Why red, green, blue and yellow? They are all primary colors, and contrast well to the human eye
GREEN is NOT a primary color!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Green is a secondary color along with purple and orange, it is made by combining yellow and blue.
I work in the TV industry and so many people believe green is a primary color because they see "RGB" monitors (ok that was a while ago), or the red green and blue connections on HD TVS, "they must all be primary colors". Argh!
Red, green, and blue are the primary colors of light. They are the primary colors because they correspond to the three color receptors in our eyes.
Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the primary colors of ink. They are the *opposites* of red, green, and blue, respectively. Ink works subtractively -- you start from white and remove color -- while light works additively -- you start from black and add. This is why their primary colors are opposites.
The primary colors of ink are often simplified to blue, red, and yellow instead of cyan, magenta, and yellow since children don't usually recognize colors like cyan and magenta.
There's nothing physically special about the primary colors; it's the receptors in our eyes that make them primary. Interestingly, some people have a genetic mutation that gives them an additional color receptor -- amber -- which allows them to distinguish colors better than the rest of us. To them, there are actually four primary colors, and colors on TV screens and most printed images look wrong.
That is absurd. We evolved those three specific colors color receptors because they worked reasonably well for distinguishing objects. We could also just as easily have evolved violet, cyan, and orange color receptors.
Ink works subtractively -- you start from white and remove color -- while light works additively -- you start from black and add.
I've never understood why that is. I know red paint reflects red light and green paint reflects green light. I know this because you can paint a black surface and it no longer looks black, so paint doesn't act purely like a filter. It definitely reflects light.
If I mix red and green paint, it seems to me that whenever light happens to hit a red paint molecule the red light component will be reflected and whenever it hits a green paint molecule the green light component will be reflected. If I mix the paints
You are thinking about it the wrong way around. In the magenta pigment, you have particles that absorb yellow light. (All light not absorbed is reflected). In Cyan pigment you have particles that absorb red light. yellow pigment the blue light is absorbed.
You mix the blue and cyan pigments, and the red and blue light is absorbed, leaving only the green light to be reflected.
Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings:
(3) Ha, ha, I can't believe they're actually going to adopt this
sucker.
Prime Colors... (Score:2)
Why red, green, blue and yellow? They are all primary colors, and contrast well to the human eye
GREEN is NOT a primary color!!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Green is a secondary color along with purple and orange, it is made by combining yellow and blue.
I work in the TV industry and so many people believe green is a primary color because they see "RGB" monitors (ok that was a while ago), or the red green and blue connections on HD TVS, "they must all be primary colors". Argh!
Re:Prime Colors... (Score:2)
Red, green, and blue are the primary colors of light. They are the primary colors because they correspond to the three color receptors in our eyes.
Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the primary colors of ink. They are the *opposites* of red, green, and blue, respectively. Ink works subtractively -- you start from white and remove color -- while light works additively -- you start from black and add. This is why their primary colors are opposites.
The primary colors of ink are often simplified to blue, red, and yellow instead of cyan, magenta, and yellow since children don't usually recognize colors like cyan and magenta.
There's nothing physically special about the primary colors; it's the receptors in our eyes that make them primary. Interestingly, some people have a genetic mutation that gives them an additional color receptor -- amber -- which allows them to distinguish colors better than the rest of us. To them, there are actually four primary colors, and colors on TV screens and most printed images look wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
They are the primary colors because they correspond to the three color receptors in our eyes.
Other way around.
Our eyes have red, green, and blue receptors because those are the primary colours [of light].
Re: (Score:2)
That is absurd. We evolved those three specific colors color receptors because they worked reasonably well for distinguishing objects. We could also just as easily have evolved violet, cyan, and orange color receptors.
Re: (Score:2)
Ink works subtractively -- you start from white and remove color -- while light works additively -- you start from black and add.
I've never understood why that is. I know red paint reflects red light and green paint reflects green light. I know this because you can paint a black surface and it no longer looks black, so paint doesn't act purely like a filter. It definitely reflects light.
If I mix red and green paint, it seems to me that whenever light happens to hit a red paint molecule the red light component will be reflected and whenever it hits a green paint molecule the green light component will be reflected. If I mix the paints
Re: (Score:2)
You are thinking about it the wrong way around. In the magenta pigment, you have particles that absorb yellow light. (All light not absorbed is reflected). In Cyan pigment you have particles that absorb red light. yellow pigment the blue light is absorbed.
You mix the blue and cyan pigments, and the red and blue light is absorbed, leaving only the green light to be reflected.