What are color tones mixed tones. Basic characteristics of colors: concept, types, features, similarities and differences of colors

Light, refracted and transformed by awareness (emotions, feelings and consciousness) into color, appears to us in the form of our internal filling, the introverted component. In the external environment, it is designated by another concept - TONE (color tone, because, in fact, there are no others). In the external environment, light interacts with environmental objects according to certain laws, designates the environment and reveals it to our visual perception. This interaction is determined by such principles as reflection, absorption, facilitation and influence. As laws to these principles, we can recall diffraction, interference and others, but at the moment a slightly different quality of our perception of tone is important to us - ILLUSION. For it is illusion that shows us the external world in the form of visual images during our perception of any environment.

Everything we observe visually is an illusion. We see not the object itself, but the light reflected and refracted by it. If an object is not illuminated, it does not exist for subjective perception, although with other senses we can determine its presence and some of its properties. Moreover, even if we visually observe an object, this does not mean that we “see” it. How often do you have to look for a teapot, although it is usually always right under your nose?

Often even the environment itself gives us additional distortions of perception in the form of fog, haze, or illumination of objects with additional light sources. These are mainly reflexes, illuminating an object with light reflected from other objects.

In the light-dark relationship, we can immediately identify positions that are important for understanding the principles and laws of light and tone. Light is a flow, an impact, darkness is the medium that is affected by light.

The concept of “tone” is closely related to the concept of “shape”, because light, being reflected from different surfaces of an object in different ways, forms tonal relationships that we perceive in the form of a visual illusion called “Object Shape”. Why illusion and not fact? What is the credibility of the illusion? And why didn't we talk about "illusions" in color?

This is the whole difference between the concepts of tone and color, that color affects our feelings and emotions, and tone affects the mental part of our consciousness, the mind. About inaccuracies in the perception of color, we can use the terms “dissolution”, “uncertainty”, but in the perception of tone our terms are more precise - “illusion”, “visual deception - degree of reliability”. The sensory part will react to any such measurements only with a number of “oohs” and “ahs”, which are practically not subject to measurement. The mind, in its concepts, can construct matrices and scales that are relatively accurate for a given environment, and therefore will constantly be faced with the difference between the expected and the observed.

Creativity is subject to the same laws. And with the color component of our picture we influence the emotions and feelings of the viewer, and with the tone part - on the mind and consciousness.

In this example, the division is very conditional, but quite clear. Which halves do you prefer? I think that you will immediately identify the “inferiority” of both. And the same color schemes from the previous article are just as incomplete without a tonal component, without mediation. And even in an abstract scheme, they can be given a certain indirect appearance by changing the tonal component.

Naturally, when the color tone changes, the perception of the color component also changes. Moreover, its change in the environment will have one form, and in our consciousness - another. For we tend to imagine any environment, even a very flat one, first of all as a spatial illusion, and only then reduce it to a state of plane. Even in the above examples with a planar arrangement of objects, you can try to see the spatial movement of objects towards the viewer and in depth. Of course, this depends not only on the tone, but also on the color... And at some moments you will suddenly notice how your object suddenly manages to form a “hole” in space, visually placing itself “behind” its own background.

Two examples of the simplest tonal-spatial illusion. Although, I think, in the future we should replace the term “illusion” with “impression”, or even “perception”. Firstly, because such illusions are considered the norm for us, and secondly, by the term “illusion” psychologists, and even artists, understand a slightly different type of perception of reality.

Saturation of color tone.

By color saturation we should understand its maximum color component, the indirect meaning of a particular color. It is clear that the environment and other light sources (and color reflectors) will change this value in one direction or another (darker, lighter, or obtaining additional shades).

In the Photoshop palette we are used to, we immediately see a color scale, a spectrum. This is the ruler on the right. She retains the rules of the saying about the color KOZHZGSF. And any point on this scale determines our choice of color as a fact, on the left side of the table determined by the upper right corner. This is the point of maximum color saturation, where its color (emotional-sensual) component is full to the maximum, and the influence of tone (environment) is practically absent. Of course, this point also has its own color tone, which is visually lighter for yellow and blue, and darker for blue and red. Of course, this is all conditional, illusory, like the further concepts of saturation and brightness.

The amount of color in a certain area of ​​the medium determines the color saturation; the brightness of the color is determined by an additional factor in the form of the interaction of a particular color with white or another, giving a total white glow. A good example is your monitor screen. Green, blue and red dots give us a set of light-color scale sufficient for our frames of perception. And few people ask where the white color on the monitor comes from if there is no such screen point. And this is also an indirect illusion. Colored dots of just four colors when mixed visually and optically give us a beautiful magazine picture. In theory, we can reason in terms of color and tone quite accurately, building measuring rulers with mathematical precision... But as soon as it comes to practice, the environment immediately intervenes, and, consequently, our illusory perception.

How can an artist or designer deal with this illusion? How can you make your perception of the plot “similar” at least a little to the viewer’s perception? The technique of using CO-relations helps the artist with this.

Ratios.

Any measurement always requires its own standard, against which work and measurements will be carried out. One meter (100cm = 1000mm), a dozen (12 somethings), parrots (38 parrots = 1 boa constrictor). These are examples of external standards. Any art has its own internal standards, “built into the result.” In painting, for example, each picture has its own scale of tonal and color tones, called gamma, general tone (terms such as “color” and “value” are used for color in painting).

Many people know a little rhyme that helps remember all the colors of the rainbow: “Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits.” What if you give musical tones your own coloring? Is it possible? Yes, it really is real. In fact, coloring a musical rainbow is very simple, the main thing is to take the desired color and start drawing. To do this you need to remember the tonality. So what is musical color? What colors should be used to represent sounds? And is there such a correspondence between musical sounds and colors?

Before introducing the reader to color tonality, it must be said that musical color is not just individual sounds and colors, but a whole sequence, that is, a certain chain, in other words, a musical scale. The scale forms modes, major, minor and tonality. By the way, the word “tonality” has the root “tone,” which is used both in music and in painting.

The first person to propose the use of color tonality was Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin. Thanks to his unique ear for sound and music, he created an entire system that allows color to be determined depending on the tonality of the sound.

This famous musician proposed to designate C major in red, D major in yellow, G major in orange-pink, and A major in green. As for the sound of E major and B major, for him this musical tonality was approximately the same, blue and white. For F sharp, he suggested using a bright blue color. C sharp major was indicated in purple. The keys of A-flat major, E-flat major and B-flat major were designated violet and steel with a silver tint, respectively. For the key of F major, the musician chose a dark red hue.

An interesting fact is that the first tones completely repeat the colors of the rainbow, and as for the rest, they are derivative. Moreover, the composer proposed using the division of tonalities into “spiritual”, which included F-sharp major, as well as “earthly” and “material”, which included C major and F major. Similar to the tonalities, the composer characterized the colors, for example, red symbolized the “color of hell,” and purple and blue the color of “spirituality” or “mind.” Listen to radio Europe Plus online at plus-music.org

Along with the creation of such color tonality, composer Scriabin combined a musical performance with a light score. For example, for the first time in 1910, he created the musical work “Prometheus”, which used not only symphonic transitions, but also the color part - Luce. This work reflected not only musical parts, but also all kinds of episodes of color forms.

Scriabin based his system of color tonality on the assertion that everyone who has similar color hearing perceives colors and sounds in the same way as he does. However, it turned out that he was wrong. Other composers with the same unique hearing perceived sounds and related them to colors in a completely different way. For example, Rimsky-Korsakov saw C major as white, and G major as brown. In addition, he associated E major and E flat major with the colors sapphire and dark gloomy, respectively.

To select (select) a color, there is initially the HSV color model (or, as it is also called, HSB). This is an abbreviation that is explained as follows: hue or hue (Hue), saturation (Saturation), intensity (Value) - the three main properties of color, according to scientific understanding. This model (HSB) is closest to the physical perception of color by the human eye and on its basis the well-known color wheel was created. Typically, on the color wheel, you first select a hue, then adjust it by changing the saturation or intensity. The practical application of the HSV color model will be discussed in the next chapter.

Shade of color or hue.

The term "hue" refers to the predominant spectral color such as red or blue. The hue of a color indicates the position of that color on the color wheel or spectrum and also carries information about the temperature of the color. The red tint is considered the warmest color (the color of hot metal or volcanic lava), and blue is the coldest (the color of water, ice). However, keep in mind that color temperature is always relative: blue-violet, for example, is a cool color, but it looks warmer when placed next to blue-green.

In the traditional color system that artists use and which is based on pigment (paint, or the CMY model), the primary colors of tints are red (or magenta), yellow (yellow) and blue (cyan), which are the only colors that cannot be produced by mixing. Secondary hues are created by mixing primary hues - green, orange and purple, which are the colors that fall between the primary colors on the color wheel. Yellow-green, blue-violet, and red-orange are examples of tertiary hues, each of which falls between a primary and secondary color.

Analogue shades sit next to each other on the color wheel and usually have a common component, such as blue-green, blue and blue-violet. Complementary shades are opposite each other on the color wheel. Red and green complement each other as well as blue and orange. On a computer monitor, as the colors in the palette and the color wheel itself are displayed on the screen, they are converted into an RGB model. Unfortunately, the RGB model does not correspond at all to the traditional pigment-based color wheel.

Intensity.

The light or dark shade of a color is its intensity or, to put it more simply, its brightness. To create a light tone of color, the pigment is usually lightened, and darkened to create a dark tone.

Tag: Color separation

Each color has three basic properties: hue, saturation and lightness.

In addition, it is important to know about such color characteristics as lightness and color contrasts, get acquainted with the concept of local color of objects and experience some spatial properties of color.

In our minds, color tone is associated with the color of familiar objects. Many color names come directly from objects with a characteristic color: sand, sea green, emerald, chocolate, coral, raspberry, cherry, cream, etc.

It is easy to guess that the color tone is determined by the name of the color (yellow, red, blue, etc.) and depends on its place in the spectrum.

It is interesting to know that a trained eye, in bright daylight, can distinguish up to 180 color tones and up to 10 levels of saturation. In general, a developed human eye can distinguish about 360 shades of color.

67. Children's holiday of colors

Color saturation is the difference between a chromatic color and a gray color of equal lightness (ill. 66).

If you add gray paint to any color, the color will fade and its saturation will change.

68. D. MORANDI. Still life. Example of a muted color scheme

69. Changing color saturation

70. Changing the saturation of warm and cool colors

The third sign of color is lightness. Any colors and shades, regardless of color tone, can be compared by lightness, that is, it can be determined which one is darker and which one is lighter. You can change the lightness of the color by adding white or water, then red will become pink, blue - cyan, green - light green, etc.

71. Changing the lightness of color using white

Lightness is a quality inherent in both chromatic and achromatic colors. Lightness should not be confused with whiteness (as the quality of the color of an object).

It is customary for artists to call lightness relationships tonal, so one should not confuse lightness and color tone, light and shadow and color structure of a work. When they say that a picture is painted in light colors, they primarily mean light relations, and in color it can be gray-white, pinkish-yellow, light lilac, in a word, very different.

Differences of this type are called valers by painters.

You can compare any colors and shades by lightness: pale green with dark green, pink with blue, red with purple, etc.

It is interesting to note that red, pink, green, brown and other colors can be both light and dark colors.

72. Difference in colors by lightness

Thanks to the fact that we remember the colors of the objects around us, we imagine their lightness. For example, a yellow lemon is lighter than a blue tablecloth, and we remember that yellow is lighter than blue.

Achromatic colors, that is, gray, white and black, are characterized only by lightness. Differences in lightness consist in the fact that some colors are darker and others are lighter.

Any chromatic color can be compared in lightness with an achromatic color.

Consider the color wheel (Fig. 66), consisting of 24 colors.

You can compare colors: red and gray, pink and light gray, dark green and dark gray, purple and black, etc. Achromatic colors are matched in lightness to be equal to chromatic ones.

The color of an object constantly changes depending on the conditions in which it is located. Lighting plays a huge role in this. Look how the same object changes beyond recognition (ill. 71). If the light on an object is cold, its shadow appears warm and vice versa.

The contrast of light and color is most clearly and clearly perceived at the “break” of the form, that is, at the place where the shape of objects turns, as well as at the boundaries of contact with the contrasting background.

73. Light and color contrasts in still lifes

Artists use contrast in lightness, emphasizing the different tones of objects in the image. By placing light objects next to dark ones, they enhance the contrast and sonority of colors and achieve expressiveness of form.

Compare identical gray squares located on a black and white background. They will seem different to you.

On black, gray appears lighter, and on white, it appears darker. This phenomenon is called lightness contrast or lightness contrast (Fig. 74).

74. Example of contrast in lightness

We perceive the color of objects depending on the surrounding background. A white tablecloth will appear blue if you put orange oranges on it, and pink if there are green apples on it. This happens because the background color takes on a shade of complementary color to the color of the objects. A gray background next to a red object appears cold, and next to a blue and green object it appears warm.

75. Example of color contrast

Examine the silt. 75: all three gray squares are the same, on a blue background the gray color acquires an orange tint, on a yellow background it becomes purple, on a green background it becomes pink, that is, it acquires a shade of a complementary color to the background color. Against a light background, the color of an object appears darker; against a dark background, it appears lighter.

The phenomenon of color contrast is that a color changes under the influence of other colors surrounding it, or under the influence of colors that were previously observed.

76. Example of color contrast

Complementary colors next to each other become brighter and more saturated. The same thing happens with primary colors. For example, a red tomato will look even redder next to parsley, and a purple eggplant next to a yellow turnip.

The contrast of blue and red is a prototype of the contrast of cold and warm. It underlies the coloring of many works of European painting and creates dramatic tension in the paintings of Titian, Poussin, Rubens, A. Ivanov.

Contrast as the juxtaposition of colors in a painting is the main method of artistic thinking in general, says N. Volkov, a famous Russian artist and scientist*.

In the reality around us, the effects of one color on another are more complex than in the examples discussed, but knowledge of the basic contrasts - in lightness and color - helps the painter to better see these relationships of colors in reality and use the acquired knowledge in practical work. The use of light and color contrasts increases the possibilities of visual media.

77. Umbrellas. Example of using color nuances

78. Balloons. Example of using color contrasts

Tonal and color contrasts are of particular importance for achieving expressiveness in decorative work.

A. M. ZVIRBULE. Tapestry “Together with the Wind”

b. Peacock feather. Photo

V. Autumn leaves. Photo

g. Field of poppies. Photo

d. ALMA THOMAS. Blue light of infancy

Look at the objects in your room, look out the window. Everything you see has not only a shape, but also a color. You can easily identify it: the apple is yellow, the cup is red, the tablecloth is blue, the walls are blue, etc.

The local color of an object is those pure, unmixed, unrefracted tones that, in our minds, are associated with certain objects, as their objective, unchanging properties.

Local color is the primary color of an object without taking into account external influences.

The local color of an object can be monochromatic (ill. 80), but it can also consist of different shades (ill. 81).

You will see that the main color of roses is white or red, but in each flower you can count several shades of local color.

80. Still life. Photo

81. VAN BEYEREN. Vase with Flowers

When drawing from life, from memory it is necessary to convey the characteristic features of the local color of objects, its changes in light, in partial shade and shadow.

Under the influence of light, air, combination with other colors, the same local color acquires a completely different tone in the shadow and in the light.

In sunlight, the color of the objects themselves is best seen in places where partial shade is located. The local color of objects is less visible where there is a complete shadow on it. It lightens and discolors in bright light.

Artists, showing us the beauty of objects, accurately determine changes in local color in light and shadow.

Once you have mastered the theory and practice of using primary, secondary and complementary colors, you will be able to easily convey the local color of an object, its shades in light and shadow. The shadow cast by or on the object itself will always contain a color that is complementary to the color of the object itself. For example, in the shadow of a red apple there will definitely be a green color as a complement to the red. In addition, each shadow contains a tone slightly darker than the color of the object itself, and a blue tone.

82. Scheme for obtaining shadow color

We should not forget that the local color of an object is influenced by its environment. When there is a green drapery next to a yellow apple, a color reflex appears on it, that is, the apple’s own shadow necessarily acquires a shade of green.

83. Still life with a yellow apple and green drapery

Every object in nature can be seen by a person as an object of one color or another.
This is due to the ability of different objects to absorb or reflect electromagnetic waves of a certain length. And the ability of the human eye to perceive this reflection through special cells in the retina. The object itself has no color, it has only physical properties - to absorb or reflect light.

Where do these same waves come from? Any light source consists of these waves. Thus, a person can see the color of an object only when it is illuminated. Moreover, depending on the light source (sun during the day, sun at sunset or sunrise, moon, incandescent lamps, fire, etc.), the intensity of light (brighter, dimmer), as well as on the ability of personal perception by a specific person, color the item may look different. Although the subject itself does not change, of course. So, color is a subjective characteristic of an object, which depends on various factors.
Some people, due to the developmental characteristics of the body, do not distinguish colors at all. But most people are able to perceive waves of a certain length with their eyes - from 380 to 780 nm. Therefore, this area was called visible radiation.

If sunlight is passed through a prism, this beam will be split into separate waves. These are exactly the same colors that the human eye can perceive: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. These are 7 electromagnetic waves of different lengths, which together make up white light (we see it as white with the eye), i.e. its "spectrum".
So, each color is a wave of a certain length that a person can see and recognize!

The apparent color of an object is determined by the way that object interacts with light, i.e. with its constituent waves. If an object reflects waves of a certain length, then these waves determine how we see this color. For example, an orange reflects waves with a length of approximately 590 to 625 nm - these are orange waves, and absorbs other waves. It is these reflected waves that are perceived by the eye. Therefore, a person sees an orange as orange. And grass looks green because, due to its molecular structure, it absorbs red and blue waves and reflects waves in the green part of the spectrum.
If an object reflects all waves, and as we already know, all 7 colors together form white light (color), then we see such an object as white. And if an object absorbs all waves, then we see such an object as black.
Intermediate options between white and black are shades of gray. These three colors - white, gray and black - are called achromatic, i.e. containing no "color" color, they are not included in the spectrum. Colors from the spectrum are chromatic.

As I already said, the perceived color depends on the light source. Without light there are no waves and nothing to be reflected; the eye sees nothing. If the lighting is insufficient, then the eye sees only the outlines of objects - darker or less dark, but all in the same gray-black range. Other areas of the retina are responsible for the eye's ability to see in poor lighting conditions.

Thus, depending on the nature of the light falling on an object, we see different color options for this object.
If an object is well lit, we see it clearly, the color is pure. If there is too much light, the color appears washed out (think of overexposed photographs). If there is little light, the color appears darker, gradually tending to black.

Each color can be analyzed according to several parameters. These are the characteristics of color.

Characteristics of color.

1) COLOR TONE. This is the same wavelength that determines the position of the color in the spectrum, its name: red, blue, yellow, etc.
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “tone” and “subtone”.
Tone is the main paint. Undertone is an admixture of another color.
Due to the difference in undertones, different shades of the same color are formed. For example, yellow-green and blue-green. The main tone is green, the subtone (in smaller quantities) is yellow or blue.
It is precisely the undertone that defines such a concept as TEMPERATURE colors. If you add yellow pigment to the main tone, the color temperature will feel warm. Associations with red-yellow-orange colors are fire, sun, warmth, heat. Objects in warm colors seem closer.
If you add blue pigment to the main tone, the color temperature will be perceived as cold (the colors blue and blue are associated with ice, frost, and cold). Objects in cool colors appear further away.

It is important to remember here and not confuse the concepts. There are two meanings of the phrases “warm colors” and “cool colors”. In one case, they talk about color tone, then red, orange and yellow are warm colors, and blue, blue-green and violet are cool colors. Green and lilac are neutral.

In the second case, we are talking about the undertone of the color, its predominant shade. It is in this meaning that this term will be used in the future to describe the colors of appearance - warm and cold color types. And speaking about color temperature in this meaning, we mean that Each color can have both warm and cold shades depending on itsundertone! Apart from orange, it is always warm (due to the peculiarities of its location in the spectrum). White and black are not included in the color wheel at all and therefore the concept of color tone is not applicable to them, but since we are talking about the temperature of all colors, I will immediately indicate that these two belong to cool colors.

2) The second characteristic of each color is BRIGHTNESS.
It shows how strong the light emission is. If strong, then the color is as bright as possible. The less light there is, the darker the color looks and the brightness decreases. Any color becomes black when the brightness is reduced to the maximum. Imagine objects of bright color in twilight conditions - the color appears dark, its brightness is not visible. Lowering the brightness by adding black makes the color more SATURATE. Dark red is a rich (deep) red, dark blue is a rich (deep) blue, etc. In English, synonymous words are used for a thicker, darker color: deep (deep) and dark (dark). You will also find these terms in the names of color types.
The brightness of light and the brightness of color are different concepts. Above we talked specifically about the color of an object in bright light. In graphics programs (including Painte), brightness is used precisely in this value. In the picture below you can see the decrease in the “brightness” parameter when darkening the color.
But there is also the term “brightness”, meaning “purity”, “richness” of color, i.e. the most intense color without any admixtures of black, white or gray. And it is in this sense that I will use this term further. If it says “brightness parameter”, then we are talking about changing the lighting (i.e. lightness/darkness).

3) The third characteristic of each color is LIGHTNESS.
This is a characteristic opposite to the saturation (darkness, strength) of color.
The higher the lightness, the closer the color is to white. The maximum lightness of any color is white. At the same time, the “brightness” parameter increases. But this brightness is not color (purity), but an increase in illumination; once again I emphasize the difference between these concepts.
Shades with increasing degrees of lightness are perceived as more and more bleached, pale, and weak. Those. with low saturation.

4) The fourth characteristic of each color is CHROMATICITY (INTENSITY). This is the degree of “purity” of color, the absence of impurities in its tone, its richness. When gray pigment is added to the main color, the color becomes less bright, otherwise it becomes muted and soft. Those. its chromaticity (color) decreases. With the chromaticity of color reduced to the maximum, any color becomes one of the shades of gray.
It is important not to confuse the concepts of “juicy” and “saturated” color. Let me remind you that saturated is a dark shade, and juicy is a bright tone, without impurities.
Often, when they say that a color is bright, they mean that it is as chromatic as possible, a pure, rich color. It is in this meaning that this term is used in the theory of color types, which will be discussed further.
If we talk about the “brightness” parameter in terms of illumination (a lot of light - higher brightness - whiter color, little light - lower brightness - darker color), then we will see that when the chromaticity decreases, this parameter does not change. Those. the chromaticity characteristic applies to objects with the same color tone under the same lighting conditions. But one object at the same time looks more “alive”, and the other more “faded” (faded - having lost its bright color).

If you increase the “brightness” parameter, i.e. add white color, then at this level of lightness you can make the color more muted in the same way by adding a gray tint.

It’s the same with more saturated (darker) shades - they also come in both purer and more muted shades. The main thing that we see in all cases as the chromaticity decreases is an increasingly pronounced gray undertone. This is what distinguishes soft colors from bright (pure) colors.

Another important nuance is that when you add any achromatic color (white, gray, black) to the main tone, the color temperature changes. It does not change to the opposite, i.e. a warm color will not become cold in this way or vice versa. But these colors will approach the “temperature” characteristic to neutral shades. Those. without pronounced temperature. That is why representatives of soft, dark or light color types can wear some colors from neutral-cold or neutral-warm, regardless of their main color type. But I will talk about this later.

Thus, according to their main characteristics, all shades are divided into:
1) Warm(with golden undertones) / cold(with blue undertone)
2) Light(unsaturated) / dark(saturated)
3) Bright(clean) / soft(muffled)

And each color has one leading characteristic and two additional ones, which determines the name of some shades. For example, light pink - the leading characteristic is “light”, additional ones - can be both warm and cold, both bright and soft.

Let's practice identifying the leading characteristic.

Or one leading and one additional.

The above examples clearly show the influence of halftone on the leading characteristic of the shade:
Dark colors– colors with the addition of black (saturated).
Light colors– colors with the addition of white (bleached).
Warm colors– colors with warm (yellow, golden) undertones.
Cool colors– colors with cold (blue) undertones appear icy.
Bright colors– clean, without adding gray.
Soft colors– muted, with the addition of gray.