Learning Event 3:
DEFINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUE, SATURATION AND BRIGHTNESS
1.
Color characteristics: A study of colors as applied to color
television would be relatively simple, if all that had to be considered were
the various colors of light obtainable by mixing various intensities of red,
green and blue primary lights.
2.
These primary colors and their many companions resulting from their
mixture (yellow, orange, magenta, cyan, etc.), contribute hue to color
sensation, which is only one of three basic characteristics of interest. In
addition to hue, two other characteristics of color, saturation and
brightness, must be considered.
3.
Saturation is a term which describes the amount of white light mixed
with hue. The artist calls it "tint." The degree of saturation in a red
hue is understood if it is remembered that pink, for example, is
fundamentally a red hue diluted or mixed with a considerable amount of white
light.
A zero saturation of red hue represents white light, while 100
percent or full saturation of red hue is the full and true red with no white
light. In other words, the pale or pastel shades of hue are less saturated
than the vivid shades of hue.
4.
Brightness is a term applied to the basic characteristics of color by
means of which colors may be located in a scale ranging from light to dark.
a. Saturation and brightness are somewhat related because saturation
reforms to the degree to which a color departs from gray or neutral hue of
the same brightness.
b. Figure 2-3 shows the relative spectral sensitivity of the standard
lead-oxide tube, the extended red lead oxide tube and two types of vidicon
as well as the spectral characteristics of the average human eye. This also
shows that the spectral response of the eye is not uniform.
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