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Right. And clearly that "something" is "Where does it come from" rather than "What is it ?".

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Copywrite?

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Self citation ? Reeeeeeally ??!?!?

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Emotional content of color... the early only church, catholic, attached symbology to colors and probably influenced how people saw color. Pagans used bright sinful colors, and were destroyed as to cleanse the world.
https://www.crivoice.org/symbols/colorsmeaning.html

We knew at the Saturday double feature movie, a form of baby sitting, that white hat and horse was the good guy and black hat was the villein. Through out life, color is influenced by attachment; the red light district did not symbolize bakeries.
https://eclecticwitchcraft.com/the-color-white-in-witchcraft-the-spiritual-meaning-of-the-color-white/

Color we do not see, but Bees do. IR and Astro converted cameras see the world different and visually say so when we look at the images.
https://news.ncsu.edu/2011/07/wms-what-bees-see/

jcboy3

You assume it has leaves. Most trees that fall in the forest don't have leaves.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Last time I had colors speaking to me was in the late 60's......

(Just kidding.)


They "exist" by the difference in wavelengths of light an item reflects.
Out eyes sense the different wavelengths, and our mind interprets them.
Those differences we have defined as "colors".

Perception.....

Bill_de Loc: US

All we really need to understand color and to make pretty pictures ...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

fetzler Loc: North West PA

The physics here is quite bad. Compounds that are colored have conjugated pi bonds or are heavy metal complexes that have d orbitals. Materials that are colored may be solid, liquid (often a solution) or gas. The electron orbital structure of the relevant atoms determines which wavelengths of light that are absorbed and whicht are transmitted or reflected. Oil paints used by artists contain pigments that are composed metallic compounds that contain Cadmium, Iron, Copper, Nickel etc. The pesky d orbitals are responsible here. Organic molecules that have extensive networks of pi bonds often appear to be yellow. The pi bond network absorbs ultra violet and blue light. Removing blue light from white light light leaves yellow.

The perception of color, of course, depends on our eyes and brain. Our eyes are not very different from our camera sensors with regard to the basic principles. Defects in our eyes can produce various types of color blindness. Color blind individuals will perceive color differently from normal people and what would be suggested by the spectroscopy.

Interestingly, brown is dark yellow.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I see colors, as I'm pulling up my pant legs.
(Too late to save my shoes.)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This is a discussion that could potentially go on forever. We all know what color is, but we can't explain it to the satisfaction of everyone else. 😁

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

That's because everyone has a better definition.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Doyle, when a tree falls in a forest and there are no animals around to hear it, there ARE vibrations, but there is no sound. Sound is CAUSED by air pressure changes vibrating the ear drum and stimulating structures of the inner ear to trigger neurons in the brain. Sight is CAUSED by light hitting receptors in our eyes that signal the visual cortex to interpret those signals.

Color, like sound, is a perception. It is not a range of electromagnetic radiation spectrum. It is how an individual's eyes and brain *respond* to that spectrum of radiation.

As I know from running a color correction department in a major portrait lab, color perception varies from person to person, sometimes moment to moment, and depends on many factors:

Sleep, or lack thereof, can narrow color perception or bias it in one direction.

Diet — People who consistently eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, eat quality protein sources, and avoid junk foods simply see color more accurately.

Surroundings — bright colors will cause visual fatigue, suppressing the predominant color

Emotional state — calm vs highly upset vs aroused vs distracted — meditation helps!

Illness — can cause chemical imbalances that affect vision

Caffeine, cold medications, prescription drugs, recreational drug use — all cause erratic inconsistent judgments of colors.

CHANGES in consumption patterns of caffeine or drugs will cause a noticeable shift in perception.

CHANGES from a bright environment to a dark environment require a period of adaptation. We evaluated color in a fairly dim, neutral gray room that was lit at a known brightness level and color temperature. If an employee took lunch in bright sun on the patio, they had paperwork duties for 20 minutes when they came back! Many were willing to do that. The lab was lit throughout at 5000K, the floors and walls were neutral gray or white, and the furniture was gray, too.

Heredity — color blindness, anyone? It's more common than we think. Some people are slightly color challenged and don't know it until they are tested.

Sex at birth — Men can discern roughly 4000 hues, while women can see roughly 7000.

AGE — eye health can deteriorate along with other bodily functions and bias or narrow the range of colors perceived. Diabetes can

Hormones can alter color perception. Women on hormonal birth control seem to see fewer shifts in their color perception. A pregnant woman's color vision can vary from day to day.

When color photography is your livelihood, you form positive habits that favor doing it consistently and accurately. In the lab, we educated all our color technicians about these factors. Their immediate supervisor reported to me, and understood all of this. She was very popular with her employees because she was an empath who would work with them when their vision was off. They were tested to get their jobs, and regularly thereafter, to see how consistent their vision was. We would move them to another part of the lab to do a different job, temporarily, if they needed to "ride out a change" in their ability to evaluate color consistently. It was that important.

POVDOV

My mind is now messed

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?
It depends.........
According to a physicist, yes, vibrations in the air caused by impact of the tree on the ground (and other things).
According to an audiologist, no, a sound is something that is heard.
(I'll go with the physicist. The sound simply fell off (attenuated) with the distance, not to be heard if one is too far away.)