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Nats 1870: Understanding colour
Questions and Answers (Expert Solutions)
Q: Hue ANS 🗹🗹: Principle quality or name of colour: associated with wavelength.
Q: Value (or tone) ANS 🗹🗹: Lightness or darkness of colour on greyscale, running from
white to black.
Q: Saturation ANS 🗹🗹: Amount of pure hue present in colour, purity/intensity of
colour. When other colours mixed in, colour becomes dull.
Q: Tint ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with white
Q: Shade ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with black
Q: Tone ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with grey
Q: What are cyan, magenta and yellow best used for? ANS 🗹🗹: Surface mixtures
happening outside the eye (subtractive process)
Q: Additive Process ANS 🗹🗹: Send individual sources of colour to eye. The mixing
happens in eyes and brain.
Q: Subtractive Process ANS 🗹🗹: Occurs outside of eye (surfaces). Eternally mixed
colour sent to eye.
Q: How does colorant in material (dyes and pigments) selectively absorb some
wavelengths? ANS 🗹🗹: Remaining wavelengths are unaffected by colorant, reflected to
eye by underlying material. The wavelengths comprise reflectance spectrum.
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Q: Define achromatic colour ANS 🗹🗹: - Black, White, Grey
- No hue
Q: Define non-Spectral colour ANS 🗹🗹: - Does not have a wavelength
- Has double peaks in the reflectance curve
- Ex: magenta, purples.
Q: What is the general process that produces additive mixtures? ANS 🗹🗹: Direct conal
activation- each cone gets activated to different degree, resulting in mixed colour
Q: What colour results when blue and yellow are mixed additively? ANS 🗹🗹: White:
yellow activated R and G cones, blue activates B cones- all cones activated (fully and
equally) so white is perceived.
Q: Give an example of an additive mixing process which does not use light. ANS 🗹🗹:
Finely woven textiles, small dots of colour (ink, paint) on a page.
Q: What is the general process for subtractive mixing when mixing paints? ANS 🗹🗹:
The commonly reflected wavelengths dominate the mixed colour.
Q: What are the properties of subtractively mixed colours? ANS 🗹🗹: They are lower
value (darker) and lower in saturation (duller)
Q: When do you get the richest mixed colours? ANS 🗹🗹: When there is a lot of
overlap/commonly reflected wavelengths from the components.
Q: Why are subtractively mixed colours different from additively mixed ones? ANS 🗹🗹:
- Subtractive process absorbs light (via selective absorption, so when paints are
combined more light is absorbed, the mixture moves to black)
- Additive process ass light sources (or small dots of colour) directly activating cones.
Nats 1870: Understanding colour
Questions and Answers (Expert Solutions)
Q: Hue ANS 🗹🗹: Principle quality or name of colour: associated with wavelength.
Q: Value (or tone) ANS 🗹🗹: Lightness or darkness of colour on greyscale, running from
white to black.
Q: Saturation ANS 🗹🗹: Amount of pure hue present in colour, purity/intensity of
colour. When other colours mixed in, colour becomes dull.
Q: Tint ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with white
Q: Shade ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with black
Q: Tone ANS 🗹🗹: Colour mixed with grey
Q: What are cyan, magenta and yellow best used for? ANS 🗹🗹: Surface mixtures
happening outside the eye (subtractive process)
Q: Additive Process ANS 🗹🗹: Send individual sources of colour to eye. The mixing
happens in eyes and brain.
Q: Subtractive Process ANS 🗹🗹: Occurs outside of eye (surfaces). Eternally mixed
colour sent to eye.
Q: How does colorant in material (dyes and pigments) selectively absorb some
wavelengths? ANS 🗹🗹: Remaining wavelengths are unaffected by colorant, reflected to
eye by underlying material. The wavelengths comprise reflectance spectrum.
, Page | 2
Q: Define achromatic colour ANS 🗹🗹: - Black, White, Grey
- No hue
Q: Define non-Spectral colour ANS 🗹🗹: - Does not have a wavelength
- Has double peaks in the reflectance curve
- Ex: magenta, purples.
Q: What is the general process that produces additive mixtures? ANS 🗹🗹: Direct conal
activation- each cone gets activated to different degree, resulting in mixed colour
Q: What colour results when blue and yellow are mixed additively? ANS 🗹🗹: White:
yellow activated R and G cones, blue activates B cones- all cones activated (fully and
equally) so white is perceived.
Q: Give an example of an additive mixing process which does not use light. ANS 🗹🗹:
Finely woven textiles, small dots of colour (ink, paint) on a page.
Q: What is the general process for subtractive mixing when mixing paints? ANS 🗹🗹:
The commonly reflected wavelengths dominate the mixed colour.
Q: What are the properties of subtractively mixed colours? ANS 🗹🗹: They are lower
value (darker) and lower in saturation (duller)
Q: When do you get the richest mixed colours? ANS 🗹🗹: When there is a lot of
overlap/commonly reflected wavelengths from the components.
Q: Why are subtractively mixed colours different from additively mixed ones? ANS 🗹🗹:
- Subtractive process absorbs light (via selective absorption, so when paints are
combined more light is absorbed, the mixture moves to black)
- Additive process ass light sources (or small dots of colour) directly activating cones.
