Difference between revisions of "Color"

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So when we think of light, we should completely forget about our Picasso minds.
 
So when we think of light, we should completely forget about our Picasso minds.
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===Lighting conditions===
 
===Lighting conditions===

Revision as of 04:44, 17 June 2007

Exlamation mark.jpg
This section is currently under construction, do not edit until this message is gone
--Doos 07:43, 14 June 2007 (PDT)

Color is one of the most important (if not the most) factors that determine the beauty of gemstones.
While most other aspects in gemology are abstract and well defined, color is not. It is very subjective and the sensation of color differs from person to person as much as the visions of opponents in politics, religion or humor. To some even the absense of color is preferred and the beauty is perceived from the optical properties a gem might posses (as the brilliance in diamond or reflection from rutile needles in Kashmir sapphire).

Exlamation mark.jpg
Believe it or not, but the above white space is made up from 3 different colors (red, blue and green). Hold your loupe close to the screen and observe the powers of light.

Basic

Color

"a phenomenon of light (as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects"
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

As can be read from the above definition of color, to humans color is a perception constant. Merriam-Webster defines perception as "awareness of the elements of environment through physical sensation".

From this can be concluded that perception of color is a sensation that is different from person to person and is influenced by circumstances. People who are tired will most likely be less sensitive to color than those who are not. Photographers are well aware that objects have different colors in different lighting conditions. Furniture makers know that one should use only the fabric from the same dyed roll when covering a couch, as do tailors when making a suit as the circumstances in dying the fabric may chance rapidly, but subtle, when the dye-bath is cleaned or needs a new mix (causing a phenomenon named metamerism).

The same applies to gemstones. Gems look different under changing lighting conditions and a gemologist should be very aware of this. Blue sapphires look best during mornings and evening hours, while rubies are at their best behavior during high noon. Some gemstones even dramatically change their hue between daylight and incandecent light.

Causes of color

main article: Causes of color

What we see as color is merely the reflection of light from objects.
As white light (from the sun or other source) shines on a gemstone, some of the wavelengths will be absorbed by the gem while others are reflected from and/or transmitted through the stone. It is the combination of these left over ("residual") wavelengths that are collected at the back of our eyes (the retina), and interpreted by our brains, that defines the color of an object.
How exactly an object absorbs light is explained elsewhere.

In order for color to excist there must be 3 conditions met:

  1. color vision
  2. an object
  3. light shining on an object

From these 3 requirements one ask a few philosophical questions, as: does an object have color in the dark? The answer should of course be no. In fact gemstones do not have color in light either, the color is produced by the interpretation of our eyes and brain. Which is different from one person to the other.
Under different lighting conditions gemstones appear to have a different color, which can be easily demonstrated by shining different colors on a white object, like a wall. If you shine "white" light on the wall, none of the spectral colors are absorbed by the wall and all is reflected back to your eyes. Making the wall look white. When one shines a green light on the wall, only the green portion of the spectrum can be reflected, hence the wall appears green.

Mixing colors

From a young age most of use are taught that if we mix red and green together, we get a black color (or at best a dark gray). The reason for this is that we were mixing paint. Mixing paint is subtractive color mixing.
For light it works different. When we would mix red light with green light, the result would be yellow light and this is termed additive color mixing.
Similarly if we mix red, green and blue paint together, the result will be black. But if we mix red, green and blue light together we get white light.

So when we think of light, we should completely forget about our Picasso minds.

Additive color mixing.jpg Subtractive color mixing.jpg
Additive color mixing of light Subtractive color mixing of paint

Lighting conditions

Daylight

Skylight

Incandecent light

Sources

  • Ruby & Sapphire (1997) - Richard W. Hughes ISBN 0964509768