INTRODUCTION TO

COLOR MODELLING

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
COLOR IMAGE PROCESS
COLOR MODELS
COLOR MODELING RGB CMY YIQ

HSL HSV

COLOR IMAGE PROCESSING

COLOR MODELS

Color Model

A mathematical system for representing color

The human eye combines 3 primary colors (using the 3 different

types of cones) to discern all possible colors.

Colors are just different light frequencies

red 700nm wavelength
green 546.1 nm wavelength
blue 435.8 nm wavelength

Higher frequencies are cooler colors

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Color Models

Primary Colors
Primary colors of light are additive
Primary colors are red, green, and blue
Combining red + green + blue yields white
Primary colors of pigment are subtractive
Primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow
Combining cyan + magenta + yellow yields
black
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INTRODUCTION TO COLOR MODELLING

CMY

YIQ

RGB
Gamma
correction
Color
lookup table
values

HSL

HSV

RGB Color model

Source: www.mitsubishi.com

Active displays, such as computer monitors and television sets, emit

combinations of red, green and blue light. This is an additive color model
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CMY Color model

Source: www.hp.com

Passive displays, such as color inkjet printers, absorb light instead of

emitting it. Combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow inks are used. This
is a subtractive color model.
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RGB Vs CMY

RGB color cube

RGB 24-bit color cube

RGB Example

Original

Red Band

Green Band

Blue Band

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RGB and CMY Color Cubes

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RGB AND CMY COLOR CUBES

Light Intensity
Note that intensity is a weighted function of the r, g, b

values.
The human eye doesnt weight each component
identically!

intensity = 0.299*Red + 0.587*Green +

0.144*Blue

Assume three light sources have the same actual intensity

but are colored red, green, and blue

The green light will appear brightest followed by red and blue
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YIQ MODEL

YIQ(color modelling)
YIQ is the color space used by the NTSC color TV system,
employed mainly in North and Central America, and Japan
The Y component represents the luma information, and is the
only component used by black-and-white television receivers.
I and Q represent the chrominance information. In YUV, the U
and V components can be thought of as X and Y coordinates
within the color space. I and Q can be thought of as a second
pair of axes on the same graph, rotated 33; therefore IQ and
UV represent different coordinate systems on the same plane.

YIQ(color modelling)
Color images are encoded as triplets of values.
RGB is an additive color model that is used for light-emitting devices,
e.g., CRT displays
CMY is a subtractive model that is used often for printers
Two common color models in imaging are RGB and CMY, two common
color models in video are YUV and YIQ.
YUV uses properties of the human eye to prioritize information. Y is the
black and white (luminance) image, U and V are the color difference
(chrominance) images.
YIQ uses similar idea.
Besides the hardware-oriented color models (i.e., RGB, CMY, YUV,
YIQ), HSB (Hue, Saturation, and Brightness) and HLS (Hue, Lightness,
and Saturation) are also commonly used.

Yiq colour descripton.

Example for yiq photo which is used in

televisions

HSV MODEL

HSV is another way to describe color with 3 parameters. RGB is the way
computer screens work, but not very intuitive. HSV is more intuitive, but
you need to convert it to RGB before you can draw a pixel with it. The
nicest application of this color model is that you can easily create
rainbow gradients or change the color, lightness or saturation of an
image with this color model.
HSV color obviously has the parameters H, S and V, or Hue, Saturation
and Lightness Value.
Hue indicates the color sensation of the light, in other words if the color
is red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, ... This representation looks
almost the same as the visible spectrum of light, except on the right is
now the color magenta (the combination of red and blue), instead of
violet (light with a frequency higher than blue):
Hue works circular, so it can be represented on a circle instead. A hue of
360 looks the same again as a hue of 0.

Saturation indicates the degree to which the hue differs

from a neutral gray. The values run from 0%, which is no
color, to 100%, which is the fullest saturation of a given
hue at a given percentage of illumination. The more the
spectrum of the light is concentrated around one
wavelength, the more saturated the color will be.
Lightness indicates the illumination of the color, at 0% the
color is completely black, at 50% the color is pure, and at
100% it becomes white. In HSL color, a color with
maximum lightness (L=255) is always white, no matter
what the hue or saturation components are. Lightness is
defined as (maxColor+minColor)/2 where maxColoris the
R, G or B component with the maximum value, and
minColor the one with the minimum value

HSL MODEL

HSL is another way to describe color with 3 parameters. RGB is the way
computer screens work, but not very intuitive. HSL is more intuitive, but
you need to convert it to RGB before you can draw a pixel with it. The
nicest application of this color model is that you can easily create rainbow
gradients or change the color, lightness or saturation of an image with this
color model.
HSL color obviously has the parameters H, S and L, or Hue, Saturation
and Lightness.
Hue indicates the color sensation of the light, in other words if the color is
red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, ... This representation looks almost
the same as the visible spectrum of light, except on the right is now the
color magenta (the combination of red and blue), instead of violet (light
with a frequency higher than blue):
Hue works circular, so it can be represented on a circle instead. A hue of
360 looks the same again as a hue of 0.

Hue colour patterns

Graph showing relation between

(saturation,lightness,hue)

THANK YOU