The nature of color. Three primary colors

We all know the technique of memorizing the colors of the rainbow from school. Something like a nursery rhyme sits deep in our memory: “ TO every O hunter and wants h nah, G de With goes f adhan." The first letter of each word means a color, and the order of the words is the sequence of these colors in the rainbow: To red, O range, and yellow, h green, G blue, With blue, f purple
Rainbows occur because sunlight is refracted and reflected by water droplets floating in the atmosphere. These droplets deflect and reflect light of different colors (wavelengths) differently: red less, violet more. As a result, white sunlight is decomposed into a spectrum, the colors of which smoothly transition into each other through many intermediate shades. Rainbows are the clearest example of what visible white light is made of.

However, from the point of view of the physics of light, no colors exist in nature, but there are certain wavelengths that an object reflects. This combination (superposition) of reflected waves hits the retina of the human eye and is perceived by it as the color of an object. For example, the green color of a birch leaf means that its surface absorbs all wavelengths of the solar spectrum, except for the wavelength of the green part of the spectrum and the wavelengths of those colors that determine its shade. Or the brown color of a school board, our eye perceives as reflected wavelengths of blue, red and yellow wavelength ranges of varying intensities.

White, which is a mixture of all the colors of sunlight, means that the surface of an object reflects almost all wavelengths, while black reflects almost nothing. Therefore, we cannot talk about “pure” white or “pure” black colors, since complete absorption of radiation or its complete reflection in nature is practically impossible.

But artists cannot paint with wavelengths. They use real paints, and even a fairly limited set (they won’t carry more than 10,000 tones and shades with them on an easel). Just like in a printing house, an endless amount of paints cannot be stored. The science of color mixing is one of the fundamental ones for those who work with images, including airbrushing. A huge number of tables and guides have been compiled for obtaining the desired colors and their shades. For example, these*:

The human eye is the most versatile “device” for mixing. Studies have shown that it is most sensitive to only three primary colors: blue, red-orange and green. Information received from excited cells of the eye is transmitted along nerve pathways to the cerebral cortex, where complex processing and correction of the received data occurs. As a result, a person perceives what he sees as a single color picture. It has been established that the eye perceives a huge number of intermediate shades of color and colors obtained from mixing light of different wavelengths. In total there are up to 15,000 color tones and shades.
If the retina loses the ability to distinguish any color, then the person also loses it. For example, there are people who are unable to distinguish green from red.

Based on this feature of human color perception, the RGB color model was created ( Red red, Green green, Blue blue) for printing full-color images, including photographs.

The color gray and its shades stand a little apart here. Gray color is obtained by combining three primary colors - red, green and blue - in equal concentrations. Depending on the brightness of these colors, the shade of gray varies from black (0% brightness) to white (100% brightness).

Thus, all colors found in nature can be created by mixing the three primary colors and changing their intensity.

*Tables are taken from the public domain on the Internet.

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Scheme No. 1. Complementary combination

Complementary, or complementary, contrasting colors are colors that are located on opposite sides of the Itten color wheel. Their combination looks very lively and energetic, especially with maximum color saturation.

Scheme No. 2. Triad - a combination of 3 colors

A combination of 3 colors lying at the same distance from each other. Provides high contrast while maintaining harmony. This composition looks quite lively even when using pale and desaturated colors.

Scheme No. 3. Similar combination

A combination of 2 to 5 colors located next to each other on the color wheel (ideally 2–3 colors). Impression: calm, inviting. An example of a combination of similar muted colors: yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green.

Scheme No. 4. Separate-complementary combination

A variant of a complementary color combination, but instead of the opposite color, neighboring colors are used. A combination of the main color and two additional ones. This scheme looks almost as contrasting, but not so intense. If you are not sure that you can use complementary combinations correctly, use separate-complementary ones.

Scheme No. 5. Tetrad - combination of 4 colors

A color scheme where one color is the main color, two are complementary, and another one highlights the accents. Example: blue-green, blue-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange.

Scheme No. 6. Square

Combinations of individual colors

White: goes with everything. The best combination with blue, red and black.
Beige: with blue, brown, emerald, black, red, white.
Grey: with fuchsia, red, purple, pink, blue.
Pink: with brown, white, mint green, olive, gray, turquoise, baby blue.
Fuchsia (deep pink): with grey, tan, lime, mint green, brown.
Red: with yellow, white, brown, green, blue and black.
Tomato red: blue, mint green, sandy, creamy white, gray.
Cherry red: azure, gray, light orange, sand, pale yellow, beige.
Raspberry red: white, black, damask rose color.
Brown: bright blue, cream, pink, fawn, green, beige.
Light brown: pale yellow, creamy white, blue, green, purple, red.
Dark Brown: Lemon Yellow, Blue, Mint Green, Purple Pink, Lime.
Tan: pink, dark brown, blue, green, purple.
Orange: blue, blue, lilac, violet, white, black.
Light orange: gray, brown, olive.
Dark orange: pale yellow, olive, brown, cherry.
Yellow: blue, lilac, light blue, violet, gray, black.
Lemon yellow: cherry red, brown, blue, gray.
Pale yellow: fuchsia, grey, brown, shades of red, tan, blue, purple.
Golden yellow: gray, brown, azure, red, black.
Olive: orange, light brown, brown.
Green: golden brown, orange, light green, yellow, brown, gray, cream, black, creamy white.
Salad color: brown, tan, fawn, gray, dark blue, red, gray.
Turquoise: fuchsia, cherry red, yellow, brown, cream, dark purple.
Electric blue is beautiful when paired with golden yellow, brown, light brown, gray or silver.
Blue: red, gray, brown, orange, pink, white, yellow.
Dark blue: light purple, light blue, yellowish green, brown, gray, pale yellow, orange, green, red, white.
Lilac: orange, pink, dark purple, olive, gray, yellow, white.
Dark Purple: Golden Brown, Pale Yellow, Grey, Turquoise, Mint Green, Light Orange.
Black is universal, elegant, looks in all combinations, best with orange, pink, light green, white, red, lilac or yellow.

We have already figured out what it is "basic" colors . This colors that go with everything else, creating relatively calm combinations . For each type these can be their own colors; you can see them in more detail in the chapter wardrobe for colors in the table of contents.

There are basic colors according to the season, according to 6 characteristics: and beyond. Each of the 12 colors also has its own base colors - mostly neutral soft colors and dark colors + shades of light gray and white. (different shades of the palette can be seen in the same chapter - analysis of palettes. For example, cold summer)

Mostly, basic colors include
1) achromatic colors (white, black, and all shades of neutral gray),

3) Shades of brown and beige (taupe taupe, taupe, neutral beige, golden beige, camel, nude, pink beige, brown, coffee, chocolate, rose brown, etc.)

4) Dark shades of the cool part of the spectrum(this does not mean that it must have a cool undertone)- green, blue, purple:
Blue: (navy, jeans color, royal blue)
Dark sea green
Green: (evergreen, forest green, dark olive, moss
Dark purple

There are not so few of them. They are usually used in a basic wardrobe - this is the basis with which brighter and richer colors will be combined.

However, Just because a color is basic doesn't mean it will suit everyone . There are basic colors that few people suit - for example, pure white or pure black. Basic colors for each color scheme are different (see links at the top of the post for more details).

Is there "universal" colors ,that almost anyone can wear . Of course, they suit some types more, some less, but they don’t spoil anyone. They sometimes match neutral colors, but not always.

This is first of all off-white And off-black - the color of the white of the eyes, greyish-white and grey-black or wet asphalt color (pewter) And ivory color ), for most colors these 4 colors are a replacement for white and black.

From the gray-brown range it is medium gray , neutral beige , gray-brown (taupe) And stone (light grayish beige)

Of the brighter and more interesting colors, this sea green (teal) , dark neutral pink (blush pink ),slightly softened purple without distortions in blue and red, jade

As you can see, universal colors are similar to the palette of mild seasons, especially mild summer. This is very well explained - mild seasons, especially mild summers, are a mixture of everything - dark and light, warm and cold. Therefore, some of their colors, in principle, suit almost everyone. Although other colors of mild seasons will cast a gray shadow on the face of other colors, especially bright ones.

The purpose of the lesson: introduce students to primary and secondary colors.

Lesson plan:

1. Basic three colors.

2. Additional colors.

The student must:

know: primary and secondary colors.

Answers to lesson plan questions:

1 . The practice of artists clearly showed that many colors and shades can be obtained by mixing a small amount of paints. The desire of natural philosophers to find the “primary principles” of everything in the world, analyzing natural phenomena, to decompose everything “into elements”, led to the identification "primary colors", which were not immediately chosen as red, green and blue. In England, the primary colors were long considered red, yellow and blue, but only in 1860 Maxwell introduced the additive system RGB (red, green, blue). This system currently dominates color reproduction systems for cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and televisions. The color wheel can be divided into three broad sectors: red, green and blue. These colors are called primary; mixing them in different proportions produces any other color. Between the primary colors there are three more sectors formed by additional colors: purple (blue-red), yellow and cyan (green-blue). On the color wheel, the primary and secondary colors are opposite each other. For example, purple is opposite green and is its complementary color. Each complementary color is a mixture of two primary colors, and when two complementary colors are combined, they form a common primary color. For example, cyan (blue and green) and magenta (blue and red) produce blue. This relationship between primary and secondary colors is called “subtractive” and forms the basis for processing and printing color photographic materials.

2. Concept "complementary color" was introduced by analogy with the “primary color”. It has been found that optical mixing of certain pairs of colors can give the appearance of white. So, to the triad of primary colors Red-Green-Blue, additional colors are Cyan-Magenta-Yellow. On the color wheel, these colors are placed in opposition, so that the colors of both triads alternate. In printing practice, different sets are used as primary colors. We call two colors complementary if their pigments, when mixed, produce a neutral gray-black color. In physics, two chromatic lights that when mixed produce white light are also considered complementary. The two complementary colors make an odd pairing. They are opposite to each other, but they need each other. Placed side by side, they excite each other to maximum brightness and destroy each other when mixed, forming a gray-black tone, like fire and water. Each color has only one single color, which is complementary to it. In the color wheel, complementary colors are located diametrically to one another. They form the following pairs of complementary colors:

yellow – violet; yellow-orange - blue-violet; orange – blue; red-orange - blue-green; Red Green; red-violet - yellow-green.

If we analyze these pairs of complementary colors, we will find that they always contain all three primary colors: yellow, red and blue:

yellow - purple = yellow, red + blue;

blue - orange = blue, yellow + red;

red - green = red, yellow + blue.

Just as a mixture of yellow, red and blue produces grey, a mixture of two complementary colors also turns into a variant of grey. You can also recall the experiment from the section “Physics of Color”, when when one of the colors of the spectrum was excluded, all other colors, being mixed, gave its additional color. For each color of the spectrum, the sum of all the others forms its complementary color. It has been physiologically proven that both the phenomenon of afterimage and simultaneous contrast illustrate the amazing and still inexplicable fact of the appearance in our eyes, when perceiving one color or another, at the same time of another, balancing it, an additional color, which, in the event of its real absence, is spontaneously generated in our consciousness. This phenomenon is very important for everyone practically working with color. In the “color harmony” section, it was established that the law of complementary colors is the basis of the harmony of the composition, because when it is observed, a feeling of complete balance is created in the eyes.

Review questions:

1. What are the main colors?

2. Give the concept of “complementary” colors?

3. How are complementary colors formed?

Literature:

1. Yashchukhin A.P. Painting. M.: Enlightenment. 1979.

2. Winner A.V. How masters of painting work, M., 1965.

3. Grenberg Yu. I. Technology of easel painting, M., 1982.

Story

The emergence of the concept of primary colors is associated with the need to reproduce colors for which there was no exact color equivalent in the artist’s palette. The development of color reproduction technology required minimizing the number of such colors, and therefore conceptually complementary methods for obtaining mixed colors were developed: mixing colored rays (from light sources having a certain spectral composition), and mixing paints (reflecting light, and having their own characteristic reflection spectra) .

Various options for choosing “primary colors”

Mixing colors depends on the color model. There are additive and subtractive mixing models.

Additive model

In the additive mixing model, colors are produced by mixing rays. In the absence of rays, there is no color - black and white. An example of an additive color model is RGB.

Subtractive color synthesis

A method using reflection of light and appropriate dyes. In the subtractive mixing model, colors are produced by mixing paints. In the absence of paint, there is no color - white, maximum mixing gives black. An example of a subtractive color model is CMYK.

According to Johannes Itten, there are only 3 primary colors: red, yellow and blue. The rest of the colors on the color wheel are formed by mixing these three in different proportions.

Biophysical prerequisites

Primary colors are not a property of light; their choice is determined by the properties of the human eye and the technical properties of color reproduction systems.

Four "pure" colors

Psychophysiological studies have led to the assumption of the existence of certain “pure” and unique colors: - red, yellow, green and blue, with red and green forming one color-contrast axis, and yellow and blue another.

Technical options for implementing the model of using “primary colors”

Notes

Links

Handprint: do “primary” colors exist? - a comprehensive site on color primaries, color perception, color psychology, color theory and color mixing.
Online color mixing - Web service for color modeling when mixing original colors in any proportions.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Primary colors” are in other dictionaries:

Three colors, optical addition (mixing) to rykh in definition. In fact, you can get a color that is completely indistinguishable to the eye from any given color. The limiting condition for O. c. yavl. their linear independence, i.e. none of them can be... ... Physical encyclopedia

primary colors- Primary colors on which color models are based. In the additive RGB model these are red, green and blue, and in the subtractive CMY model these are cyan, magenta and yellow. primary colors Primary colors in... ... Technical Translator's Guide

Primary colors- cyan, magenta and yellow colors, with which you can synthesize all the colors of a multi-color original. See three-color reproduction... Publishing dictionary-reference book

Modern encyclopedia

Three colors, mixing which in different proportions you can get any color. The number of possible primary color systems is infinite. Often the primary colors are red, green and blue... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Primary colors- PRIMARY COLORS, three independent colors, by mixing them in different proportions you can get any color. The number of possible systems of primary colors is very large, but usually in colorimetry they use a system of primary colors consisting of red, ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary