Chapter 5 Flashcards
3 steps to color perception:
Detection: Wavelengths of light must be detected in the first place.
Discrimination: We must be able to tell the difference between one wavelength (or mixture of wavelengths) and another
Appearance: We want to assign perceived colors to lights and surfaces in the world and have those perceived colors be stable over time, regardless of different lighting conditions.
Detection
Wavelengths of light must be detected in the first place.
Discrimination
We must be able to tell the difference between one wavelength (or mixture of wavelengths) and another.
Appearance
We want to assign perceived colors to lights and surfaces in the world and have those perceived colors be stable over time, regardless of different lighting conditions.
Color
Not a physical property, but rather a psychophysical property.
Most of the light we see is reflected.
Typical light sources:
Sun, light bulb; emit a broad spectrum of wavelengths 400–700 nm
COLOR of a surface depends on….
the mix of wavelengths that reach the eye from that surface.
In the electromagnetic spectrum, we perceive light of a wavelength of 700 nm as ___ .
RED
“There is no red in a 700 nm light, just as there is no pain in the hooves of a kicking horse.” - Steven Shevell
Mostly red light emitted:
Heatlamp & Candle
(only red)
Halogen, Maglight, & Incandescents
(sloped up towards red end)
Basically all wavelengths (colors) of light are emitted in ….
Daylight
Mostly green light (intermediate wavelengths) emitted:
Standard Fluorescent
(green with some dark blue)
Lab Fluorescent, LCD
(green with some orange)
Only violet light
Blacklight Fluorescent
Strong Orange, with a lot of green and blue
Cathode Ray Tube TV
The light coming from an object is composed of ….
…a distribution of different wavelengths
Reflectance Curve:
Proportion of light at different wavelengths that is reflected from a pigment.
Scotopic
Referring to dim light levels at or below the level of bright moonlight.
Moonlight and extremely dim indoor lighting are both scotopic lighting conditions
Rods are sensitive to scotopic light levels
All rods contain same type of photopigment molecule: Rhodopsin
All rods have same sensitivity to wavelength, making it impossible to discriminate light
All rods have same sensitivity to wavelength, making it impossible to….
discriminate light
Scotopic vision
with rods only:
The moonlit world
moonlit world appearing to be drained of color
Photopic
Light intensities that are bright enough to stimulate the cone receptors and bright enough to “saturate” the rod receptors
Sunlight and bright indoor lighting are both photopic lighting conditions.
Cone photoreceptors: Three varieties
S-cones (420 nm): blue cones. Cones that are preferentially sensitive to short wavelengths.
M-cones (535 nm): green cones.
Cones that are preferentially sensitive to middle wavelengths.
L-cones (565 nm): red cones.
Cones that are preferentially sensitive to long wavelengths.
blue cones
S-cones
(420 nm):
Cones that are preferentially sensitive to short wavelengths
green cones
M-cones (535 nm):
Cones that are preferentially sensitive to middle wavelengths.
red cones
L-cones (565 nm):
Cones that are preferentially sensitive to long wavelengths.
Never put dark blue text on a dark background.
…
Problem of univariance:
An infinite set of different wavelength-intensity combinations can elicit exactly the same response from a single type of photoreceptor.
One type of photoreceptor cannot make color discriminations based on wavelength.
Show single photoreceptor’s response to lights of different wavelength.
M-cone example.
Say that the AMPLITUde of the response (y-axis) is a function BOTH of the amplitude of stimulation (how much light there is night vs day) and the COMPOSITION of the wavelentgth (which one).
Example of response to 625 nm light. Perception orange.
Lights of 2 different wavelengths can produce same response from photoreceptor.
PLUS, it is actually an INFINITY of possible stimulations giving rise to the same response!!!
Trichromacy
Trichromatic Color Theory
The theory that the color of any light is defined in our visual system by the relationships between a set of 3 numbers, the outputs of 3 receptor types now known to be the 3 cones. (The Young-Helmholtz theory).
Thomas Young (1773–1829) and Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) independently discovered the trichromatic nature of color perception.
two wavelengths that produce the same response from one type of cone produce different types of responses across three types of cones
Going back to example, now you can see that the two initial lights now have a different “triplet” of response values… these will lead to VERY different color representations.