Optical Color & Simultaneity"The perception of color resists objective definition. While the density of a photographic filter or the wave lengths in a television image can be measured exactly, the psychological and physiological expression of optical color is, ultimately, a matter of subjective judgment. The human brain is able to discern extraordinarily fine gradations in brightness, hue, and saturation - some 10 million nuances. It is therefore not surprising that every aspect of color theory is open to interpretation. The investigations that Ellen Marx outlines in Optical Color are the result of a painstaking and systematic series of experiments. The reader is invited to enter into a dialog with the demonstrations contained in this book, and to observe first-hand the relationship of optical color to the phenomenon of simultaneity. Although rigorously logical and based on a thorough scientific understanding, the studies that Marx presents do not slight the importance of intuition. The reader can discover both accurate and precise interactions of primary colors while at the same time delving deep into his or her hidden, personal world." -- |
Common terms and phrases
additive synthesis appear gray become indistinguishable black background blue-violet background brighter brilliance chromatic coefficient of simultaneous combined optically complemen complementary of blue-violet complementary of cyan contrast effects contrast of hue corresponds create cyan background cyan blue-violet cyan green cyan sheet cyan yellow cyanated dark deep magenta desaturated blue-violet desaturated by white diagram example gray appears gray background green background impression juxtaposed luminosity luminous magenta and cyan magenta background Maximum desaturation medium gray mixed optically neutral gray optical combination optical complementary optical gray optical mixing optical synthesis optically with 100 orange background oranged yellow plementary pointillism primary additive quantitative ratios quantity red-violet reversed rotating disk saturated color saturated yellow semicircles simultaneous complementary simultaneous effects simultaneous influence sive six basic colors subtractive complementary SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS subtractive system successive complementary successive contrast successive image surface taneous tary tendency tion transparent yellow sheets violet visual field wavelengths white background yellow background yellow blue yellow orange