Color Theory
Did you ever wonder why sports teams use contrasting colors as their team
colors? similar colors? a simple color and black/white? Those teams (which,
by the way, happens to be nearly all major sports teams) apply color
theory.
The Three Primary Colors
The most widely known part of color theory is the three primary colors.
A color wheel demonstrates this system well.
All the principal and intermediate hues of the color spectrum are represented
on the color wheel on the left. On the right is the full spectrum of colors. The three primary colors are Red, Yellow, and Blue.
The secondary colors are: Orange, Violet, and Green. Each of the
secondary colors is between the primaries from which is comprised of. And
finally there are intermediate colors which can be gotten by mixing the
primary and secondary colors.
The Three Dimensions of Color
There are three distinctly different and measurable characteristics of
color which are commonly known as the three dimensions:
Hue: This is the most characteristic dimension, which
identifies a color by name. For example: Red, Yellow, Blue, etc.
Every color falls into a definite hue category when related to the spectrum
or range of colors. In most cases, a color's hue can be given the name
of one of the primary or secondary colors.
Saturation: This dimension represents the relative intensity
of hue. Colors of greater hue saturation can be described as being of higher
intensity than duller (less saturation) colors of the same hue.
Luminance: This dimension represents the brightness of
illumination and locates a color's position in relation to a scale of grays
between Black and White.
Color Inversion
Just as words can be inverted (antonyms: hot-cold, light-dark), so can
colors. A negative of an image is when its colors are inverted.
But what is the opposite of a color? The opposite of a color the color
opposite it on the color wheel (see above). Take the color Blue,
for example. Opposite Blue on the color wheel is Yellow. Each of the primary
colors has an opposite in the color wheel (Blue-Yellow, etc.). Here
is an image 
,
and here is the same image with inverted colors:
.
As you can see, all of the colors are replaced by their opposites, including
the obvious black and white.
Color Harmony
One of the most important parts of color theory is moderation.
Moderation is the attempt to equalize or neutralize the effect of extremes,
because the effect of such extremes is disturbing to the eye. Moderation,
however can become monotonous if spice or variety is lacking. What follows
are three techniques of moderation:
Monochromatic: Harmony is arrived at by using different shades of one color. Ex: 
Complementary: Harmony is arrived at by using colors
that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Ex: 
Analogous: Harmony is arrived at by using colors that
are next to each other on the color wheel. Example: 
Computer Color
In computers, the three primary colours are used to represent all available
colors. They are given numbers to express how much of each color
is used to make the color in question. For example all three RGB (Red-Green-Blue)
values at 0 is black, all three at 255--which is the most possible--is
white. 255 red, 0 green, 0 blue (represented 255-0-0) results in
pure red. 255-255-0 yields the color between red and green on the
color wheel: yellow. When you're talking about very light or very
dark colors, the three values mix. For example, a very light blue, 
, has the combination 165-201-243.
For info/practice on RGB color values, visit colorcenter.
Do you think you can guess the RGB combination of a given color? Try it in the Color Picker Game!
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