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What Does Light Have to Do With the Color Spectrum?

As light passes over it during the course of a day, an object sitting in a stable place changes its color. That's because color is a quality of light as it is reflected from the surface of the object and into the eye.

External Qualities of Light and Color
- Sunlight passes through filters (clouds, pollutants in the air, windows or curtains), each of which begins to absorb differing wavelengths. Jill Morton with Creative Tools for Digital Cameras explains that each wavelength represents a color band to the human eye. The unabsorbed sunlight falls on the object, which also absorbs some wavelengths but rejects others. These rejected wavelengths become reflected light. Reflected light determines the color of the object.
Internal Qualities of Light and Color
- Reflected wavelengths are identified in the eye and a message is sent to the brain indicating color. Morton says, "The most technically accurate definition of color is: 'Color is the visual effect that is caused by the spectral composition of the light emitted, transmitted, or reflected by objects,'" yet color remains influenced by the interpretation of the receiver.
Color is Also a Matter of Mechanics
- Zelanski and Fisher, in their book "Color," describe the mechanics of color perception as a function of photoreceptor cones in the retina. Eye-Therapy.com discusses the Trichromatic Theory, which suggests there are three general kinds of pigments in these photoreceptors. Each pigment senses a different wavelength. These correspond to the red, green and blue we use to create color in electronic forms.

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