Appearance

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 Appearance
1. Physical form (shape, size, and surface texture),

2. Temporal aspects (movement etc.), &

3. Optical properties (reflectance, transmission,

glossiness, etc.)

4. Color

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 Colour
• Color is the perception in the brain that results from
the detection of light after it has interacted with an
object.
• The perceived color of an object is affected by three
entities:
1. the physical and chemical composition of the object,
2. the spectral composition of the light source illuminating
the object, and
3. the spectral sensitivity of the viewer’s eye(s).

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 Colour
• The light striking an object may be refracted, reflected, transmitted, or
absorbed by that object.
• If nearly all the radiant energy in the visible range of the
electromagnetic spectrum is reflected from an opaque surface then the
object appears white.
• If light through entire visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum is
absorbed in part then the object appears gray.
• If light from the visible spectrum is absorbed almost completely then
the object appears black.
• This also depends upon the surrounding conditions.
• The black type from any book in direct sunlight reflects more light than
the white page under a reading lamp, yet they appear black and white
under both conditions due to their relative reflectance of light.

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 Colour
• The color of an object can vary in three dimensions, namely hue,
lightness, and saturation.
Hue: is typically what the consumer refers to as the “color” of the
object (for example, green)
• Hue distinguishes between red, yellow, green colour

• Lightness: also called the brightness of the object (light versus dark
green).
• Value distinguishes between light colour & dark colour.

• Saturation: called the purity or chroma of the color (pure green

versus grayish green).
• Chroma distinguishes between bright & dull colours 5
 Hue
• The perceived hue of an object is the perception of the color of
the object and results from differences in the absorption of
radiant energy at various wavelengths by the object
• Thus if the object absorbs more of the longer wavelengths and
reflects more of the shorter wavelengths (400–500 nm) then the
object will be described as blue.
• An object with maximum light reflection in the medium
wavelengths results in an object described as yellow-green in
color and an object with maximal light reflection in the longer
wavelengths (600–700 nm) will be described as red in color.

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Visible spectrum

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 Colour
• The lightness (value) of the perceived color of
an object indicates the relationship between
reflected and absorbed light with no regard to
specific wavelength(s) involved.

• The chroma (saturation or purity) of the color

indicates how much a specified color differs
from gray

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9
 Principle of vision
• Light reflected from an object or the light passing
through an object falls on the cornea of the viewer’s
eyes.
• These light rays travels through the aqueous humor to
the lens and is focused on the retina, where most of the
light falls on or near a small hollow in the retina, the
foveal pit.
• The visual receptors, the rods & cones are located in the
retina of the eye.

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Vision

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12
 Principle of Vision
• These receptors contain light-sensitive pigments which change
shape when stimulated by light energy, leading to the generation
of electrical nerve impulses which travel along the optic nerves
to the CNS
• The visual perception of color arises from stimulation of
photoreceptors in the retina by light in greater intensities at
some wavelengths than others in the visible region (380–770 nm)
brain.

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 Colour
• Thus, color is an appearance property due to the
spectral distribution of light interacting with
the photoreceptors in the eye
• Visual color perception is the brain’s response to
this stimulus of the photoreceptors that results
from the detection of light after it has
interacted with an object.

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 Rods
• There are approximately 120 million rods in the retina and the
rods are capable of operating at extremely low light intensities
(less than 1 lux).
• The rods yield only achromatic (black/white) information and
under low-light conditions humans have scotopic vision with no
color perception.
• This is why we cannot see colors by moonlight (“all cats are gray
in the dark”) although we can usually see well enough to move
around.
• The maximum rod concentration is approximately 20◦ from the
foveal area, this area is called the parafovea. This area surrounds
the fovea.
• Thus under low levels of illumination an object is more likely to
be perceived when viewed slightly from the side than directly,
called averted vision 15
Vision

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17
 Cones
• There are 6 million cones that operate at higher light
intensities (levels of illumination) and provide chromatic
information (color), allowing photopic vision.
• The cones are concentrated on the fovea, a small (2 mm
diameter) depression located in a yellow colored spot
(macula lutea) on the retina, where the highest color
resolution occurs.
• When viewing an object, the unconscious movement of
our eyes serves to bring the image of the object onto
the foveal areas.

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Vision

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 Color pigments
• The cones contain three color-sensitive pigments
1. L-pigment or ρ-receptors
2. M-pigment or γ-receptors
3. S-pigment or β-receptors

L-pigment or ρ-receptors:
most sensitively to red at ∼560 nm (two polymorphic variants)

M-pigment or γ-receptors : responds to green (at ∼530 nm)

S-pigment or β-receptors: responds to blue (at ∼420 nm),

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 Purkinje shift
• Under decreasing light conditions, humans become
more sensitive to blue-green, the colour blue seems
brighter and reds relatively darker.
• This phenomenon is known as Purkinje shift which
occurs under decreasing light conditions.
• Due to the Purkinje shift at very low light
intensities the reds will appear almost black and the
blues will appear gray.

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 Normal human color variations
• At least nine genes were demonstrated to control the formation
of the cones and two produce slightly different red-sensitive
cones;
• Thus it is likely that individuals differ in the way they see color.
• But the differences must be small because in 1931 an
international group called the Commission Intemationale
d'Eclairage (CIE) was able to define a "standard observer."
• Essentially it was the average response of 92% of the population
with normal color vision.
• The variations in individual responses were remarkably small in
view of the variation in individual responses in taste and smell.

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 Normal human color variations
• Variations in normal color vision are due to polymorphisms in the
L- (red) and M-pigments (green)
• Amino acid substitutions at position 180 (alanine, Lalanine versus
serine, Lserine) accounting for most of the variations
• In humans with normal color vision, among Caucasian males, 62%
have serine at position 180 in the L-pigments (Lserine) and 38%
have alanine (Lalanine).
• In a color-matching test, subjects were to match a standard yellow
(590 nm) light with a mixture of red (644 nm) and green (541
nm) lights.
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 Normal human color variations
• Some males needing less red light to make the match (hence ones
that were more sensitive to red light) were much more likely to
have serine at position 180 of the L-pigment
• Those (males) with Lalanine (red) required more red light to make the
match .
• The L-pigments (red) are linked to the X-chromosome, thus men
have two variants (about 60% express Lserine and about 40% Lalanine)
• Women have three variants
• Heterozygous with Lserine and Lalanine : 50 % women
• Homozygous with Lserine: 25 % women
• Homozygous with Lalanine : 25 % women

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 Normal human color variations
• Ageing, glaucoma, and cataracts affect color
vision.

• Older subjects (60–70 years old) perceive colored

surfaces to be less chromatic (“colored”) than
subjects under 30 years of age

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 Human color perceptions
• There are three types of cones within the retina, one
sensitive to red, another to green, and the third to blue.
• The cones send a signal to the brain that sets up a
response in terms of opposing pairs.
• One pair is red-green and the other is blue-yellow, and
this is why we have individuals who are red-green or
blue-yellow color blind.
• There are no individuals who are blue-green or red-yellow
color blind.

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 Human color perception
• The interpretation of signals to the brain is a very complex
phenomenon and is influenced by a variety of psychological
aspects.
• One such aspect is color constancy, since a sheet of white paper
looks white in bright sunlight and also when it is under the green
leaves of a tree.
• The physical stimuli in each case are obviously quite different,
but the brain knows that the paper should be white and draws on
its experience.
• Second aspect occurs when a large expanse of color appears
brighter than the same color in a small area.
• One needs only to paint a whole wall of a room and see how
different it appears from a small color chip in the paint store.
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 Human color perception
• The old adage "I believe what I see" is interesting but
unfortunately not always true since it is a simple matter to fool
the human eye.
• A classic examples shows a triangle with three right angles.
• This is obviously impossible and it is only when we see a view
from another angle do we realize that the sides of the triangle
do not meet in space.
• In this situation the brain was not given sufficient information
to make a correct judgement.
• But the brain will make a judgment, based on available
information, which may, or may not, be correct.

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 Human Color Blindness
• Humans either lacking one or more of the L- (red), M- (green), and
S(blue)-pigments or having specific mutations in these pigments fall
in various color-blind categories.
• The genes for the more common forms of color blindness are
recessive and carried on the X-chromosome
• They comprise about 8% of males and 0.44% of females

1. Red color blindness - inability or reduced ability to see red colour, due
to absence or defect with L-pigment or ρ-receptors.
• Known as protanopes or protoanomalous trichromats.
• Comprise about 25 % of color blind population.

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 Human Color Blindness
2. Green color blindness - inability or reduced ability to see green
colour, due to absence or defect with M-pigment or γ-receptors
• Known as deuteranopes or deuteranomalous trichromats.
• Comprise about 75 % of color blind population.
3. Blue color blindness: inability or reduced ability to see blue
colour, due to absence or defect with S-pigment or β-receptors
• Known as tritanopes.
• Smallest group

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 Color blindness
• All panelists should be screened for color
blindness if they will be evaluating the color of
samples
• Techniques include pseudo-isochromatic plates
such as the Ishihara plates, Farnsworth
Dichotomous Test for Color Blindness, or the
Farnsworth–Munsell 110 Hue test

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34
 Appearance
1. Physical form (shape, size, and surface texture),

2. Temporal aspects (movement etc.), &

3. Optical properties (reflectance, transmission,

glossiness, etc.)

4. Color

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 Appearance
1. Physical appearance characteristics can easily be measured
through sensory techniques.
• Standard descriptive techniques can quantify size, shape, and
visual surface textures using simple intensity scales.
• Visual texture is another attribute that can be measured by
simple intensity scales, such as
• apparent roughness of the surface,
• size or number of surface indentations, and
• density or amount of sediment in a container of a liquid
product.

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 Appearance
2. Temporal appearance characteristics are more rarely
measured, even though they exist.

Eg: Viscosity of molasses as it drips from a spoon,

• the Jiggle of jelly

• Stringiness of pizza cheese

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 3. Optical properties
1. Turbidity

2. Glossiness

3. Translucency

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 Turbidity
• Turbidity (cloudiness or haze) occurs when small
suspended particles divert light from a straight
path through the material and scatter it in
different directions.
• In physical terms, turbidity is the total light
scattered from an incident beam as it
transverses a suspension.

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 Turbidity
• Consumers often expect beverages such as beer, vinegar,
and wines to be clear.
• In other beverages, for example, fruit juices, cider,
cloudiness is expected and here again particulate matter
is responsible for the light scattering.
• Various steps in beverage processing may be aimed at
reduction in turbidity and increasing the clarity, such as
the use of fining agents in wine making.

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 Turbidity
• In some products such as beer, cider, and fruit
juices, haze development is a function of
polyphenol–protein interactions;
• Others are due to carbohydrates and yet others
are due to the growth of microorganisms.
• Haze can also result from colloidal or larger
particles that may precipitate in a container.

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 Turbidity
• Turbidity measuring instrument: nephelometers
• It measures the intensity of dispersed light; the direction of the
incident light is scattered by the particles present in the fluid
(Tyndall effect)
• It uses a focused light beam to measure light scattering at
several angles and a light detector set to one side (often 90°) of
the source beam.
• Particle density is then a function of the light reflected into the
detector from the particles.
• To some extent, how much light reflects for a given density of
particles is dependent upon properties of the particles such as
their shape, color, and reflectivity..
• It is always prudent to cross-reference instrumental values to
human perception. 42
Nephelometer

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 Human vs Instrument
• Clarity arises from the transmission of light, and fluids
that transmit more light will appear more translucent.
• However the relationship may be complicated by other
factors such as the color of the medium
• The human threshold was in a small range of
instrumental haze values of about 0.5 Nephelos Turbidity
Units.
• This suggested a good sensory–instrumental relationship
at low levels.

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 Human vs Instrument
• At ranges above threshold, perceived intensity followed
the instrumental response until a saturation level was
reached.
• After this point the instrument determined values
continued to increase, but the sensory response was flat,
even if panelists were allowed to use an open-ended
magnitude estimation method of scaling
• Sensory response (scaled intensity) was predicted on the
basis of particle size, particle concentration, and
suspension color.
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 Glossiness
• One of the important visual attribute is gloss or shine, which is
due to light reflectance.
• There are two primary types of light reflectance.
1. Specular reflectance &
2. Diffuse reflectance
• Specular reflectance refers to the mirror-like shine perceived
when the actual image of a light source appears on the surface
of the product
• Obviously, standard angles and viewing conditions are necessary
in order to test this in a reliable manner.
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 Glossiness
• In diffuse reflectance the light is reflected, but it is scattered
by the surface over such different angles that the reflected
image of the light source is not seen.
• Buffing a metal surface with an abrasive cloth to produce many
fine scratches will result in a good example of a surface with
diffuse reflectance.
• The surface may seem quite shiny, but there is no mirror-like
image, only the brightness of the light source.
• This type of shininess is also quite common with foods such as
glazed doughnuts and egg-washed bread.

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 Translucency
• Translucency is defined as the property of a specimen by which
it transmits light diffusely without permitting a clear view of
objects beyond the specimen
• This property is important in orange juice, tomato skins, fresh-
cut tomatoes and pineapples where flesh translucency is a defect
associated with off-flavors and fruit fragility during harvest.
• Reflectance spectrometry is used in measuring translucency.

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 Translucency
• Measure the sample with a reflectance
spectrophotometer at maximum area of illumination and
with the maximum viewing aperture.
• Then repeat the measurement with the same viewing
aperture but with a smaller area of illumination.
• If there is a large increase in the lightness reading (L∗
in CIELAB) then the sample is translucent.

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• The use of only instrumental values in measurement of
translucent samples can give results that are totally inconsistent
with visually observed values.
• For eg:, 4-fold orange juice concentrate is diluted to a
concentration of 0.2 and 4.
• When glasses of these oranges juices are viewed with overhead
illumination they range from pale yellow (concentration less than
1) to deep orange (concentration of 4).
• Instrumentally, the most dilute juice had the lowest L∗ and it was
the darkest according to the instrument.
• On the other hand, the most concentrated juicehad the highest L∗
and was the lightest according to the instrument.

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• This occurred due to the loss of light scatter in the more diluted
samples.
• Therefore one should remember that the instrument only sees
light reflected from a limited solid angle while the human “is
influenced by the multi-directionality of illumination, which
makes coloured translucent materials glow.”

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 Sensory evaluation of light
• Triangle tests
• 2 out of 5 tests
• Descriptive analysis
• Customer satisfaction scales

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 Standardization of factors
1. Background colour: in the viewing area should be non-
reflective and neutral, usually a matte gray, cream, or off-
white is used (ASTM 1982).
2. Light source in Kelvin and its intensity (in lux or foot
candles) at the product surface.
• Light intensity between 750 and 1,200 lux is recommended.
• Also, the light source (if it is not a standard illuminant)
should be chosen to have a high color rendering index

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Standardization of factors

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 Standardization of factors
3. The panelists’ viewing angle and the angle of light
incidence on the sample.
• These should not be the same since that leads to specular
reflection of the incident light and a potential glossiness
that may be an artifact of the method.
• Usually the booth area is set up with the light source
vertically above the samples and the panelists viewing
angle when they are seated is about 45◦ to the sample,
this minimizes specular reflection effects.

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 Standardization of factors
5. The distance from the light source and the product-
• This will affect the amount of light incident on the
sample.
• The light intensity should be measured at the product
surface.
6. Whether the sample is lit with reflected or transmitted
light.

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 Color temperature
• The color temperature is determined from the temperature in
Kelvin to which a black body that absorbs all energy that falls
onto it needs to be heated to emit light of a spectral
distribution characteristic of the specific light source
• In color and appearance evaluations the light source is usually
specified by its color temperature.
• The color temperature is determined from the temperature in
Kelvin to which a black body that absorbs all energy that falls
onto it needs to be heated to emit light of a spectral
distribution characteristic of the specific
• light source (Table).

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 Color temperature
• The light emitted by the black body changes as the color
temperature changes.
• At lower temperatures (2,000 K) the light emitted is redder, at
higher temperatures (about 4,000–5,000 K) the light is whiter,
and at high temperatures (8,000– 10,000 K) the light becomes
bluer (1999).
• Standard lights used in food color evaluation tend to be
illuminants A (with a color temperature of 2,856 K), C (6,774 K),
D65 (6,500 K), and D (7,500 K).
• These illuminants are all based on tungsten filaments.

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 Color temperature

• The spectral distribution of illuminant A is very

different from the spectral distribution of illuminants
B and C
• The spectral distribution of illuminant A is high in red-
yellow wavelengths while it is low in blueviolet
wavelengths.
• Illuminants C and D50, are high in blue wavelengths.
• Illuminants C, D65, and the other D variants are
designed to mimic variations of daylight.
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 Color temperature
• Standard fluorescent lights have very different spectral
distributions than those from tungsten and incandescent
lamps.
• The result is that objects viewed under fluorescent and
tungsten lights often have differences in perceived color
than when the same objects are viewed under say illuminant
C.
• These differences in perceived color occur because the color
depends on the absorption of light by the product and the
incident spectrum’s wavelengths.

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 Color temperature
• For example, under a standard illuminant if the product
absorbs red wavelengths and not those in the green area
of the spectrum the object would look green.
• However, if the incident light only has red wavelengths
then the object would not appear green since there were
no green wavelengths to reflect to the eye.
• Depending on the light source this object may appear
black.

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 Color rendering index Ra
• The color rendering index (Ra) is a measure of the
effect of an illuminant on the perceived color of an
object (CIE, 1995a).
• The Ra is measured by assessing the size of the color
change of eight Munsell color samples under the light of
interest versus a reference light, usually an
incandescent light (a 60 W tungsten lamp, 2,900 K).
• Lights with a 100 Ra index exactly reproduce the
perceived color of the reference light (Table).

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 Human color panelists
• The scientist has to keep in mind that humans are very good at
evaluating color differences when samples are side by side or
when they have access to color standards but humans are not
good at evaluating color differences from memory.
• Studies have shown that humans are quite good at evaluating hue
and lightness (value) changes in objects but not good at
discriminating chroma (saturation of color) changes.

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 Visual Color measurement

• Color is not a physical attribute such as melting point or particle

size.
• Rather, it is one portion of the input signals to the brain that
reacts to produce the of appearance.
• Color, as seen by the eye, is an interpretation by the brain of the
character of light coming from an object.
• It is possible to define color in a purely physical sense in terms
of the physical attributes of the food, but this approach has
serious limitations when we try to use color measurement as a
research or quality control tool in food processing or
merchandising.

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 Visual Color measurement

• A more satisfactory approach is to define color in a physical

sense as objectively as possible and interpret the output in
terms of how the eye sees color.
• Individuals differ in the way they see color. Such property is
called idiosyncratic vision

Color Systems for Measurement

• Color systems are ways to describe color
• Such systems include verbal or numerical designations for visual
matching of colors, and mathematical terms used with
instrumentation

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 Photometry
• Luminous intensity (I): It is the luminous (light) energy emitted
per second per unit solid angle by a uniform point source in a
given direction. The unit is Candela.
• Candela: is the luminous intensity of the source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ×1012 Hz
• Luminous flux (ɸ): It is the luminous (light) energy emitted,
transmitted or received per second. The unit is Lumen , lm (The
flow of light from the source)
• Lumen (lm): It is the luminous flux emitted per unit solid angle by
a uniform point source having luminous intensity One Candela

ɸ= 4πI
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 Photometry
• Luminance or Illuminance (E) is luminous intensity per
unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It
describes the amount of light that passes through or is
emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given
solid angle.

E= ɸ/A = 4πI = I lm/m2 or lux

4πr2 r2

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 Tristimulus vaues
• The amounts of energy required to match the unknown from
each of the three lights are the so-called tristimulus values.

• Radiant flux: is the measure of the total power of electro-

magnetic radiation (including infrared, ultraviolet, & visible
light).
• The power may be the total emitted from a source, or the
total landing on a particular surface.
• The unit is Watts.

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 Instrumental color measurement
• Visual color solids

• Mathematical color systems

• A color solid refers to a three-dimensional space bounded by

physical (color chips) limits or mathematical concepts.

• Color space refers to the space within a color solid.

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Visual colour solids

70
 Visual colour solids
Munsell color solids
• The Munsell color solid was developed by A.H. Munsell around 1900
to describe color.
• Munsell system had three attributes: hue (H), value (V), and
chroma (C).
• A specific color was described as a point in the three-dimensional
hue–value–chroma space.
• In the Munsell color solid (or color space) the hue–value and
chroma values for each color were arranged in a sphere composed
of individual color “plates” separated by equal visual steps
• It could be made of porcelain chips, paint, glass, plastic or paper
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72
 Munsell color solids
• Hues are spaced around the circumference with ten major hues
(grouped into major divisions of red, yellow-red, yellow, green-
yellow, green, blue-green, blue, purple-blue, purple, and red-purple)
, each being ten hue steps apart.
• These hue steps were supposed to be equal but research has
shown that the hue spacing in the yellow-red, yellow-green, and
blue regions is actually not equally spaced.
• The value is a darkness or lightness scale with absolute black (at
the bottom of the sphere) to absolute white (at the top of the
sphere).

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 Munsell color solids
• The chromatic colors are positioned at the value that is equally
spaced between absolute black and absolute white.
• The chroma is the amount by which a given hue deviates from a
neutral gray of the same value.
• The chroma of a hue is imagined as a line of constant hue drawn
from the center of the sphere to the edge of the sphere at a
constant value.
• It could be made of porcelain chips, paint, glass, plastic or paper.

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 Disadvantages
• The glass and plastic color standards have been very successful,
but obviously are available in a limited number of colors.
• Painted paper chips, such as the Munsell system are available in
a much wider range of colors, but even these are limited.
• They are fragile and may change with use.
• The visual color standards also have another problem in that they
are tiring and sometimes tedious.
• Colors that fall between existing standards are sometimes
difficult to convey to other individuals

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 Visual colour solids
• Visual color solid systems are useful when one wants to specify a
color but one always needs a human to do the matching of the
sample color to the color solid (usually a color chip).
• However, due to the idiosyncratic nature of color vision, it was
not possible to have an instrument measure color as specified in
Munsell notation.
• In order to develop instrumentation that could measure color, it
was necessary to devise mathematical relationships to describe
color (the so-called mathematical color solids).

Idiosyncratic= something peculiar to an individual 76

 Mathematical color systems
• The early instrumental methods for color measurement are based
on transmission or reflection spectrophotometry.
• The concepts were based on research by the physiologists who
developed the responses of the cones in the human eye in terms
of the visible spectrum.
• Mathematical color systems are based on the physical laws related
to the addition of lights and these are based on the existence of
L-, M-, and S-receptor cones and rods in the human eye.
• The simplest of mathematical colour systems are the three colour
systems

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 Three colour systems
• The three lights system simply specifies color in terms of how
colors are perceived by the human eye.
• Three projectors are required, with a red, green, or blue filter in
front of the lens.

• The resultant red, green, or blue light

beams are focused on a screen such that
they overlap over half a circle.
• The sum of the wavelengths hitting the
screen, the so-called spectral radiant
flux, is perceived by an observer as a
single color

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79
• The other half is illuminated by another projector or by spectrally
pure light from a prism or grating such that the observer can see
both the halves of the circle on the screen simultaneously.

80
• Each projector is equipped with a rheostat to vary the amount of
light energy (radiant flux) projected from each of the red, green,
and blue sources until the combined radiant flux from these
projectors matches the unknown color.
• By varying the amount of light, the observer can determine the
amounts of red, blue, and green required to match almost any
spectral color.
• One can then specify the unknown color as the energy
combination from R, G, and B.
• The amounts of energy required to match the unknown from each
of the three lights are the so-called tristimulus values.
• These values may be expressed as radiant flux (watts), luminous
flux (lumens), or, more usually, in arbitrary psychophysical scales
of red, blue, and green.

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• An equilateral triangle can
be set up with one of the
RGB stimuli at each corner.
• The amount of blue is
obtained by subtracting the
amount of red and green
from unity.
• Every point within the
triangle represents a color
and can be specified
mathematically by the
amount of red, green, and
blue.

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 Disadvantages
• In practice this approach is overly simple leading to a number of
problems.
• Some colors are too bright to match because no light source can
project the required radiant flux.
• Other colors are too saturated.
• For example, some yellows cannot be matched using just red and
green filters even if the blue filter is eliminated.
• “Matchable colors” are within the color gamut (or the acceptable
color range) of a specific mathematical color system while “non-
matchable colors” are outside the color range.
• Even if different filters had been chosen for the three projectors
in this simple system it is still not possible to match all colors.

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• In theory, the three lights system is based on the physiological
response of the three cone types of the eye.
• In practice, it is further simplified by isolating the responses that
are analogous to actual physiological responses.
• This simplification results in the unfortunate effect that there
are always some colors outside the color gamut because nearly all
parts of the color magnetic spectrum excite more than one of the
cones to some extent.
• If it were possible to find a part of the spectrum that excited
only one cone type while having no effect on the other two cone
types, then a color gamut based on the three lights system would
include all perceived colors.
• Despite its limitations, the three color system has been used
extensively as the basis for other tristimulus color systems.

84
 RGB Mathematical system
• It is possible to express the color matching produced by the
three lights algebraically.
• If we assume that C is a color in the three-dimensional color
space and its color is matched by the three lights red, green, and
blue with tristimulus values R, G and B, then the following
equation describes the color match:

• Based on the physical law of additivity of luminances, the

intensity of color C (also known as the luminance L) in the three-
dimensional space can be described by the next equation:

where IR, IB, and IG are the luminances (intensities) of the

corresponding light primaries in their unit amount with R = B =
85
G=1
 RGB Mathematical system
• If the tristimulus values R, G, and B of color C are changed by a
constant factor “a” then the luminance of C changes to “aL.”
• If color D with tristimulus values RD, GD, and BD is added to
color C with tristimulus values GC, BC, and RC then the new color
E has tristimulus values of RE, GE, and BE.
• This can be expressed algebraically:

• So, the tristimulus values of a mixture of colors are equal to the

sum of the tristimulus values of the component colors
86
 Chromaticity diagram
• Based on the above explanation it is possible to describe both
the luminance (I) and tristimulus values r, g, b of a color in
terms of three colored lights, if the color falls within the color
gamut of the mathematical color solid.
• It is also possible to define a unit plane within the three-
dimensional mathematical color solid which has within it all colors
with the same luminance.
• This unit plane is a plane of constant luminance in the three
dimensional mathematical color space and is similar to the plane
of constant value in the Munsell color solid.

87
• Differences in colors within this plane are a function of hue and
chroma of the specified colors.
• This unit plane is called a chromaticity diagram and a color point
within the chromaticity diagram is not specified by the arbitrary
tristimulus values R, G, and B but by fractions of their total

(1)

(2)

(3)

88
89
 Chromaticity diagram
• A color may be therefore specified in the three dimensional color
by description of the luminance (I) and two of the color’s three
chromaticity coordinates.
• This simple three light system is the basis for all mathematical
color solids like the CIE tristimulus system.
• However, this simple system does not work in reality because
1. some colors are outside the color gamut and a negative amount
of radiant flux is needed to match these colors,
2. the color solid is not visually uniform,
3. a vector analysis is needed to calculate the luminance.
• The CIE system eliminates all of these problems.

90
 CIE Mathematical Color Systems
• The most used mathematical color systems are
the CIE versions.
• The CIE acronym is based on the French name
for the International Commission on Illumination
or “La Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage”

91
 CIE Mathematical Color Systems
• In the CIE mathematical color system theoretical primaries were
developed to remove the disadvantages of the actual lights (R, G,
and B) while still retaining the advantages of the simple three-
light system.

• As certain colors cannot be matched by mixture of red, green,

and blue, the early researchers were asked to choose a set of
coordinates that would be more appropriate and they chose XYZ.

• The tristimulus values XYZ were determined from color matching

functions that corresponded to the eye’s sensitivity at various
wavelengths of the visible spectrum

92
 CIE Mathematical Color Systems
• They cannot be reproduced in the laboratory since they
are only mathematical concepts.
• The primaries are X, Y, and Z and their chromaticity
coordinates are x, y, and z.
• If one wants a crude visual reference, one can think of
X as red, Y as green, and Z as blue.
• The relative positions in space for red, green, and blue
and X, Y, Z given in the figure

93
• The diagram on the left shows the RGB coordinates as a right-
angled triangle.
• On the right, the XYZ coordinates are plotted as a right-angled
triangle
94
 Standard observer
• Even though that individuals differ in the way they see color,
these variations are quite small.
• Hence a "standard observer" was defined by Commission
Internationale d'Eclairage (CIE) which consisted of the average
response of 92 % of the population with normal color vision.
• If we take the red, green, and blue data for the spectral colors,
transform them to X, Y, and Z coordinates, and plot the responses
of the human cones against wave length, we have the responses of
the human eye to color.
• These curves were standardized in 1932 and were called the CIE ͞x,
͞y, ͞z standard observer curves.
• They made it possible to calculate color coordinates from
spectrophotometric data.
95
CIE ͞x, ͞y, ͞z Standard Observer Curves

96
 Tristimulus colorimeters
• Colorimeter are tristimulus (three- filtered) devices that make
use of the red green & blue filters which emulate the response
of the human eye to light & colour.
• It can detect upto 10 million different shades of colour.
• Tristimulus colorimeters consists of
1. Light source: to light the specimen being measured.
2. Three glass filters with transmittance spectra that duplicate the
X. Y. and Z curves; to simulate the standard observer functions
for a particular illuminant &
3. Photodetector: beyond each filter then detects the amount of
light passing through the filters
97
• Tristimulus colorimeters consists of
1. Light source: to light the specimen being measured.
2. Three glass filters with transmittance spectra that duplicate the
X. Y. and Z curves; to simulate the standard observer functions
for a particular illuminant &
3. Photodetector: beyond each filter then detects the amount of
light passing through the filters 98
 Working
• A beam of white light from an illuminant strikes the sample at
an angle of 45° and is reflected at right angles by the surface
of the sample.
• The beam of light reflected of the object then passes through
the three X, Y, Z filters and is measured by a photocell
• A photodetector beyond each filter then detects the amount of
light passing through the filters.
• These signals are then displayed as X, Y & Z values.

99
 CIE System
• Color data can be calculated from a reflection curve, or a
transmission curve, from a sample by integrating the area under
the curve in terms of the light -source and the standard observer
curves.

where:
R=the sample spectrum
E= the source light spectrum
͞x, ͞y, ͞z =the standard observer curves. 100
 CIE System
• The XYZ data usually are plotted as x, y, z coordinates, where:

• A color solid refers to a three-dimensional space bounded by

physical (color chips) limits or mathematical concepts.
• Color space refers to the space within a color solid.

101
102
• The color solid is actually a solid, not a plane, with the lightness
function perpendicular to the plane of the paper. 103
• The developers mathematically included luminance into one of
the primaries (Y) and thus avoided the problem of needing vector
analysis to calculate luminance. color solid is actually a solid, not
a plane, with the lightness function perpendicular to the plane
of the paper. 104
 CIE Mathematical Color Systems
• The developers mathematically included luminance into one of
the primaries (Y) and thus avoided the problem of needing
vector analysis to calculate luminance.
• This was possible because the cones of the eyes are most
sensitive to luminance in the green region of the spectrum.
• Careful choice allowed the theoretical primaries X, Y, and Z to
cover the entire color gamut with positive values, thus the
horseshoe-shaped CIE spectrum locus has a color gamut that
includes all colors.

105
• The point of intersection of
a line from the coordinates
of white light (I = 0.333,
Y=0.333) through the point
to the edge of the solid is
the dominant wavelength of
the color.
• The relative distance from
white light is the purity
(chroma) of the color.

106
 CIE System
• In the CIE system it is possible to locate a color in the three-
dimensional color space by specifying Y and two of the three
possible chromaticity coordinates (x, y, and z).
• The chromaticity coordinates are related to each other by the
following equation: x+y+z = 1.
• Thus, knowledge of two of the three possible values will define a
specific color.
• The problem with the x, y, z chromaticity system is that the
space looks like a horseshoe which makes any linear relationship
calculations between these values and say sensory scales very
difficult.

107
 Other color spaces
• Other color systems such as Gardner and the Hunter L,A,B
spaces have been developed with more uniform diagrammatic
representations of color spaces than the horseshoe-shaped CIE
space.
• These were earlier versions which were associated with specific
instruments) where the value (also known as the degree of
whiteness or blackness) is represented by L
• The chromatic portion of the color space is based on rectangular
Cartesian coordinates (a, b) with red represented by +a, green
represented by –a, yellow represented by +b, and blue
represented by –b.
• These systems made it easier to meaningfully communicate color
data.
108
Hunter Lab Space

109
 CIE L*a*b*
• The Yxy color systems was improved
to be L*a*b*
• It is the most widely used color
systems
• This system is based on a three
dimensional color space with three
co-ordinates L*a*b*
• In the CIE lab system, color is
represented spherically
• L* denotes value or lightness. It is
located on the vertical axis of the
CIELAB color space .
110
 CIE L*a*b*
• The axis is chromatic & ranges from
black (0) at the bottom to white at
the top (100).
• The a* & b* values are chromaticity
co-ordinates and indicates directions
away from the centre of the color
sphere.
• The +a* denotes red
• the -a* denotes green &
• The +b* denotes yellow
• the -b* denotes blue.
• The hue (h°) and chroma (C) can be
determined from a* & b* co-
ordinates. 111
 CIE L*a*b*
• Hue equals the arctangent b*/ a*
• At any horizontal section of the color
sphere all hues are represented in a
360° circle (the color wheel)
• A sample with a hue angle of 0° is
purplish red, 90° is yellow, 180° is
bluish green & 270° is blue.
• Chroma is a measure of saturation or
purity
• A sample with a high chroma is more
vivid than one with a low chroma value
eventhough both sample may have
same hue.

112
 CIE L*a*b*
• The colors located near the central
axis of the color space have low
chromas that indicate dull achromatic
colors with more gray.
• Colors located near the periphery of
the color space are vivid (bright)
• Chroma C= √[(a*)2 + (b*)2]
• Square root of the sum of (a*)2 &
(b*)2

113