue make all other colors. Other colors are mixed from different amounts of brightness of these three colors. The colors of red - green - blue appear mixed because the three colors of dots on the screen are too small to be seen. Our eyes blur the dots together. If you look closely at a TV screen with a powerful magnifying glass, you will see only three color dots (or stripes, or rectangles).
Color is a property of light and matter, but it is also a part of human vision. We cannot separate the individual colors in a color mixture with our eyes. We see only a mixed color that is different from the original starting colors. So if we shine light of red color and light of blue color on a wall, we may see a completely different color called "magenta". Experience may help us to see magenta as a somewhat reddish color with some bluishness in it. Basically we will see magenta as a different color.
When it pertains to light, yellow can be made by a mixture of green and red light.
Even when we look at a single yellow light bulb, we cannot see the green or red that makes it look yellow to us. Scientific devices can show that the illumination from a yellow colored tungsten light bulb still contains the red and green. It is the eye and brain that tells us the color is yellow.
So we can see that light mixtures of red - green - blue are needed by the human eye in order to see all other colors. Recent scientific data confirms this.
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| What usually gives objects their color? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The surfaces of objects, and the substance of clear objects affect the light that shines on them. The light may be absorbed, or it may be reflected by objects. The light may be absorbed, or transmitted by transparent objects such as colored glass.
A way to observe that light is being absorbed is to place a light colored object and a dark colored object in direct sunlight. For example, a light rock and a dark rock. After awhile, the darker rock will feel hotter than the lighter rock. Why? Sunlight is energy. More sunlight bounces off the light colored rock. More sunlight is absorbed by the dark colored rock. More of the energy from the sun is captured by the dark rock, so it feels warmer. An object may both reflect some light, and absorb some light at the same time. If it reflects certain colors from white light, and absorbs other colors, the object will take on a color of its own.
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| What happens to light when colorants such as paints, inks, and dyes are mixed? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Paint changes the surface of objects. Mixing paint combines colors physically into one newly formed color. Only the light bouncing off the mixed paint is what we see. So red paint will absorb some light out of the light that shines in it. Green paint will also absorb some of the light that shines on it.
When red and green are mixed, the mixture captures all of the blue, and part of both the red and green from the reflected light.
All or most of the blue in white light is already absorbed (subtracted) by red and green paint. When red and green are mixed, some of the red and green is also absorbed (subtracted) from the light. This absorbed light will make the mixture look darker than the red paint, darker than the green paint. Usually a - dark brown - will result from such a paint mixture. Yet dark brown is actually a very dark yellowish orange. As a yellow light bulb is dimmed, it will begin to appear browner. CONCLUSION: So if it's mixtures of light that enter our eyes directly, we need the additive mixing system of red - green - blue for accurate color.
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