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A secondary color is a color made by mixing two primary colors of a given color model in even proportions. Combining two secondary colors in the same manner produces a tertiary color. Secondary colors are special in traditional color theory, but have no special meaning in color science.
In traditional color theory, it is believed that all colors can be mixed from 3 universal primary - or pure - colors, which were originally believed to be red, yellow and blue pigments (representing the RYB color model). However, modern color science does not recognize universal primary colors and only defines primary colors for a given color model or color space. RGB and CMYK color models are popular color models in modern color science, but are only chosen as efficient primaries, in that their combination leads to a large gamut. However, any three primaries can produce a viable color gamut. The RYB model continues to be used and taught as a color model for practical color mixing in the visual arts.
A secondary color is an even mixture of two primary colors. For a given color model, secondary colors have no special meaning, but are useful when comparing additive and subtractive color models.
An intermediate color is any mixture of a secondary and a primary color. They are often visualized as even mixtures, but intermediate colors can arise from any mixture proportion. Therefore any color that is not a secondary or primary color is an intermediate color.
Tertiary color has two common, conflicting definitions, depending on context.
In traditional color theory, which applies mostly to practical painting, a tertiary color is an even mixture between two secondary colors, i.e. a mixture of three primaries in 1:2:1 proportion. This definition is used by color theorists, such as Moses Harris [1] and Josef Albers. [2] The result is approximately a less saturated form of the dominant primary color of the mixture. Under this definition, a color model has 3 tertiary colors.
More recently, an alternative definition has emerged that is more applicable to digital media, where a tertiary color is an intermediate color resulting from an even mixture of a primary and a secondary color, i.e. a mixture of the primaries in 3:1:0 proportion. The result yields a maximum saturation for a given hue. Under this definition, a color model has 6 tertiary colors.
A quaternary color is a seldom-used descriptor that is the conceptual extension of a tertiary color. Quaternary colors have no special use or status in color theory or color science.
Under the traditional definition, a quaternary color is the even mixture of two tertiary colors, as demonstrated by Charles Hayter. These quaternary colors have contributions from all three primaries in 3-3-2 proportions, so are very desaturated (even mixtures of three primaries gives a neutral color: zero saturation). Under this definition, a color model has 3 quaternary colors.
Under the modern definition, a quaternary color is the even mixture of a tertiary color with either a secondary or primary color. Quaternary colors are sometimes given a maximum saturation for their hue. Under this definition, a color model has 12 quaternary colors.
The RGB color model is an additive mixing model, used to estimate the mixing of colored light, with primary colors red, green, and blue. The secondary colors are yellow, cyan and magenta as demonstrated here:
| red | (●) | + | green | (●) | = | yellow | (●) |
| green | (●) | + | blue | (●) | = | cyan | (●) |
| blue | (●) | + | red | (●) | = | magenta | (●) |
The CMY color model is an analogous subtractive mixing color model, used to estimate the mixing of colored pigments, with primary colors cyan, magenta, and yellow, equivalent to the secondary colors of the RGB color model. The secondary colors of the CMY model are blue, red and green, equivalent to the primary colors of the RGB model, as demonstrated here:
| cyan | (●) | + | magenta | (●) | = | blue | (●) |
| magenta | (●) | + | yellow | (●) | = | red | (●) |
| yellow | (●) | + | cyan | (●) | = | green | (●) |
Under the modern definition, the 6 tertiary colors are conceptually equivalent between the color models, and can be described by the even combinations of a primary and a secondary color:
| red | (●) | + | yellow | (●) | = | orange | (●) |
| yellow | (●) | + | green | (●) | = | chartreuse | (●) |
| green | (●) | + | cyan | (●) | = | spring green | (●) |
| cyan | (●) | + | blue | (●) | = | azure | (●) |
| blue | (●) | + | magenta | (●) | = | violet | (●) |
| magenta | (●) | + | red | (●) | = | rose | (●) |
A color model is a conceptual model and does not have specifically defined primary colors. A color space based on the RGB color model, most commonly sRGB, has defined primaries and can be used to visualize the color mixing and yield approximate tertiary colors. Also note that the color terms applied to tertiary and quaternary colors are not well-defined.
RYB is a subtractive mixing color model, used to estimate the mixing of pigments (e.g. paint) in traditional color theory, with primary colors red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are green, purple, and orange as demonstrated here:
| red | (●) | + | yellow | (●) | = | orange | (●) |
| yellow | (●) | + | blue | (●) | = | green | (●) |
| blue | (●) | + | red | (●) | = | purple | (●) |
Under the modern definition (as even combinations of a primary and a secondary color), tertiary colors are typically named by combining the names of the adjacent primary and secondary color. [3] [4] However, these tertiary colors have also been ascribed with common names: amber/marigold (yellow-orange), vermilion/cinnabar (red-orange), magenta (red-purple), violet (blue-purple), teal/aqua (blue-green), and chartreuse/lime green (yellow-green). The 6 tertiary colors are given:
| red | (●) | + | orange | (●) | = | red-orange | (●) | ~ | vermilion |
| orange | (●) | + | yellow | (●) | = | yellow-orange [5] | (●) | ~ | amber |
| yellow | (●) | + | green | (●) | = | yellow-green | (●) | ~ | chartreuse |
| green | (●) | + | blue | (●) | = | blue-green [5] | (●) | ~ | teal |
| blue | (●) | + | purple | (●) | = | blue-purple | (●) | ~ | violet |
| purple | (●) | + | red | (●) | = | red-purple | (●) | ~ | magenta |
Approximate colors and color names are given for the tertiary and quaternary colors. However, the names for the twelve quaternary colors are quite variable, and defined here only as an approximation.
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Under the traditional definition, there are three tertiary colors, approximately named russet (orange–purple), slate (purple–green), and citron (green–orange), with the corresponding three quaternary colors plum (russet–slate), sage (slate–citron), buff (citron–russet) (with olive sometimes used for either slate or citron). [7] [8] In every level of mixing, saturation of the resultant decreases and mixing two quaternary colors approaches gray.
The RYB color terminology outlined above and in the color samples shown below is ultimately derived from the 1835 book Chromatography, an analysis of the RYB color wheel by George Field, a chemist who specialized in pigments and dyes. [9]
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Cyan is the color between blue and green on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 500 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue.
The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation CMYK refers to the four ink plates used: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key.
A set of primary colors or primary colours consists of colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a broad range of colors in, e.g., electronic displays, color printing, and paintings. Perceptions associated with a given combination of primary colors can be predicted by an appropriate mixing model that reflects the physics of how light interacts with physical media, and ultimately the retina. The most common color mixing models are the additive primary colors and the subtractive primary colors. Red, yellow and blue are also commonly taught as primary colours, despite some criticism due to its lack of scientific basis.
Magenta is a purplish-red color. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all the other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.
The Natural Colour System (NCS) is a proprietary perceptual color model. It is based on the color opponency hypothesis of color vision, first proposed by German physiologist Ewald Hering. The current version of the NCS was developed by the Swedish Colour Centre Foundation, from 1964 onwards. The research team consisted of Anders Hård, Lars Sivik and Gunnar Tonnquist, who in 1997 received the AIC Judd award for their work. The system is based entirely on the phenomenology of human perception and not on color mixing. It is illustrated by a color atlas, marketed by NCS Colour AB in Stockholm.
Complementary colors are so called, because between the two shades, the set of the three primaries, red, blue and yellow is completed. Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two colors. Complementary colors may also be called "opposite colors".
Color theory, or more specifically traditional color theory, is the historical body of knowledge describing the behavior of colors, namely in color mixing, color contrast effects, color harmony, color schemes and color symbolism. Modern color theory is generally referred to as Color science. While there is no clear distinction in scope, traditional color theory tends to be more subjective and have artistic applications, while color science tends to be more objective and have functional applications, such as in chemistry, astronomy or color reproduction. Color theory dates back at least as far as Aristotle's treatise On Colors. A formalization of "color theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy over Isaac Newton's theory of color and the nature of primary colors. By the end of the 19th century, a schism had formed between traditional color theory and color science.
Subtractive color or subtractive color mixing predicts the spectral power distribution of light after it passes through successive layers of partially absorbing media. This idealized model is the essential principle of how dyes and pigments are used in color printing and photography, where the perception of color is elicited after white light passes through microscopic "stacks" of partially absorbing media allowing some wavelengths of light to reach the eye and not others, and also in painting, whether the colors are mixed or applied in successive layers.
A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.
RYB is a subtractive color model used in art and applied design in which red, yellow, and blue pigments are considered primary colors. Under traditional color theory, this set of primary colors was advocated by Moses Harris, Michel Eugène Chevreul, Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, and applied by countless artists and designers. The RYB color model underpinned the color curriculum of the Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design and numerous art and design schools that were influenced by the Bauhaus, including the IIT Institute of Design, Black Mountain College, Design Department Yale University, the Shillito Design School, Sydney, and Parsons School of Design, New York.
A spectral color is a color that is evoked by monochromatic light, i.e. either a spectral line with a single wavelength or frequency of light in the visible spectrum, or a relatively narrow spectral band. Every wave of visible light is perceived as a spectral color; when viewed as a continuous spectrum, these colors are seen as the familiar rainbow. Non-spectral colors are evoked by a combination of spectral colors.
In color science, a color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components. When this model is associated with a precise description of how the components are to be interpreted, taking account of visual perception, the resulting set of colors is called "color space."
In color theory, a tint is a mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, while a shade is a mixture with black, which increases darkness. Both processes affect the resulting color mixture's relative saturation. A tone is produced either by mixing a color with gray, or by both tinting and shading. Mixing a color with any neutral color reduces the chroma, or colorfulness, while the hue remains unchanged.
There are three types of color mixing models, depending on the relative brightness of the resultant mixture: additive, subtractive, and average. In these models, mixing black and white will yield white, black and gray, respectively. Physical mixing processes, e.g. mixing light beams or oil paints, will follow one or a hybrid of these 3 models. Each mixing model is associated with several color models, depending on the approximate primary colors used. The most common color models are optimized to human trichromatic color vision, therefore comprising three primary colors.
The color magenta has notable tints and shades. These various colors are shown below.
A color space is a specific organization of colors. In combination with color profiling supported by various physical devices, it supports reproducible representations of color – whether such representation entails an analog or a digital representation. A color space may be arbitrary, i.e. with physically realized colors assigned to a set of physical color swatches with corresponding assigned color names, or structured with mathematical rigor. A "color space" is a useful conceptual tool for understanding the color capabilities of a particular device or digital file. When trying to reproduce color on another device, color spaces can show whether shadow/highlight detail and color saturation can be retained, and by how much either will be compromised.
Varieties of the color yellow may differ in hue, chroma or lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a yellow or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.
Sage is a grey-green resembling that of dried sage leaves. As a quaternary color, it is an equal mix of the tertiary colors citron and slate. The hex RGB color value of the Sage swatch at right is BCB88A. For decades, some military flight jackets were made in sage green color.
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