How do we see colors? Whether they come from nature or technology screens, how do we perceive them?
There are two kinds of colors: reflected color and projected color.
Reflected color is what we see when light reflects off a surface, like ink or paint. Certain wavelengths of light are absorbed, while others are reflected back to our eyes, creating the color we see.
- Example: A red apple reflects red light and absorbs other colors.
Projected color is created by light emitted from devices using red, green, and blue (RGB). By mixing these three colors at different intensities, we can produce the entire color spectrum.
- Example: A white area on a phone or laptop screen results from red, green, and blue light being emitted at full intensity.
Now, let’s talk about color in digital images—how we store and display pictures, like GIFs and JPEGs, using technology.
Indexed color uses a limited palette of up to 256 colors. Each pixel references a color lookup table, matching the closest color and displaying it digitally.
- Example: GIF images use indexed color, with a maximum of 256 colors to keep file sizes small.
24-bit color uses three 8-bit channels (red, green, blue) to represent over 16 million colors, providing smooth gradients and high-resolution images.
- Example: JPEG images are high-resolution and use 24-bit color for rich detail.
Lastly, indexed color saves space, while 24-bit color offers more detail but takes up more storage due to its higher resolution.
This is a GIF!
This is a JPEG!
I asked ChatGPT to fix my grammar, spelling, and punctuation
This was my original post:
“How do we see colors? Whether those colors are outside in nature or in our technology screens, how do we see them?
Well there are two kinds of colors, Reflected color and Projected color.
Reflected Color is color that we see when light is reflected off of a surface like ink or paint. Certain color wavelengths are absorbed while others are reflected back to our eyes, giving us the color that we see!
Example: a red apple reflects red light, absorbing others!
Projected Color is color created by light emitted from devices using red, green, and blue, or also known as RGB. Mixing these three colors but using each of them at different intensities can produce the entire color spectrum!
Example: a white area on a phone/laptop screen results from red, green, and blue light being put at full intensity!
Next up is color in Digital Images! This refers to gifs and jpegs and all the different ways of saving a picture using technology!
Indexed Color uses a limited amount of (up to 256 colors) with pixels referencing a color lookup table. So the pixels will take the picture and match the color that represents it the closest and then protrays that color digitally.
Example: GIF images with small file sizes and limited colors only use 256 colors.
24-Bit Color uses three 8-bit channels (red,green,blue) to represent over 16 million colors, making these digital pictures very smooth with high resolution
Example: JPEGs are high resoltuion digital images that use 24-bit color.
Something else to note, is that indexed color saves space. While 24-bit color offers more detail, but the more detail a picture has, the more storage that picture is going to take up!”
And this is what ChatGPT responded
“How do we see colors? Whether they come from nature or technology screens, how do we perceive them?
There are two kinds of colors: reflected color and projected color.
Reflected color is what we see when light reflects off a surface, like ink or paint. Certain wavelengths of light are absorbed, while others are reflected back to our eyes, creating the color we see.
Example: A red apple reflects red light and absorbs other colors.
Projected color is created by light emitted from devices using red, green, and blue (RGB). By mixing these three colors at different intensities, we can produce the entire color spectrum.
Example: A white area on a phone or laptop screen results from red, green, and blue light being emitted at full intensity.
Now, let’s talk about color in digital images—how we store and display pictures, like GIFs and JPEGs, using technology.
Indexed color uses a limited palette of up to 256 colors. Each pixel references a color lookup table, matching the closest color and displaying it digitally.
Example: GIF images use indexed color, with a maximum of 256 colors to keep file sizes small.
24-bit color uses three 8-bit channels (red, green, blue) to represent over 16 million colors, providing smooth gradients and high-resolution images.
Example: JPEG images are high-resolution and use 24-bit color for rich detail.
Lastly, indexed color saves space, while 24-bit color offers more detail but takes up more storage due to its higher resolution.”