Color is one of the properties of objects in the material world, perceived as a visual sensation. Visual sensations arise under the influence of light on the visual organs electromagnetic radiation visible range of the spectrum. The wavelength range of visual sensations (color) is in the range of 380-760 microns. Physical properties Lights are closely related to the properties of the sensation they cause: with a change in light power, the brightness of the color of the emitter or the lightness of the color of painted surfaces and environments changes. With a change in wavelength, color changes, which is identical to the concept of color; we define it with the words “blue”, “yellow”, “red”, “orange”, etc.
The nature of the sensation of color depends both on the total reaction of the color-sensitive receptors of the human eye, and on the ratio of the reactions of each of the three types of receptors. The total reaction of the eye's color-sensitive receptors determines lightness, and the ratio of its shares determines chroma (hue and saturation). The characteristics of color are hue, saturation and brightness or lightness.
A.S. Pushkin defined color as “the charm of the eyes,” and the scientist Schrödinger as “an interval of radiation in the light range that the eye perceives equally and defines as color with the words “red,” “green,” “blue,” etc. "
Thus, the eye integrates (sums up) a certain interval of light emissions and perceives them as a single whole. The width of this interval depends on many factors, primarily on the level of adaptation of the eye.
Color as a phenomenon of vision and an object of study
Color act of light,
action and passive states.
J.W. Goethe
Color imparts shape, volume and emotionality to things and phenomena when they are perceived. In most biological species, light receptors are localized in the retina of the eye. The complexity of the light analyzer occurred as the biological line developed. Highest Achievement nature human vision.
With the emergence of civilization, the role of color increased. Artificial light sources (emitters with a limited spectrum of electromagnetic energy radiation) and paints (pure infinite color) can be considered as artificial means of color synthesis.
Man has always tried to master the ability to influence his state of mind through color and use color to create a comfortable living environment, as well as in various images. The first ways of using colors in ritual practice are related to their symbolic function. Later, colors were used to reflect perceived reality and visualize abstract concepts.
The highest achievement in mastering color is art, using expressive, impressive and symbolic colors.
The human eye and ear perceive radiation differently
According to the Young-Helmholtz hypothesis, our eyes have three independent light-sensitive receptors that respond respectively to red, green and blue colors. When colored light enters the eye, these receptors are excited according to the intensity of the color they are affected by, contained in the observed light. Any combination of excited receptors causes a specific color sensation. The areas of sensitivity of these three receptors partially overlap. Therefore, the same color sensation can be caused by different combinations of colored light emissions. The human eye constantly summarizes irritations, and end result perception turns out to be a total action. It should also be noted that it is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, for a person to determine whether he sees a light source or an object reflecting light.
If the eye can be considered a perfect adder, then the ear is a perfect analyzer and has a fantastic ability to decompose and analyze the vibrations that form sound. The musician's ear, without the slightest difficulty, distinguishes on which instrument a certain note is played, for example on a flute or a bassoon. Each of these instruments has a clearly defined timbre. However, if the sounds of these instruments are analyzed using an appropriate acoustic device, it will be found that the combinations of overtones emitted by these instruments differ slightly from each other. Based on instrumental analysis alone, it is difficult to accurately say which instrument we are dealing with. By ear, the instruments can be distinguished unmistakably.
The sensitivity of the eye and ear is significantly superior to the most modern ones. electronic devices. At the same time, the eye smoothes out the mosaic structure of the light, and the ear distinguishes rustles (tone variations).
If the eye were the same analyzer as the ear, then, for example, white chrysanthemum would appear to us as a chaos of colors, a fantastic play of all the colors of the rainbow. Objects would appear to us in different shades (color timbres). Green ber e t and green leaf, which usually appear to us the same green color, would be colored in various colors. The fact is that the human eye gives the same sensation of green color from different combinations of the original colored light beams. A hypothetical eye with analytical powers would immediately detect these differences. But the real human eye sums them up, and the same sum can have many different components.
It is known that white light consists of a whole range of colors and emission spectra. We call it white because the human eye is not able to separate it into individual colors.
Therefore, as a first approximation, we can assume that an object, for example a red rose, has this color because it reflects only red color. Some other object, for example a green leaf, appears green because it picks out the green color from white light and reflects only that. However, in practice, the sensation of color is associated not only with the selective reflection (transmission) of incident or emitted light by an object. The perceived color depends greatly on the color environment of the object, as well as on the essence and state of the perceiver.
You can only see the color
When a person has no vision, things appear basically the same at the time he looks at the world. On the other hand, when he learns to see, nothing will look the same all the time that he sees the thing, although it remains the same.
Carlos Castaneda
Colors that result from physical light stimuli are typically seen differently when the stimulus is made up differently. However, color also depends on a number of other conditions, such as the level of adaptation of the eye, the structure and degree of complexity of the visual field, the condition and individual characteristics the beholder. The number of possible combinations of individual mosaic light emission stimuli is significantly greater than the number of different colors, which is approximately estimated at 10 million.
It follows that any perceived color can be generated a large number stimuli with different spectral composition. This phenomenon is called color metamerism. Thus, the sensation of yellow color can be obtained under the influence of either monochromatic radiation with a wavelength of about 576 nm, or a complex stimulus. A complex stimulus may consist of a mixture of radiation with a wavelength greater than 500 nm ( color photography, printing) or from a combination of radiation with a wavelength corresponding to green or red colors, while the yellow part of the spectrum is completely absent (television, computer monitor).
How a person sees color, or Hypothesis C (B+G) + Y (G+R)
Humanity has created many hypotheses and theories about how a person sees light and color, some of which were discussed above.
This article makes an attempt, based on the above-mentioned color separation and printing technologies used in printing, to explain human color vision. The hypothesis is based on the proposition that the human eye is not a source of radiation, but acts as a colored surface illuminated by light, and the light spectrum is divided into three zones: blue, green and red. It has been assumed that in the human eye there are many light receivers of the same type, which make up the mosaic surface of the eye that perceives light. The basic structure of one of the receivers is shown in the figure.
The receiver consists of two parts that work as a single unit. Each part contains a pair of receptors: blue and green; green and red. The first pair of receptors (blue and green) is wrapped in film blue color, and the second (green and red) in a yellow film. These films work as light filters.
The receptors are interconnected by conductors of light energy. At the first level, the blue receptor is connected to red, blue to green, and green to red. At the second level, these three pairs of receptors are connected at one point (“star connection”, as with a three-phase current).
The scheme works according to the following principles:
A blue filter transmits blue and green light rays and absorbs red ones;
A yellow filter transmits green and red rays and absorbs blue ones;
Receptors respond only to one of three zones of the light spectrum: blue, green or red rays;
Two receptors, which are located behind the blue and yellow light filters, react to green rays, so the sensitivity of the eye in the green zone of the spectrum is higher than in the blue and red (this corresponds to experimental data on the sensitivity of the eye;
Depending on the intensity of the incident light, an energy potential will arise in each of the three interconnected pairs of receptors, which can be positive, negative or zero. At a positive or negative potential, a pair of receptors transmits information about the shade of color in which the radiation of one of the two zones predominates. When the energy potential is created only due to the light energy of one of the receptors, then one of the single-zone colors should be reproduced - blue, green or red. Zero potential corresponds to equal shares of radiation from each of the two zones, which gives the output one of the two-zone colors: yellow, magenta or cyan. If all three pairs of receptors have zero potential, then one of the gray levels (from white to black) should be reproduced, depending on the level of adaptation;
When the energy potentials in the three pairs of receptors are different, then at the gray point a color should be reproduced with a predominance of one of six colors: blue, green, red, cyan, purple or yellow. But this shade will be either whitened or blackened, depending on general level light energy for all three receptors. Thus, the reproduced color will always contain an achromatic component (gray level). This gray level, averaged for all receivers of the eye, will determine the adaptation (sensitivity) of the eye to the conditions of perception;
If small energy potentials (corresponding to weak shades of color or weakly chromatic colors close to achromatic) arise in most of the eye's receivers over a long period of time, they will level off and drift toward gray or the predominant memory color. The exception is when a comparative color standard is used or these potentials correspond to a memory color;
Disturbances in the color of filters, in the sensitivity of receptors or in the conductivity of circuits will lead to a distortion in the perception of light energy, and therefore to a distortion of the perceived color;
Strong energy potentials arising from prolonged exposure to high-power light energy can cause the perception of additional color when looking at a gray surface. Complementary colors: to yellow blue, to magenta green, to cyan red and vice versa. These effects arise from what is about to happen fast leveling energy potential at one of three points in the diagram.
Thus, using a simple energy circuit, including three different receptors, one of which is duplicated, and two film filters, it is possible to simulate the perception of any shade of the colored spectrum of light that a person sees.
In this model of human color perception, only the energy component of the light spectrum is taken into account and the individual characteristics of a person, his age, profession, emotional condition and many other factors that affect the perception of light.
Color without light
My soul opened it to me and taught me to touch that which has not become flesh and has not crystallized. And she allowed us to understand that the sensory is half of the mental and that what we hold in our hands is part of what we desire.
J. H. Gibran
Color arises as a result of the eye's perception of light electromagnetic radiation and the transformation of information about this radiation human brain. Although it is believed that electromagnetic light radiation is the only causative agent of the sensation of color, color can be seen without direct exposure to light; color sensations can freely arise in the human brain. Example colored dreams or hallucinations caused by exposure to the body chemical substances. In a completely dark room, we see a multi-colored flickering before our eyes, as if our vision produces some random signals in the absence of external stimuli.
Consequently, as already noted, the color stimulus is defined as an adequate stimulus for the perception of color or light, but it is not the only possible one.
The light-sensitive apparatus of the eye. A ray of light, passing through the optical media of the eye, penetrates the retina and hits its outer layer (Fig. 51). Here are the receptors of the visual analyzer. These are special light-sensitive cells - sticks And cones(see color table). The sensitivity of the rods is unusually great. They make it possible to see at dusk and even at night, but without distinguishing color, since they are excited by rays of almost the entire visible spectrum. The sensitivity of cones is at least 1000 times less. They become excited only when there is sufficiently strong lighting, but they allow them to distinguish colors.
Due to the low sensitivity of the cones, color discrimination becomes increasingly difficult in the evening and eventually disappears.
In the retina human eye on an area of approximately 6-7 sq. cm There are about 7 million cones and about 130 million rods. They are distributed unevenly in the retina. In the center of the retina, just opposite the pupil, there is the so-called yellow spot with a recess in the middle - central fossa. When a person examines a detail of an object, its image falls on the center of the yellow spot. The fovea contains only cones (Fig. 52). Here their diameter is at least half as large as in other parts of the retina, and by 1 sq. mm their number reaches 120-140 thousand, which contributes to a clearer and more distinct vision. As you move away from the central fossa to -. Rods also begin to appear, first in small groups, and then in ever greater numbers, and there are fewer cones. So, already at a distance of 4 mm from the central fossa by 1 sq. mm there are about 6 thousand cones and 120 thousand rods.
Rice. 51< Схема строения сетчатки.
I-.the edge of the choroid adjacent to the retina;
II - layer of pigment cells; III - layer of rods and cones; IV and V are two consecutive rows of nerve cells to which excitation from rods and cones passes;
1 - sticks; 2 - cones; 3 - rod and cone nuclei;
4 - nerve fibers.
Rice. 52. The structure of the retina in the area of the macula (diagram):
/ - central fossa; 2 - cones; 3 - sticks; 4 - layers of nerve cells; 5 - nerve fibers heading to the blind spot,
In semi-darkness, when the cones do not function, a person better distinguishes those objects whose image does not fall on the yellow spot. He will not notice a white object if he directs his gaze at it, since the image will fall on the center of the yellow spot, where there are no rods. However, the object will become visible if you move your gaze to the side by 10-15°. Now the image falls on a region of the retina rich in rods. Hence, with great imagination, one may get the impression of the “ghostliness” of an object, its inexplicable appearance and disappearance. This is the basis for superstitious beliefs about ghosts wandering at night.
In daylight, a person can clearly distinguish the color shades of the object he is looking at. If the image falls on the peripheral areas of the retina, where there are few cones, then color discrimination becomes unclear and rough.
In rods and cones, as well as in photographic film, under the influence of light, chemical reactions, acting as an irritant. The resulting impulses come from each point of the retina to certain areas of the visual cortex cerebral hemispheres.
Color vision. The whole variety of color shades can be obtained by mixing three colors of the spectrum - red, green and violet (or blue). If you spin a disk made up of these colors quickly, it will appear white. It has been proven that the color-sensing apparatus consists of three types of cones:
Some are predominantly sensitive to red rays, others to green, and others to blue. Color vision depends on the ratio of the excitation strength of each type of cone.
Observations of the electrical reactions of the cerebral cortex made it possible to establish that the newborn’s brain reacts
not only for light, but also for color. The ability to distinguish colors has been discovered in infant method conditioned reflexes. The discrimination of colors becomes more and more perfect as new conditioned connections are formed, acquired during the game. ^ Colorblindness. At the end of the 18th century. famous English natural-. tester John Dalton described in detail the color vision disorder from which he himself suffered. He didn't recognize the color red. from green, and dark red seemed gray or black to him. This violation, called colorblindness, occurs in approximately 8% of men and very rarely in women. It is inherited through generations through the female line, in other words, from grandfather to grandson through the mother. There are other color vision disorders, but they are very rare. People suffering from color blindness may long years not notice your defect. Sometimes a person learns about it during an eye test for a job that requires a clear distinction between red and green colors (for example, as a railway driver).
A child suffering from color blindness can remember that this ball is red and the other, larger one is green. But if you give him two identical balls, differing only in color (red and green), then he will not be able to distinguish them. Such a child confuses colors when picking berries, during drawing classes, or when selecting colored cubes from colored pictures. Seeing this, those around him, including teachers, accuse the child of inattention or deliberateness. pranks, make comments to him, punish him, reduce the grade for the work performed. Such undeserved punishment can only affect the child’s nervous system and affect his further development and behavior. Therefore, in cases where a child confuses or cannot learn certain colors for a long time, he should be shown to a specialist doctor to find out whether this is the result birth defect vision.
Visual acuity. Visual acuity is the ability of the eye to distinguish small details. If rays emanating from two adjacent points excite the same or two adjacent cones, then both points are perceived as one larger one. For their separate vision it is necessary that between;
there was another one with excited cones. Therefore, the maximum possible visual acuity: depends on the thickness of the cones in the central fovea of the macula. It has been calculated that the angle at which rays from two points that are as close as possible, but visible separately, fall on the retina is equal to "/in 0, i.e., one arc minute. This angle is considered to be the norm of visual acuity. Visual acuity varies somewhat depending on the intensity of illumination. -However, even with the same illumination it can vary significantly. It increases under the influence of training if, for example, a person has to deal with the fine distinction of small objects. When tired, visual acuity decreases.
Color perception is a complex process determined by physical and psychological stimuli. On the one hand, the sensation of color is caused by waves of a certain length that exist objectively and independently of us, on the other hand, the perception of color is impossible without the mediation of the eyes. This gives the impression that color exists only in perception.
Modern psychology distinguishes two qualitative levels in color vision: color sensation and color perception, and the creative topics of the course require a third level: color sense. If sensation is understood as the simplest psychological act directly determined by the physiology of vision, and perception is understood as a more complex process determined by a number of psychological laws, then the sense of color relates to the greatest extent to the emotional and aesthetic sphere.
The sensation of color as a simple visual act is also characteristic of some species of animals that have color vision. But for humans, a pure sensation of color does not exist. We always see color in a certain environment, against one background or another, in connection with an objective form. Consciousness also takes part in the sensation. The quality of color perception is influenced by the condition of the eye, the attitude of the observer, his age, upbringing, and general emotional state.
However, all this only changes the quality of perception to a certain extent, they only shift it in one direction or another. The color red, for example, will be perceived as red in any circumstances, except in cases of visual pathology. Let's look at some features of color perception.
SENSITIVITY OF THE EYE. Since the main differences between perceived colors come down to differences in lightness, hue and saturation, it is important to establish the ability of the eye to distinguish color changes in each of these parameters.
When studying the sensitivity of the eye to changes in color tone, it was found that the eye reacts differently to changes in wavelength in different parts of the spectrum. The color change is most noticeable in four parts of the spectrum, namely green-blue, orange-yellow, orange-red and blue-violet. The eye is least sensitive to the middle green part of the spectrum and to its end, red and violet. Under certain lighting conditions, the human eye can distinguish up to 150 shades of color. The number of differences in saturation noticeable by the eye is not the same for red, yellow and blue surfaces and ranges from 7 to 12 gradations.
The eye is most sensitive to changes in brightness - it can distinguish up to 600 gradations. The ability to distinguish color tones is not constant and depends on changes in color objects in saturation and brightness. As saturation decreases and brightness increases or decreases, we are less able to distinguish color tones. With minimal saturation, chromatic colors are reduced to two different tones: yellowish (warm) and bluish (cold). The color gamut is similarly depleted when chromatic colors become very close to white or black. Therefore, it is impossible to determine the possible total number colors perceived by the eye by simply multiplying the quantities of different color tones, degrees of saturation and lightness.
The sensitivity of the eye to individual colors changes not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively depending on the illumination. In low light conditions, not only does the eye’s sensitivity to differences in color tones in general decrease, but this ability also shifts towards the short-wavelength part of the spectrum (blue and violet)
MIXING COLOR. Color mixing is one of the most important problems in color theory, because with color mixing human vision deals constantly. The sensation of surface color is caused in us not by a stream of light waves of one particular length, but by a combination of light waves of different lengths. What color we perceive will depend on what wavelength and intensity predominate in the stream of emitted light.
If two colored spots are located next to each other, then at a certain distance they create the impression of a single color. This mixture is called ADDITIVE (additive). If another colored transparent plate is superimposed on the painted surface, then mixing occurs as a result of the subtraction or screening out of some waves. This mixing is called subtractive or SUBTRACTIVE. The following three basic laws of optical mixing have been identified.
1. For every color there is another, complementary to it. When mixed, these two colors add up to an achromatic (white or gray) color.
2. Mixed (not complementary) colors that lie closer to each other on the color wheel than complementary colors cause the feeling of a new color lying between the mixed colors. Red and yellow make orange. The second law is of greatest practical importance. It implies the fact that by mixing the three primary colors in various proportions, you can get almost any color tone.
3. The third law says that the same colors give the same shades of the mixture. This refers to cases of mixing the same colors, but different in saturation or lightness, as well as mixing chromatic with achromatic.
COMPLEMENTARY COLORS. The term complementary colors is very popular in art criticism. The exceptional role of these colors in creating color harmony is always noted.
Usually they call three pairs: red - green, blue - orange, yellow - violet, without taking into account that each of these generic names includes a wide range of color tones and not every green is complementary to every red.
In color science, color complementarity is defined as the ability of one color to complement another until an achromatic tone is obtained, i.e. white or gray as a result of optical mixing. It is calculated that each pair of colors whose wavelengths are related to each other as 1: 1.25 will be complementary.
When compared, these pairs represent the most harmonious combinations and mutually increase the saturation and lightness of each other without changing the color tone.
CONTRAST. Contrast can be defined as the opposition of objects or phenomena that differ sharply from each other in qualities or properties. And the essence of contrast is that, being together, these opposites cause new impressions, sensations and feelings that do not arise when considering them separately.
Contrasting colors can evoke a whole chain of new sensations. For example, white and black cause some shock from the sudden transition from white to black, apparent changes in size and lightness, the appearance of a spatial effect, etc.
Contrast is an important formative tool that creates a sense of space. Color harmony, coloring and chiaroscuro certainly include elements of contrast.
Leonardo da Vinci was the first to describe the contrast: “Of flowers of equal whiteness and equally distant from the eye, the one that is surrounded by the greatest darkness will appear pure, and, conversely, that darkness will appear darker, which will be visible against the purer whiteness, Each color is better recognized by its opposite.” Contrasts are divided into two types: achromatic (light) and chromatic (color). In each of them there are different contrasts: simultaneous, sequential, border (edge).
SIMULTANEOUS LIGHT CONTRAST.“The darker the night, the brighter the stars.” The essence of the phenomenon is that a light spot on a dark background seems even lighter - positive contrast, and a dark spot on a light one - darker (negative contrast) than it actually is. If a spot is surrounded by a field of a different tone (lighter or darker), then it is called a reactive field, and the background is called an inductive field. The reactive field changes its brightness more than the inductive field.
If the lightness of these fields is high, then the effect of contrast is noticeably reduced. The phenomenon of light contrast is also noticeable when the fields are the same color, but of different lightness. This contrast is called monochromatic. In this case, not only lightness changes, but also saturation. In essence, we are dealing with simultaneous contrast when combining chromatic and achromatic colors.
Experiments conducted by B. Teplov showed that the effect of simultaneous contrast depends on the absolute brightness of the inductive and reacting fields and on the difference in the brightness of these fields. At very low and very high differences, there is no or very little contrast.
It also depends on the magnitude of the interacting fields. The smaller the light spot, the more it is exposed to lightening. It has also been established that, with equal brightness, a larger reactive field always appears darker than a small inductive one. Contrast also depends on the distance between fields. The strength of contrast decreases as the distance between fields increases.
The effect of contrast depends on the shape of the reacting field: a circle or a ring, a square or a letter on the same field under the same conditions will be accompanied by varying degrees of contrast.
If we have two adjacent spots that are not related to each other as figure and background, then the contrast they cause is formed according to the principle of equal interaction. However, in this case the contrast tends to disappear. As long as these spots are large enough and we examine them simultaneously, their interaction remains noticeable, and we also notice a borderline contrast. But if these spots are small enough or are perceived from a great distance, then their optical mixture occurs, and we see an overall gray tone.
The phenomenon of simultaneous light contrast is accompanied not only by darkening or brightening of the reacting field, but also by an apparent change in size. A light spot on a dark background seems even lighter and larger, and a dark spot on a light background seems to decrease in size and darken.
SIMULTANEOUS COLOR CONTRAST. The effect of simultaneous color contrast occurs when two chromatic colors or chromatic and achromatic interact. This is a more complex phenomenon than light contrast, because changes in color tone are accompanied by simultaneous changes in lightness and saturation, and the latter may be more noticeable than the contrast itself.
If you want to determine the effect of color contrast by color tone, then it is necessary that the contrasting tones be close in lightness and saturation. Then it is not difficult to notice that when different colors are compared, new qualities and additional shades appear in them.
There is a tendency for colors in contrast to move away from each other. For example, yellow on orange is lighter, greener, and colder. Orange on yellow turns red, darkens, warms. Another kind of phenomenon occurs when there is a contrast of complementary colors. When they are compared, new shades do not appear, but the colors themselves increase their saturation and brightness. When viewing them from afar, the law of additive mixing is triggered, and the compared colors fade and, ultimately, turn gray.
BORDER CONTRAST. Occurs at the boundaries of two adjacent painted surfaces. It is most clearly manifested when there are two stripes nearby, different in lightness or color. With light contrast, the part of the light area that is closer to the dark will be lighter than the farther part. The effect of unevenness (steps) and volume is created.
With chromatic contrast, adjacent tones change in the same way as with simultaneous contrast, i.e. the yellow spot near the red one turns green, but the further from the edge, the weaker this effect becomes. We can say that simultaneous and borderline contrasts always appear together.
The contrasting effect of colors disappears if at least a very narrow light or dark strip is laid between them (it is called a prosnovka), i.e. A prerequisite for contrast is the placement of colors next to each other.
So, with edge and simultaneous contrast, a color is perceived as darker if it is surrounded by lighter colors and lighter when surrounded by darker ones.
A color complementary to the color of the surroundings is mixed with a color spot on a colored background. If a color is placed against the background of its complementary color, it is perceived as more saturated.
If you place a spot of the same color, but of lower saturation, on a colored background, its saturation will decrease even more. The more saturated the color background, the more it affects the “neighbors”. This is especially noticeable with the same or similar lightness.
Colors located at the ends of the diameter of the spectral circle do not cause a change in hue when compared, but they become brighter from this proximity. Colors located close to each other in the spectral circle contrast slightly, but acquire new shades. All cool colors provide greater contrast than warm colors. Contrast depends on the size of the fields; up to a certain limit, the contrast increases in proportion to the distance, after which the laws of optical mixing begin to operate.
The effectiveness of contrast is inversely related to brightness. Strong lighting destroys the effect of contrast, and weak lighting enhances it. However, the effect when perceiving a couple remains unchanged in any lighting. On a black or dark gray background, colors decrease their saturation, and on a white or light gray background they increase.
The phenomenon of marginal and simultaneous contrasts obliges us to find harmony between neighboring colors, increasing or decreasing their contrasting interaction. For example, by changing the size of interacting areas; removing or bringing together colored surfaces; creating or destroying a gap between them, etc.
CONSISTENT CONTRAST. If you look at the sun and then look at a white wall, you will see a dark spot for a while - this is a blurry image of the sun on the retina. The consistent contrast also lies in the fact that when we move our gaze from one colorful spot to another, we observe on the latter a shade that is unusual for it. Scientists explain this by residual irritation of the retina during the perception of the previous color, because the color sensation has a duration and continues for some time when the object has already disappeared. As a result, when we move our gaze from a bright red surface to a gray or white one, we see a greenish tint on the light one, i.e. What is observed is not red, but an additional green color. We can say with complete confidence that consistent contrast is the result of color fatigue of the eye from exposure to color. This phenomenon is called adaptation.
If a color stimulus acts on our eyes for a certain time, then the sensitivity to this color begins to decrease. Moreover, the brighter and more saturated the color, the greater the color fatigue. Low saturated colors do not create consistent contrast. The phenomenon of color contrast must be taken into account by makeup artists, especially when working on evening or catwalk makeup, as well as by stylists and hairdressers when choosing hair and clothing colors. Consistent contrast is also expressed in the fact that the shape of the previous color spot is also reproduced.
SURFACE COLOR. At first glance, it seems that the color of an object is its integral property, the same as size, weight, shape. However, under certain lighting conditions, a yellow object may appear orange or greenish, and a blue object may appear black or purple. In the absence of lighting at all, all objects will appear black. But despite the slight color changes, we understand that the tomato is red and the grass is green.
The physical basis that determines the color of an object is the ability of the surface to sort the rays of light falling on it in a certain way, i.e. absorb some rays and reflect some, which gives the color of the surface. But reflection and absorption also depend on many other stimuli, making it almost impossible to see color in its pure form.
The apparent brightness also depends on the spectral composition of the light reflected by the surface. All blue, green, and violet tones make the surface darker, while yellow and red, on the contrary, give it brightness. Yellow electric lighting adds saturation to red, orange turns red, yellow loses its saturation, turns gray, and yellow-blues become almost black.
Landscape artists have long noticed that green leaves turn slightly red in the evening light. It turns out that leaves do not absorb all the red rays of the spectrum, but only part of them, reflecting the other. And, while all green objects darken in the evening, the leaves of the trees acquire a reddish tint.
Surface color is a color perceived in unity with the texture of an object. Spatial color is the color of objects distant from us, the color of various environments: sky, clouds, fog, water.
Planar is a color that belongs to a plane located at such a distance from the eye that the features of its structure are not felt by the eye, but due to the combination of its shape and the effect of contrast, it stands out against some background and is perceived as a plane. For example, we can see different surfaces of the same green color - grass and plywood lying on it, it is impossible to distinguish them from a distance. Masking is based on this inability of the eye to distinguish textural qualities at a distance.
As it moves away from the observer, the surface color changes depending on the color of the transparent medium in which it is located. The lightness will decrease for whites and yellows and increase for darks. In addition, the collection of colors resulting from optical mixing will be perceived as one resulting color.
EXPRESSIVENESS OF COLOR. The most vivid living description of primary colors can be found in the great Goethe, in his works on color. This is not just the opinion and impression of one person, these are the words of a poet who knew how to express what his eyes see. Goethe argued that all colors are between the poles of yellow (closest to daylight) and blue (closest shade of darkness).
Positive or active colors - yellow, orange, red - create an active, lively mood. Blue, red-blue, violet are negative passive colors - the mood is sad, serene, soft, calm.
Red, according to Goethe, is an emotional, exciting, stimulating color. This is the color of royalty, it unites all colors. There is nobility in pure red; it creates the impression of seriousness and dignity, as well as charm and grace.
Yellow – calm, serene, cheerful, charming. According to Goethe's definition yellow It has lightness, certainly produces a warm impression and evokes a complacent mood. Goethe believes that yellow can be used to express shame and contempt. And, according to the magnificent Russian painter Kandinsky, the color yellow never carries any deep meaning. Yellow is able to express violence, the delirium of the insane, and bright yellow is associated with the sound of a bugle.
Goethe's orange gives the eyes a feeling of warmth and pleasure. Bright orange rushes to the organs of vision and produces a shock. And for Kandinsky it represents strength, energy, ambition, triumph.
Blue is cold, empty, but expresses calm. Geth's blue always brings something dark, the blue surface seems to float away from us into the distance. Dark blue - immersion in deep thought about all things that have no end. Blue creates calm, while purple evokes anxiety, impatience and even powerlessness.
Green color - well balanced - shows the stability characteristic of pure colors, gives real satisfaction, perfect silence and stillness.
HARMONY OF COLOR. God created everything in measure and number - everything in the world should be harmonious. The term “harmony” as an aesthetic category originated in Ancient Greece. Problems of harmony have interested people from the time of Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus to the present day. This category is closely connected with such concepts as connectedness, unity of opposites, measure and proportionality, balance, consonance, and human scale. In addition, the harmonious is necessarily sublime and beautiful.
In the general concept of harmony, it is possible to distinguish such particular subdivisions as the harmony of sounds, shapes, and colors. The term color harmony often defines a pleasant to the eye, beautiful combination of colors, implying a certain consistency between them, a certain order in them, a certain proportionality.
The color spots on the surface are interconnected. Each individual color balances or highlights the other, and two together influence the third. Sometimes changing even one color in a composition leads to its destruction.
The theory of color harmony cannot be reduced to which color harmonizes with which; it requires a rhythmic organization of color spots. A haphazard accumulation of color creates variegation.
Attempts to build a normative theory of color harmony were made throughout the 19th century and later.
To create a classic color harmony, you must follow some rules for choosing colors.
in harmony the original elements of diversity should be noticeable, i.e. red, yellow and blue colors present
variety of tones should be achieved through a variety of light and dark
tones should be in balance, none should stand out - this is color rhythm
in large color compositions, colors should follow one another in order, as in a spectrum or rainbow (melody of unity)
pure paints should be used sparingly because of their brightness and only in those places that you want to highlight.
This is, of course, a very formal approach to harmony, but it also has a right to exist.
More general rules for creating color harmony are as follows:
highlighting the most beautiful isolated colors and determining the conditions in which these colors look most advantageous
choosing a sequence of warm and cold colors
comparing colors by contrast, creating conditions in which each color seems more beautiful on its own.
An essential factor determining the quality of color harmony is the ratio of color spots over the occupied area. There are certain proportional ratios of spot areas necessary to achieve integrity and unity of impressions with the same saturation and lightness. In the case of contrast in lightness, this law acquires even greater force. So, for example, to balance a large light spot, a several times smaller in area, but saturated, bright spot, contrasting in color and lightness, is sufficient.
An interesting point is the colored background on which you can create
composition, for example, a small harmonious pattern can get lost in an inappropriate field. And if this drawing is enlarged, then it can crawl forward.
It is not indifferent in what sequence the color spots will be located. Imbalance or monotony in the rhythm can also lead to a negative effect (buttons or decorations on clothes).
Do not forget that there is an interaction between the outlines of the spot, its
shape and color. Often form is subordinate to color and vice versa: “edgy” colors are stronger in triangles (yellow looks great in geometric shapes). And red and blue tend to have a strong impact, the colors are very suitable for rounded shapes. If you take a series of squares, circles and triangles and color them different colors, you can see how shape and color interact with each other. A circle can acquire corners and edges, but a square, on the contrary, can lose corners and acquire concave sides.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF COLOR HARMONY
Goethe made an attempt to characterize the sensory and emotional impact not only of individual colors, but also of their various combinations. He recognized the integrity of the color impression as the main, defining feature of the quality of color harmony. According to Goethe, the eye reluctantly tolerates the sensation of one color and demands another, which would form the integrity of the color wheel with it.
colors located at the ends of the diameter of the spectral circle are always perceived as harmonious
“Characteristic” refers to combinations of colors located on chords with one color slipping through (everything characteristic arises only due to its isolation from the whole)
comparison of colors on a short chord - characterless, they cannot make a significant impression
Goethe noted that the impression of a combination of colors can be different depending on the difference or sameness of their lightness and their saturation. And Goethe also noticed that warm colors benefit when compared with black, and cold colors – with white.
HARMONY OF COMPLEMENTARY COLORS
These are the most harmonious combinations. The harmony of the combination of complementary colors can be explained by the psychophysical laws of vision, which Lomonosov drew attention to and on the basis of which the three-component theory of color vision arose.
The bottom line: our eye, which has three color-forming receivers, always requires their joint activity - it seems to need color balance. And since one of a pair of complementary colors represents the sum of two primary colors, each pair contains the presence of all three colors, forming an equilibrium. In the case of a combination of other colors, this balance is absent, and the eye experiences color starvation.
Perhaps on this physiological basis and a certain dissatisfaction, a negative emotional reaction arises, the magnitude of which will depend on how noticeable this imbalance is.
It is customary for the human eye to perceive a full set of colors, and in everyday life, eye movement regulates visual perception in such a way as to see as many colors as possible, since the effect on the eyes of one color is at first simply unpleasant, then begins to irritate, and then, depending on the brightness and duration of perception, can lead to a sharply negative reaction and even psychological disorder.
COLOR COMPOSITION. The composition of color spots, built taking into account all the considered patterns of color harmony, will be limited if it does not serve the main thing - creating an image.
The compositional function of color lies in its ability to focus the viewer’s attention on the most important detail. Very important for creating a color composition is its ability to create your own design through lightness, hue and saturation.
Color composition requires an appropriate rhythmic organization of color spots. A haphazard accumulation of a large number of colors, even taking into account their compatibility, creates diversity, irritates and makes perception difficult.
A color composition is a whole in which everything is consistent and matches each other, creating a pleasant impression on the eye.
The concept of harmony necessarily includes disharmony as its antithesis.
If for Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance it was harmony that served as the ideal, then already in the Baroque era dissonance was often preferred to harmony. In our century, expressionism decisively rejects the principles of classical harmony and, in search of greater expressiveness, often turns to deliberately or even deliberately disharmonious combinations. However, this does not detract from the importance of studying classical principles, because this is the key to understanding color and color compositions in general.
COLORIT. Combining colors plays an essential role in creating any composition. Usually colors that are equal in lightness and close to each other in color tone are combined. When colors are tonally united with each other, their qualitative changes are noticed, manifested in their special sonority. A color that falls out of the general tonality and is not consistent with it seems alien and interferes with the perception of the image.
Harmonic combination, interrelation, tonal unification of different colors is called color. Color reveals to us the colorful richness of the world.
The term “color” entered the artistic lexicon at the beginning of the 18th century and almost immediately appeared and established itself in the Russian artistic dictionary. It comes from Latin word“color” - color, paint.
Color characterizes a certain optical combination of all colors viewed from a certain distance. It is in this sense that it is customary to talk about warm, cold, silver, gloomy, boring, cheerful, transparent, golden, etc. colorism - features of the color system, preference for certain colors that express the image.
However, we should also pay tribute to the fact that the general color tone, which we call color, can arise completely by chance, against the will of the creator, and can be inherent in any color combination.
The development of color science, as well as the history and theory of art in the 19th and 20th centuries, leads to a deeper and more comprehensive analysis of the concept of “color.” It becomes clear that not everyone who works with color, even if very beautifully and elegantly, is a colorist. Color is the artist’s special ability, in the broad sense of the word, to manage color, so mysterious and incomprehensible that even statements have appeared about the “secret” of color, the “magic” of color, and its incomprehensibility. And among artists, a favorite saying has become: “Drawing can be learned, but a colorist must be born.”
Color is closely related to color, but the totality of colors does not yet determine color. Color is a system of colors, but the system and the amount are not the same thing. The system is natural, has unity, integrity and is perceived as a single whole.
There is no point in talking about the emotional role of color in general. The same color, being the color of different objects or objects, is perceived in completely different ways. Color in life is perceived not in its colorimetric characteristics, but depending on the surrounding colors and lighting, and it is always subordinate to the general tonality.
Denis Diderot gives an example: “Compare a natural scene during the day with a shining sun and a cloudy sky. There the light, color and shadows are stronger, here everything is pale and gray. As lighting and surroundings change, the color characteristics inevitably change. We can say that light is the general coloring of a given landscape.”
Consider the color change under different lighting:
at dusk or on a cloudy day, when the light intensity is relatively low, the colors darken significantly, losing saturation
the most accurate idea of color can be formed only in daylight without the sun; in a room during the day, as you move away from the window, the colors weaken, turn gray, losing saturation
At night it is generally difficult to determine the color, and in the morning blue, blue, green become noticeable first, then yellow and the last to gain saturation are red colors
in sunlight, all colors are clearly visible; In bright light at noon, all colors are washed out. Cold colors suffer the most from sunlight: blue, indigo, green - they fade slightly, violet turns red. Warm colors - yellow, orange and red - change less
in the evening, the colors become denser and darker again, yellow, orange, green, blue gradually fade, the cold red-violet color remains visible the longest
yellow electric lighting darkens all colors and gives them a slightly reddish tint, creating a warm coloring
“daytime” electric light also changes all colors, making them colder and darker
The color of the rays of a particular light source unites colors, making them related and subordinate. No matter how diverse the colors in life are, the color of lighting present on all objects and details unites them coloristically. Lighting changes not only the brightness characteristics of the color, but also other qualities, including texture characteristics. It is impossible to consider color independently of subject connections and lighting. Tonal subordination determines the character of each color of the color system, which is not limited to three main characteristics: lightness, saturation and hue. Here it is necessary to add color density, its weight properties, spatial and other properties. In some cases, the color reaches the meaning of the symbol.
Color acquires a certain expressiveness only when it enters into community with other colors, i.e. into a color system, and this is color. A set of colors that are in certain relationships with each other, endowed with a certain meaning, forms a specific, sensually perceived structure that can express the purpose and meaning of a given composition.
To correctly create an image, you need to learn to see holistically. Thus, the manual on painting says that the artist (and we will add the image maker) needs the ability to see and position the eye in order to notice plastic qualities, volumetric form, structure, color, light and shade, textural qualities, as well as to find the significant and beautiful and be able to show it all.
In ordinary vision, we consider only what the gaze is directed at. "With wide coverage visible person does not peer, - wrote B. Ioganson, - but sees in general... and, taking in everything with his gaze at the same time, he suddenly notices what is especially bright and what is barely noticeable. You need to start from the whole in order to be able to compare details, which a person who starts from the details loses.”
Konstantin Korovin: - “Educate your eye little by little at first, then open your eye wider, and in the end you need to see everything together. And then what was not taken accurately will be out of tune, like a wrong note in an orchestra.”
It is necessary to learn to distract from what is known in advance in order to see the relationships in which the details are located at the moment of observation.
PSYCHOPHYSICAL IMPACT OF COLOR AND ITS SYMBOLICS
“Colors are irritating and calming, screaming, arguing with each other
friend and living affectionately next to each other. In their struggle or agreement
and there is the effect of color on a person through the sense of vision.”
K.Petrov-Vodkin
Many art practitioners and theorists were interested in the issues of the emotional impact of color on a person - Leonardo da Vinci, I. Goethe, E. Delacroix, M. Deribere, K. Yuon, I. Grabar and others.
Physiologists have long known about the physiological influence of color, independent of the subject’s mood. Note that the effect of each color and its specificity internal meaning do not depend on a person’s attitude towards him. You may or may not like a color, but the nature of its influence, the specifics of its impact on the psyche remain unchanged, regardless of the state of the body at the time of influence. Thus, the symbolic meaning of color, its “psychological code” is truly objective and does not depend on the position of a particular color in the range of individual preferences.
Each color shade produces the same effect on any living organism and causes a very definite shift in the state of any biological system, be it a mouse or a human.
“In its most general elementary manifestations, regardless of the structure and forms of the material on the surface of which we perceive it, color has a certain effect on the sense of sight, and through it on the soul,” wrote Goethe. Colors act on the soul: they can evoke feelings, awaken emotions and thoughts that calm us or excite us, they sadden us or make us happy.” The mystery of color – why and how exactly it affects a person’s mood and behavior – has not yet been resolved. What allowed Wassily Kandinsky to call painting “a color instrument of the state of mind”? Why does a person respond so sensitively to all sorts of color codes in the environment?
The famous psychiatrist V.M. Bekhterev stated: “A skillfully selected range of colors can have a more beneficial effect on the nervous system than other mixtures.” Aristotle wrote: “Every living thing strives for color... Colors, according to the pleasantness of their correspondences, can relate to each other like musical harmonies and be mutually proportional.” Evely Grant noted: “The more you look at this world, the more you are convinced that color was created for beauty, and this beauty is not the satisfaction of a person’s whim, but a necessity for him.”
Indeed, color can excite and suppress, elevate and overthrow, heal and ennoble. Here are a few excerpts from Maurice Deriberet’s wonderful book “Color in Human Activity”:
"Physiological and psycho physical impact colors on living beings made it possible to develop a rich technique of color therapy... Particular attention was drawn to the red color, which was used by medieval doctors for treatment chickenpox, scarlet fever, measles and some other skin diseases. Other color rays have also been studied. Treatment of neuralgic phenomena with light began a very long time ago. At first it was empirical, but after Pleasanton's observations of the analgesic properties of light passed through a blue filter, and Poeg's observations of the same property of the color violet, it became more accurate. At the beginning of this century, several Russian and German therapists confirmed observations about the beneficial effects of blue and violet rays in the treatment of neuralgic diseases..."
The color green was used by Poteau in the treatment of nervous diseases and psychopathic disorders. He believed that the color green acts in cases where it is necessary to discipline the mind and body and force the patient to control his actions.
The color options are simply fantastic. Direct irradiation with light, the use of laser devices, the creation of monochromatic interiors, the use of light currents transmitted through gems, targeted influence on acupuncture points, targeted effects on the active zones of the iris - today there are many methods for introducing color energies into human information and energy metabolism. Moreover, all these techniques are effective regardless of the degree to which a person is aware of the nature and direction of the color-energy effect. Color, like sound, is a natural integrator of physiological and mental processes
M. Deribere writes about the influence of color on the human psyche and its use in medicine based on the results of Dr. Podolsky’s research: “Green color affects nervous system. This is an analgesic, hypnotizing color. Effective for nervous irritability, insomnia and fatigue, lowers blood pressure, raises tone, creates a feeling of warmth, dilating capillary vessels. Relieves neuralgia and migraines associated with high blood pressure. Green is calming and has no harmful effects
Blue color is antiseptic. It reduces suppuration and can be useful in some rheumatic pains, inflammations and even in the treatment of cancer. For a sensitive person, blue relieves more than green. However, exposure to blue light for too long can cause some fatigue or depression.
Orange stimulates the senses and slightly speeds up the blood pulsation. Does not affect blood pressure, creates a feeling of well-being and fun, Has a strong stimulating effect, but may tire.
Yellow color stimulates the brain. May be effective in cases of mental impairment. Long-term irradiation prevents fluctuations in the course of the disease.
Red is warm and irritating. It stimulates the brain and is effective for melancholic people.
Violet affects the heart, lungs and blood vessels, increasing tissue endurance. Amethyst color has the stimulating effect of red and the tonic effect of blue.
Over a long period of historical development, certain associative connections of various colors or color combinations with various life situations and phenomena. In certain periods of the history of fine art, color symbolism played an important role, for example, in the Middle Ages.
White symbolized purity and innocence, red – the blood of a saint, green – hope for the immortality of the soul, blue symbolized sadness.
The symbolic meaning of each color in Russian icon painting is known, due to various artistic movements, both local and brought from Byzantium and the southern Slavs.
In Russian icon painting, the color of gold symbolized the ideas of the biblical paradise, was a symbol of truth and glory, purity and incorruptibility, and personified the idea of purifying the soul. The red color in icon painting symbolized, first of all, the blood of Jesus Christ; it was a symbol of ardor, fire, and life. The color purple in Byzantine art personified the idea of imperial power. Blue – ideas of contemplation, the color of the sky and the mountain world. Green – ideas of hope, renewal, youth. It was and is often used to refer to the Garden of Eden. White in Russian icon painting symbolized participation in the divine light.
The symbolic meaning of color is also known in folk art, which was formed under the influence of the surrounding nature. For many peoples, red is a symbol of sun and love, green is hope, white is purity and innocence.
The conclusion suggests itself: you can control the living system and mental processes in the most natural way, influencing in the most familiar way, achieving significant results with the correct selection of colors and shapes of clothing, hairstyles, makeup, interior, creating a favorable harmonious color environment around yourself, without the use of synthetic drugs and complex physiotherapeutic effects.
Color only exists if its three components are represented: the viewer, the subject, and the lighting. Although pure white light is perceived as colorless, it actually contains all the colors of the visible spectrum. When white light reaches an object, the surface selectively absorbs some colors and reflects others; Only reflected colors create the viewer's perception of color.
Human color perception: eyes and vision
The human eye perceives this spectrum using a combination of rod and cone cells for vision. Rods have higher light sensitivity but only detect light intensity, while cones can also detect colors but function best in bright light. There are three types of cones in each of our eyes, each of which is more sensitive to short (S), medium (S) or long (L) wavelengths of light. The combination of signals possible in all three cones describes the range of color that we can see with our eyes. The example below illustrates the relative sensitivity of each cone type to the entire visible spectrum from approximately 400 to 700 nm.
Note that each cell type does not perceive a single color, but has varying degrees of sensitivity over a wide range of wavelengths. Hover over “Luminance” to see which colors contribute the most to our perception of brightness. Note also that human color perception is most sensitive to light in the yellow-green range of the spectrum; this fact is exploited by the Bayer matrix in modern digital cameras.
Additive and subtractive color synthesis
Almost all the colors we distinguish can be composed of some combination of three primary colors, through additive (summative) or subtractive (difference) synthesis processes. Additive synthesis creates color by adding light to a dark background, and subtractive synthesis uses pigments or dyes to selectively block light. Understanding the essence of each of these processes creates the basis for understanding color reproduction.
| Additive | Subtractive |
The colors of the three outer circles are called the primary colors, and they are different for each of the diagrams. Devices that use these primary colors can reproduce the maximum range of colors. Monitors emit light to reproduce color additively, while printers use pigments or dyes to absorb light and synthesize subtractive colors. That's why virtually all monitors use a combination of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) pixels, and why most color printers use at least cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) inks. Many printers also use black (CMYK) ink in addition to color ink, since a simple combination of color ink cannot create deep enough shadows.
(RGB colors) |
(CMYK colors) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| red + green | → | yellow | cyan + magenta | → | blue | |
| green + blue | → | blue | purple + yellow | → | red | |
| blue + red | → | purple | yellow + blue | → | green | |
| red + green + blue | → | white | cyan + magenta + yellow | → | black | |
Subtractive synthesis is more sensitive to changes in ambient light, since it is selective blocking of light that produces colors. This is why color prints require a certain type of ambient lighting to accurately reproduce colors.
Color properties: hue and saturation
Color has two unique components that distinguish it from achromatic light: hue (hue) and saturation. The visual description of color is based on each of these terms and can be quite subjective, however each can be more objectively described by analyzing its spectrum.
Natural colors are not actually light of a specific wavelength, but actually contain a full spectrum of wavelengths. "Tone" describes which wavelength is most powerful. The full spectrum of the object shown below would be perceived as blue, even though it contains waves along the entire length of the spectrum.
Despite the fact that the maximum of this spectrum is in the same region as the tone of the object, it is not required condition. If an object had separate pronounced peaks only in the red and green ranges, its tone would be perceived as yellow (see table of additive color synthesis).
Color saturation is the degree of its purity. A highly saturated color will contain a very narrow range of wavelengths and will appear much more pronounced than a similar but less saturated color. The following example illustrates the spectra of saturated and desaturated blue.
| Select saturation level: | low | high |
Man has the ability to see the world in all the variety of colors and shades. He can admire the sunset, emerald greenery, bottomless blue sky and other beauties of nature. About the perception of color and its effect on the psyche and physical state person will be discussed in this article.
What is color
Color is the subjective perception by the human brain of visible light, the differences in its spectral structure perceived by the eye. Humans have a better ability to distinguish colors than other mammals.
Light affects the photosensitive receptors in the retina, which then produce a signal that is transmitted to the brain. It turns out that the perception of color is formed in a complex way in the chain: the eye (neural networks of the retina and exteroceptors) - visual images of the brain.
Thus, color is an interpretation of the surrounding world in the human mind, arising as a result of processing signals coming from the light-sensitive cells of the eye - cones and rods. In this case, the former are responsible for the perception of color, and the latter are responsible for the acuity of twilight vision.
"Color Disorders"
The eye reacts to three primary tones: blue, green and red. And the brain perceives colors as a combination of these three primary colors. If the retina loses the ability to distinguish any color, then the person also loses it. For example, there are people who are unable to distinguish from red. 7% of men and 0.5% of women have such features. It is extremely rare that people do not see colors around them at all, which means that the receptor cells in their retina do not function. Some suffer from weak twilight vision - this means that they have weakly sensitive rods. Such problems arise from various reasons: due to vitamin A deficiency or hereditary factors. However, a person can adapt to “color disorders”, so without special examination they are almost undetectable. People with normal vision are able to distinguish up to a thousand shades. A person's perception of color changes depending on the conditions of the surrounding world. The same tone looks different under candlelight or sunlight. But human vision quickly adapts to these changes and identifies the familiar color.
Shape perception
Exploring nature, man constantly discovered new principles of the structure of the world - symmetry, rhythm, contrast, proportions. He was guided by these impressions, transforming environment, creating your own unique world. Subsequently, the objects of reality gave rise to stable images in the human mind, accompanied by clear emotions. The individual’s perception of shape, size, color is associated with symbolic associative meanings geometric shapes and lines. For example, in the absence of divisions, the vertical is perceived by a person as something infinite, incommensurable, upward, light. A thickening at the bottom or a horizontal base makes it more stable in the eyes of the individual. But the diagonal symbolizes movement and dynamics. It turns out that a composition based on clear verticals and horizontals tends toward solemnity, staticity, and stability, while an image based on diagonals tends toward variability, instability, and movement.
Double impact
It is a generally accepted fact that the perception of color is accompanied by a strong emotional impact. This problem was studied in detail by painters. V. V. Kandinsky noted that color affects a person in two ways. First, the individual experiences a physical effect when the eye is either fascinated by the color or irritated by it. This impression is fleeting when it comes to familiar objects. However, in an unusual context (an artist’s painting, for example), color can evoke a strong emotional experience. In this case, we can talk about the second type of influence of color on an individual.
Physical effects of color
Numerous experiments by psychologists and physiologists confirm the ability of color to influence a person’s physical condition. Dr. Podolsky described human visual perception of color as follows.
- Blue color - has an antiseptic effect. It is useful to look at it during suppuration and inflammation. Helps a sensitive individual better than green. But an “overdose” of this color causes some depression and fatigue.
- Green color is hypnotic and analgesic. It has a positive effect on the nervous system, relieves irritability, fatigue and insomnia, and also improves blood tone.
- Yellow color - stimulates the brain, therefore helps with mental deficiency.
- Orange color - has a stimulating effect and accelerates the pulse without raising blood pressure. It improves vitality, but can become tiring over time.
- Purple color - affects the lungs, heart and increases the endurance of body tissues.
- Red color has a warming effect. It stimulates brain activity, eliminates melancholy, but in large doses it is irritating.
Types of colors
The influence of color on perception can be classified in different ways. There is a theory according to which all tones can be divided into stimulating (warm), disintegrating (cold), pastel, static, dull, warm dark and cold dark.
Stimulating (warm) colors promote arousal and act as irritants:
- red - life-affirming, strong-willed;
- orange - cozy, warm;
- yellow - radiant, contacting.
Disintegrating (cold) tones dampen excitement:
- purple - heavy, in-depth;
- blue - emphasizing the distance;
- light blue - a guide leading into space;
- blue-green - changeable, emphasizing movement.
Mute the impact of pure colors:
- pink - mysterious and delicate;
- purple - isolated and closed;
- pastel green - soft, affectionate;
- gray-blue - discreet.
Static colors can balance and distract from exciting colors:
- pure green - refreshing, demanding;
- olive - softening, soothing;
- yellow-green - liberating, renewing;
- purple - pretentious, sophisticated.
Deep tones promote concentration (black); do not cause excitement (gray); extinguish irritation (white).
Warm dark colors(brown) cause lethargy, inertia:
- ocher - softens the growth of excitement;
- earthy brown - stabilizes;
- dark brown - reduces excitability.
Dark, cool tones suppress and isolate irritation.
Color and personality
The perception of color largely depends on the personal characteristics of a person. This fact was proven in his works on individual perception color compositions by German psychologist M. Luscher. According to his theory, an individual in a different emotional and mental state can react differently to the same color. Moreover, the characteristics of color perception depend on the degree of personality development. But even with weak mental sensitivity, the colors of the surrounding reality are perceived ambiguously. Warm and light colors attract the eye more than dark ones. And at the same time, clear but poisonous colors cause anxiety, and a person’s vision involuntarily looks for a cold green or blue tint to rest.
Color in advertising
In an advertising message, the choice of color cannot depend only on the taste of the designer. After all, bright colors can attract attention potential client, and make it difficult to obtain the necessary information. Therefore, the perception of an individual’s shape and color must be taken into account when creating advertising. Solutions can be the most unexpected: for example, against a motley background of bright pictures, a person’s involuntary attention is more likely to be attracted by a strict black and white ad rather than a colorful inscription.
Children and colors
Children's perception of color develops gradually. At first, they only recognize warm colors: red, orange and yellow. Then the development of mental reactions leads to the fact that the child begins to perceive blue, violet, blue and green colors. And only with age does the baby become available to all the variety of color tones and shades. At three years old, children, as a rule, name two or three colors, and recognize about five. Moreover, some children have difficulty distinguishing basic tones even at the age of four. They poorly differentiate colors, have difficulty remembering their names, replace intermediate shades of the spectrum with the main ones, and so on. In order for a child to learn to adequately perceive the world around him, he needs to be taught to correctly distinguish colors.
Development of color perception
Color perception should be taught from a very early age. The baby is naturally very inquisitive and needs a variety of information, but it must be introduced gradually so as not to irritate the child’s sensitive psyche. IN early age Children usually associate color with the image of an object. For example, green is a Christmas tree, yellow is a chicken, blue is the sky, and so on. The teacher needs to take advantage of this moment and develop color perception using natural forms.
Color, unlike size and shape, can only be seen. Therefore, when determining tone, a large role is played by comparison by superposition. If two colors are placed side by side, every child will understand whether they are the same or different. At the same time, he does not yet need to know the name of the color; it is enough to be able to complete tasks like “Plant each butterfly on a flower of the same color.” After the child learns to visually distinguish and compare colors, it makes sense to begin choosing according to the pattern, that is, to actually develop color perception. To do this, you can use the book by G. S. Shvaiko entitled “Games and game exercises for speech development." Getting to know the colors of the world around us helps children feel reality more subtly and more fully, develops thinking and observation, and enriches speech.
Visual color
One British resident, Neil Harbisson, conducted an interesting experiment on himself. Since childhood, he could not distinguish colors. Doctors found he had a rare vision defect - achromatopsia. The guy saw the surrounding reality as if in a black and white movie and considered himself a socially cut-off person. One day, Neil agreed to an experiment and allowed a special cybernetic instrument to be implanted into his head, which allows him to see the world in all its colorful diversity. It turns out that the eye's perception of color is not at all necessary. A chip and antenna with a sensor were implanted in the back of Neil's head, which picks up vibration and converts it into sound. In this case, each note corresponds to a specific color: F - red, A - green, C - blue, and so on. Now for Harbisson, a visit to the supermarket is akin to visiting a nightclub, and an art gallery reminds him of a trip to the Philharmonic. Technology gave Neil a sensation never before seen in nature: visual sound. A man makes interesting experiments with his new feeling, for example, he comes close to different people, studies their faces and composes music for their portraits.
Conclusion
We can talk endlessly about color perception. An experiment with Neil Harbisson, for example, suggests that the human psyche is very plastic and can adapt to the most unusual conditions. In addition, it is obvious that people have a desire for beauty, expressed in the internal need to see the world in color, and not monochrome. Vision is a unique and fragile instrument, the study of which will take a lot of time. It will be useful for everyone to learn as much as possible about it.
