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Color Models

A ``color model'', or ``color space'', or ``color order system'', is a way to organize the set of possible human color percepts in some systematic way. Four families of color models can be distinguished in the color vision literature at large (see, e.g., [Boynton 1979], [Wyszecki \& Stiles 1982], and [Boynton 1990] for some references, and [Brown 1982] for an excellent overview of color models and color theory). I use these categories merely as an organizational tool; they are not entirely mutually exclusive. The four categories are:

  1. Physiologically inspired models using 3 primaries, based on the three types of cones in the human retina, starting with Hering's theory of color vision, e.g., the familiar RGB models used in computer graphics hardware.

  2. Colorimetric color models, based on physical measurement of spectral reflectance, usually using three primary color filters and some kind of photometer, e.g., the CIE chromaticity diagram.

  3. Opponent models, based on perception experiments, using pairwise opponent primary colors (yellow and blue, red and green), starting with the Young-Helmholtz theory, e.g., [Hurvich \& Jameson 1957].

  4. Psychological and psychophysical color models based on the appearance of colors to human observers, with data derived either in an impressionistic way (e.g., the Munsell and Ostwald color models) or in an experimental way (e.g., the Hue-Saturation-Brightness (HSB) family of color models, or the OSA uniform color space).

I will discuss some typical representatives of each category. Mathematical derivations (where available) of a collection of color models can be found in Appendix .


lammens@cs.buffalo.edu