The Color Models shown above are of great importance to artists using the computer. All monitors display images using the Red-Green-Blue LIGHT ADDITIVE primary colors. Most printers use the Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-(and blacK) SUBTRACTIVE INK primary colors.
Variations in the quantity and proportions of these simple primary colors determines what an image will look like. The computer monitor is capable of creating 16.7 million colors from just 256 reds, 256 greens, and 256 blues! Each pixel (or "picture element") contains a single composite color made from a combination of these colors. Here are some examples:
Note that the levels start at "000" and end at "255". Since zero is a level, there are 256 total levels. The color wheel below (taken from Painter) shows the relationship of the RGB and CMY HUES (or "color"). It also demonstrates SATURATION and VALUE.
SATURATION is the purity of the hue; the more saturated, the less grayish the color seems. Pure gray is totally DEsaturated. A fully saturated color contains an amount of one or two primaries, but none of the third. Adding some amount of the third primary begins to desaturate the hue. VALUE is the whiteness or blackness of the color. Decreasing the value darkens (until black is achieved), while increasing the value lightens (until white is achieved).
QUESTIONS:
If pure gray is created by combining equal amounts of RGB, how many pure grays are there in the computer model?
The human eye can only distinguish around 10 million colors, so how come the computer image (with it's 16.7 million possible colors) does not look as good as real life?
Image from:Life Science page, Santa Barbara High School
Why does the computer monitor use the specific colors of RGB instead of some equally different and separate colors on the color wheel...why not CMY? (The color wheel reveals part of the answer!)
Image from: Education Systems, Inc
Visible light is a tiny part of a continuous spectrum of electromagnetic energy. Red is at the low end and blue is at the high end. If this is true (which it is), then why is the color wheel a wheel, instead of a straight gradation? (Answer is the same as in previous question.)
What makes a skintone? Which is more like a skintone, and whitch is like a spot of makeup, and why?
Wanna know more? Here are a few interesting links: