When light strikes a surface, it can do two things. It can be reflected, called specular reflection, or it can penetrate the surface. In the latter case, the light will be refracted due to the change in the refractive index.
When we look at an object, the color we see is due to reflected light. Only a few of the light waves that hit any type of surface are reflected back. The combination and intensity of different light waves reflecting off a surface are what give the surface its color.
Normal white light that is emitted from most lightbulbs and from the Sun contains 100% of all three primary colors (see defintion of primary colors). White is not actually a color, rather it is the presence of all colors.
Looking at the above picture you can see how Red, Green and Blue (RGB) can combine make different colors including white in the middle. It will help to remember these colors and their RGB combinations:
White: R-100% G-100% B-100% Cyan: R-100% G-100% B-0% Magenta: R-100% G-0% B-100% Yellow: R-0% G-100% B-100% Black: R-0% G-0% B-0%All colors can be broken down to three primary colors: Red, Green, and Blue. Using certain percentages of one or more of the three primary colors any color in the spectrum can be produced. See the example of pink below.
There are four colors produced but the same color pink that is described by R-100% G-15% B-46% is produced only in the middle by the mixture of all three colors.
An object's color is determined by the type and amount of light it absorbs. Because the reflected light from an object is the light that is not absorbed by the object, an object's color is the opposite of the absorbed light. Take the example below of a block that absorbs Green and Red light: the block reflects what it does not absorb-it's reflecting Blue light-so the block appears Blue.
| Home | Basics | Definitions | RGB vs CMY | Color Descriptions | Color Devices| Links |
