Color saturation (intensity) is the degree of expression of a certain tone. The concept comes next after brightness. Photo.
Saturation (intensity) is the degree of expression of a certain color. It operates in the division of one, where the degree of saturation is determined by the purity of the reflection of a certain spectrum from the surface. The more accurate and complete the reflection, the more saturated the shade we see. If the surface does not perfectly reflect one wave, but there is an impurity, then such shades are usually paler. They can be grayish, brownish, or have another tint, they can be characterized as dusty, foggy, complex, soft, etc. Saturated colors can be characterized as bright, catchy, full, expressive, effective, etc.
The concept of “saturation” is also associated with. But if brightness is a relative value: white color can be catchy, then saturation is an attribute of chromatic tone. A pure tone, without any admixture of gray, with a moderate presence of white or black, is the standard of this concept.
The opposite of this definition would be the fadedness of the shade - the higher the paint contamination, the more complex the resulting shade and closer to gray. Pale, pallor can be defined as a lack of brightness, but we also understand that it is a light, muted (pastel) tone or with a significant admixture of gray.
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There are several signs of color, the main ones being THREE: hue, saturation and lightness.
Color tone determines the place of color in the spectrum ("red-green-yellow-blue", etc.). This main characteristic colors. In a physical sense, COLOR TONE depends on the wavelength of light. Long waves are the red part of the spectrum. Short ones - shift to the blue-violet side. The average wavelength is yellow and green colors, they are most optimal for the eye.
In our minds, color tone is associated with the color of familiar objects. Many color names come directly from objects with characteristic color: sandy, sea wave, emerald, chocolate, coral, raspberry, cherry, creamy. It is easy to guess that the color tone is determined by the name of the color (yellow, red, blue) 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.
The degree of color chromaticity is determined saturation. This is the degree of distance of a color from gray of the same lightness. Imagine how the fresh grass next to the road is covered with layer after layer of dust. The more layers of dust, the less visible the original clean green color, the less SATURATION of this green. Colors with maximum saturation are spectral colors, minimum saturation gives complete achromaticity (absence of color tone).
You can change the saturation in 3 ways:
§ adding to the spectral black color,
§ adding white to the spectral color,
§ adding its contrasting pair to the spectral color (for example: add blue and green to red-orange)
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.
Lightness– this is a set of colors. Initially (spectrally) the lightest is yellow. The darkest is blue. it is the position of a color on a scale from white to black. Characterized by the words “red dark” or “red light”. For achromatic, the maximum LIGHTNESS is white, the minimum is black.
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 painting was painted in light colors, then, first of all, they mean lightness ratios, and in color it can be gray-white, pinkish-yellow, light lilac, in a word, very different.
You can compare any colors and shades by lightness: pale green with dark green, pink with blue, red with purple.
It is interesting to note that red, pink, green, brown and other colors can be both light and dark colors.
Thanks to the fact that we remember the colors of the objects around us, we imagine their lightness. For example, yellow lemon lighter than the blue tablecloth, and we remember that yellow lighter 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.
You can compare colors: red and gray, pink and light gray, dark green and dark gray, purple and black. Achromatic colors are chosen to be equal in lightness to chromatic ones.
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.
Color tone
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 colors
Color saturation
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. Muted example color range
69. Changing color saturation
70. Changing the saturation of warm and cool colors
Lightness
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.
Light and color contrasts
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 “turn” 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
Light contrast
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
Colour contrast
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
Consider the silt. 75: all three gray squares are the same, on a blue background grey colour acquires an orange tint, on yellow - violet, on green - pink, that is, it acquires a shade of additional 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 still look redder next with parsley, and purple eggplant next to yellow turnips.
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 main 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
Special meaning to achieve expressiveness in decorative work acquire tonal and color contrasts.
Color contrast in nature and works of decorative art:
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
Local color
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 (Fig. 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, you need to transfer from memory characteristics local color of objects, its changes in light, partial shade and shade.
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.
At sunlight the color of the objects themselves is best seen in places where the penumbra 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 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
Color brightness is a characteristic of perception. It is determined by our speed of identifying one tone against the background of others.
This is a relative characteristic and can only be known through comparison. Complex shades, mixed with gray or brown, create the necessary contrast so that our eye can highlight the tones that best fit this definition.
Bright tones are shades close to the pure spectrum. If the surface of the material reflects one or another wave (c) with the least distortion, then we consider that this tone is bright.
The admixture of white or black slightly affects the brightness of the color. So burgundy can be quite bright, like light yellow. Yellow-green is also a striking tone, as an intermediate wavelength between green and yellow.
Each spectrum has its own lightness: bright yellow is the lightest; the darkest are blue and purple.
The intermediate ones are: blue, green, pink, red.
This statement is true if we consider a line of shades of the same color.
If we highlight the most bright shade among other tones, the brightest will be the color that differs as much as possible in lightness from the others.
Bright shades set a contrast with duller, darker or lighter shades, due to which we consider the combination to be rich and expressive.
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Let's continue with color theory.
Today we’ll talk about the remaining two color characteristics:
light
-saturated
bright
- soft
What these two characteristics are is easy to determine using any graphic editor.
First let's deal with chromatic
flowers
Let's look at 2 diagrams:
Palette No. 1
By x axis
(horizontal, who forgot math =)) goes brightness, By at
- saturation, taken out separately z
- actually, myself color, tone
Here it is clear that bright color- this is a color without adding gray
, while soft color- color with added gray
Saturated, dark color - this is a color with the addition of black . The table could be extended upward by adding white, then it would be light color- color with added white .
Now let's look at the palette of the simplest graphics program - paint
Palette No. 2 
About the same thing, just the coordinate system has swapped places
Taken outside the square saturation(adding black and white to the color). The spectral color itself in this series in the middle
, closer to the bottom black is added to it and the color becomes saturated, closer to the top white is added to it and the color becomes light.
Squared by x axis the colors of the spectrum change, and y axis From top to bottom, brightness is lost, gray is added to the color - it becomes soft.
Here's another one more simple circuit brightness and softness, lightness and saturation
Upstairs - bright warm green color
, below - the same color with the addition of gray, that is soft warm green color
.
The color itself is in the middle. On the left are its lighter variants, on the right are its more saturated variants.
How can I do it? conclusion : and bright and soft colors come in light and dark.
Interestingly : when adding black and white color can change its “temperature” - the warm-cold characteristic, becoming colder. Because both black and white, as you remember, are considered cool colors. This is especially noticeable in bright colors. Compare the color itself, which is in the middle, its lightest and darkest shades. Therefore, if one of the color options suits you, it is far from a fact that all the variety of its light and dark shades will suit you.
In general, if we generalize the theory about color characteristics, we get:
warm
-
color with warm undertones
cold
- color with cool undertones
bright
- color without adding gray
soft
- color with added gray
light
- color with added white
dark
- color with the addition of black
Concerning achromatic
flowers then black And white- bright colors, grey- soft.
Black- saturated color, white- light, as for gray, then it depends on what is more in it - white or black. Average grey, which is obtained by mixing opposite colors, is neutral, since it contains 50% white and 50% black.
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