Black blue under artificial light. The influence of artificial lighting on the color scheme of the interior. Relationship between color temperature and lighting

Good afternoon dear friends! Once again, welcome everyone to the “Electrician in the House” website. IN lately The demand for LED products is constantly increasing. The use of innovative light sources is used in various sectors of the national economy.

New cars are equipped with LED lamps, houses, business premises and outdoor advertising stands are illuminated. They are used in spotlights, street and office lamps, as well as in many other human inventions.

Concept does not even imply the amount of heat they give off, but has a completely different meaning. This - visual effect perception of a light source by the human eye. As the color spectrum of light approaches the sun (yellow), the “warmth” of each lamp is determined.

You can also make an association with a candle flame, and you will immediately understand how this phenomenon is described. On the contrary, a bluish tint of light is associated with a cloudy sky and snowy night glow. This light evokes cold, pale images in us. But there is a definite scientific explanation for everything.

When a piece of metal is heated, it develops a characteristic glow. First the color range is in red tones. As the temperature rises, the color spectrum gradually begins to shift towards yellow, white, bright blue and violet.

Each metal glow color has its own temperature range, which makes it possible to describe the phenomenon using known physical quantities. This helps to characterize color temperature not as a randomly taken value, but as a certain heating period until the required spectrum color is obtained.

The color spectrum of LED crystals is somewhat different. It is different from the possible colors of metal glow due to a different method of its origin. But general essence remains the same: to obtain the selected shade, a certain color temperature will be required. It is worth noting that this indicator is in no way related to the amount of heat generated by the lighting fixture.

Once again I want to note that there is no need to confuse color temperature and the physical temperature (amount of heat) that your lamp emits, these are different indicators.

LED color temperature scale

Today's domestic market offers a huge range of light sources based on LED crystals. They all operate in different temperature ranges. Usually they are chosen depending on the location of the intended installation, because each such lamp creates its own, individual look. The same room can be significantly transformed by changing only the color of the lighting.

For optimal use of each LED light source, you should decide in advance which color is most convenient for you. The concept of color temperature is not specifically related to LED lamps, it cannot be tied to a specific source, it depends only on the spectral composition of the selected radiation. Each lighting device has always had a color temperature, it’s just that when standard incandescent lamps were released, their glow was only “warm” yellow (the emission spectrum was standard).

With the advent of fluorescent and halogen lighting sources, white “cold” light came into use. LED lamps are characterized by an even wider range of colors, due to which the independent choice of optimal lighting has become more complicated, and all its shades began to be determined by the material from which the semiconductor was made.

Relationship between color temperature and lighting

A clear knowledge of the tabular values ​​of this characteristic helps to understand what color we will talk about next. Each of us has a different color perception, so visually determine coldness or warmth luminous flux Only a few succeed.

The average indicators of a group of products operating in a given spectrum are taken as a basis, and when making the final selection of LED lamps, the specific conditions of their operation (installation location, illuminated space, purpose, etc.) are taken into account.

Today, all lighting sources, depending on their luminescence range, are classified into three main groups:

  1. - warm white light– operate in the temperature range from 2700K to 3200K. The spectrum of warm white light they emit is very similar to the glow of a conventional incandescent lamp. Lamps with this color temperature recommended for use in residential premises.
  2. - day white light(normal white) – in the range from 3500K to 5000K. Their glow is visually associated with morning sunlight. This is a neutral range luminous flux that can be used in apartment technical rooms (hallway, bathroom, toilet), offices, classrooms, production workshops, and so on.
  3. - cold white light(day white) – in the range from 5000K to 7000K. Reminds me of bright daylight. They illuminate hospital buildings, technical laboratories, parks, alleys, parking lots, billboards, etc.
Color temperature LED lamps table
Color temperature Light type Where is it used?
2700 K light “warm white”, “reddish-white”, warm part of the spectrum This is typical for conventional incandescent lamps, but can also be found in LED lamps. Used in cozy home interior, promotes rest and relaxation.
3000 K light “warm white”, “yellow-white”, warm part of the spectrum It occurs in some halogen lamps, and is also found in LED lamps. A little colder than the previous one, but also recommended for residential use.
3500 K “day white” light, the white part of the spectrum It is created by fluorescent tubes and some modifications of LED lamps. Suitable for apartments, offices, public spaces.
4000 K “cool white” light, the cold part of the spectrum An indispensable attribute of the high-tech style, but it is overwhelming with its deathly pallor. Used in hospitals and underground facilities.
5000 K - 6000 K “daylight” light “white-blue”, daytime part of the spectrum A wonderful simulation of a day for workers and production premises, greenhouses, greenhouses, terrariums, etc.
6500 K “cold daylight” light “white-lilac”, cold part of the spectrum Suitable for street lighting, storage facilities, lighting of industrial facilities.

From the given characteristics it is clearly seen that when low color temperature red predominates and is absent blue. When the temperature increases, green and blue colors appear, and red disappears.

Where can I find out about this option?

On the packaging of each lighting lamp, manufacturers indicate its technical characteristics. Among all other characteristics, such as power, voltage, network frequency, it is necessary to indicate (this applies not only to LED lamps). You should definitely pay attention to this main factor before purchasing a lamp.

By the way, this characteristic is displayed not only on the packaging, but also on the lamp itself. Here is one example, a 7 W LED lamp with a temperature of 4000K. It is installed in my home, in the kitchen, and shines with pleasant daylight.

And here is another example of the designation on an LED spotlight for plasterboard ceilings, temperature 2800 Kelvin. Lamps with this color temperature produce a warm light similar to an incandescent lamp and were installed in a bedroom at one of the facilities.

Which lamps to choose for the office

IN regulatory document SP 52.13330.2011 “Natural and artificial lighting” recommends the use various sources radiation depending on its type, power, design and characteristics of the luminous flux. Residential premises are required to be equipped with small and low-temperature “warm” lighting devices, and in non-residential buildings larger lamps of normal “white” light must be installed.

It has been proven that white lighting is optimal for the work process, since the part of the blue spectrum it contains has a beneficial effect on a person, helps him concentrate, speeds up the reaction and work processes of the body. It is good to choose radiation sources from 3500K to 5600K, with white or neutral light, with a slightly bluish tint. Such lighting will make it possible to increase performance to the maximum level.

Both fluorescent and LED lamps are suitable, although the latter will provide significant savings in energy resources.

On the contrary, it would be a big mistake to install cool white light fixtures with a range close to 6500K in such a place. This will lead to rapid fatigue of workers, complaints about headache and a sharp decrease in performance.

Which lamps are suitable for home

In apartments and private houses white light not recommended. It is not necessary to place the same lamps everywhere; it is better to use individual recommendations for lighting equipment in such rooms. You can install white neutral lamps in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway. Their temperature can vary from 4000K to 5000K.

But for the bedroom, nursery and rooms where you relax, it is preferable to use warm tones of the light spectrum. Here the best solution there will be warm white light closer to 2700K to 3200. It will relieve daytime tension, create coziness and allow you to relax.

It is convenient and effective to use normal white light in the reading area and work corner, as well as to illuminate mirrors in front of which makeup is applied. This way you will achieve maximum color contrast and convenience for the actions performed.

It is better to equip a child’s desk lamp with a temperature of 3200-3500K. It will not create unnecessary eye fatigue, and its proximity to the white spectrum will help you get ready and tune in to work. For all LED lamps operating temperature indicated on the packaging.

That's all, dear friends. If you liked the article, I would be grateful if you share it on social networks.

One of the most remarkable properties of vision is the ability of the eye to get used to (adapt) to darkness. When we enter a dark room from a brightly lit room, we see nothing for some time, and only gradually the surrounding objects begin to emerge more and more clearly, and in the end we begin to notice something that we had not seen at all before. In very dim light, objects appear devoid of color. It was found that vision under conditions of dark adaptation is carried out almost exclusively with the help of rods, and in conditions of bright light - with the help of cones. As a result, we recognize a number of phenomena associated with the transfer of the function of vision from rods and cones acting together to rods alone.

In many cases, objects that are considered one color can take on color and become amazingly beautiful when the intensity of light increases. For example, a telescope image of a faint nebula usually appears “black and white,” but astronomer Miller of the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories was able, through his patience, to obtain color images of several nebulae. No one has ever seen the colors of nebulae with their own eyes, but this does not mean that the colors were created artificially, just that the intensity of the light was too low for the cones of our eyes to detect the color. The Ring and Crab nebulae are especially beautiful. In the image of the Ring Nebula, the central part is painted in a beautiful blue color and is surrounded by a bright red halo, and in the image of the Crab Nebula, bright red-orange filaments alternate against a background of bluish haze.

In bright light, the sensitivity of the rods seems to be very small, but in the dark, over time, they acquire the ability to see. The relative changes in intensity to which the eye can adapt exceed one million times. Nature has come up with two types of cells for this purpose: some see in bright light and distinguish colors - these are cones, others are adapted to see in the dark - these are rods.

Interesting consequences arise from this: the first is the discoloration of objects (in weak light), and the second is the difference in the relative brightness of two objects colored in different colors. It turns out that rods see the blue end of the spectrum better than cones, but cones see, for example, dark red, while rods cannot see it at all. Therefore, for sticks, red is the same as black. If you take two sheets of paper, say red and blue, then in semi-darkness the blue will appear brighter than the red, although in good lighting the red sheet is much brighter than the blue. This is an absolutely amazing phenomenon. If we look at a brightly colored magazine cover in the dark and imagine its colors, then in the light everything becomes completely unrecognizable. The phenomenon described above is called the Purkinje effect.

In fig. 35.3, the dotted curve characterizes the sensitivity of the eye in the dark, i.e., sensitivity due to rods, and the solid curve refers to vision in the light. It can be seen that the maximum sensitivity of the rods lies in the green region, and the maximum sensitivity of the cones lies in the yellow region. Therefore, the red leaf (red color has a wavelength of about 650 mm), clearly visible in bright light, is almost completely invisible in the dark.


The fact that vision in the dark is carried out with the help of rods, and in the vicinity of the yellow spot there are no rods, is also manifested in the fact that we see objects in the dark that are directly in front of us, not as clearly as objects located to the side. Faint stars and nebulae are sometimes easier to see if you look at them slightly to the side, because there are almost no rods at all in the center of the retina.

A decrease in the number of cones towards the periphery of the eye, in turn, leads to another interesting effect- at the edge of the field of vision, even bright objects lose their color. This effect is easy to test. Fix your gaze in a specific direction and ask a friend to approach you from the side, holding brightly colored papers in his hand. Try to determine the color of the leaves before they are directly in front of you. You will find that you saw the leaves themselves long before you could determine what color they were. It is better if your friend enters the field of view from the side opposite the blind spot, otherwise confusion will arise: you will begin to distinguish colors, and suddenly everything will disappear, and then the leaves will appear again and you will clearly distinguish their color.

It is also interesting that the periphery of the retina is extremely sensitive to the movement of visual objects. Although we see poorly when we look sideways, out of one corner of the eye, we nevertheless immediately notice a beetle or midge flying from the side, even if we did not expect to see anything at all in this place. We are drawn to see what is flashing there at the edge of our field of vision.

The influence of lighting on the colors of objects.

The colors of objects change in nature from morning to evening, depending on the position of the sun. Its rays either pierce transparent and translucent objects or are reflected from their surface; in each case they undergo different changes. In addition, the height of the sun, more or less cloudiness, and the state of the atmosphere in general have a huge impact on the colors of bodies. Morning and evening dawns, twilight, moonlight also add to the diversity color changes. There is a legitimacy to all these phenomena that we must clarify here.

The color of any object is made up of the same parts that sunlight consists of, only some parts of the light are almost completely absorbed or extinguished by the body. For example, cinnabar extinguishes violet, blue, green parts almost completely; When illuminated, cinnabar emits only red rays and those close to them. Grass and tree foliage choose from sun rays green, yellow and blue, partly retains them and emits, absorbing, more or less red and orange rays. If cinnabar is illuminated with blue or green light, it will appear completely dark, almost black, because cinnabar does not receive the red rays it needs for visibility under such lighting.

In general, every body, as it were, selects some of the colors that make up the sun’s rays and reflects or emits only them, extinguishing the rest; from this selective ability of bodies their colors come in all their diversity and heterogeneity. Only white objects do not seem to have such a selective ability, in any case, and these objects do not reflect all the light falling on them. Black objects also represent something special: black velvet, black cloth, black granite do not appear completely black in sunlight, but gray, emitting a little of every color, and thus differ from white ones, which reflect a lot of every color. However, different white and different black surfaces differ somewhat from each other. This white paint is colder or warmer than another; this means that in one there is a slight bluish tint, and in the other a slight yellowish tint. Sugar is white and chalk is also white, but their colors are not exactly the same. Likewise the color black coal not identical with the black color of various paints used in painting; there are black bluish, greenish, brownish, which is best revealed when mixed with white. It follows that various black paints have some dominant, albeit very weak, color tone.

Gray color occupies an intermediate place between white and black. White and gray objects are most capable of taking on the color of the lighting in which they are viewed; white and gray tree trunks turn red or orange when the sun sets, while black ones gain only a faint color tint. Birch bark turns green from the brightly lit nearby grass, takes on a blue color from the side illuminated by the blue sky, and in general changes a lot and is extremely noticeable. A gray dusty road, gray stones, gray fences made of wood darkened by age - all these objects take on very different shades depending on the lighting. The foliage of a grayish color, like that of our willows or southern olives, is also capable of changing very noticeably, especially in comparison with bright green plants, which in the evening light become completely dark, almost black with a brownish or reddish tint.

But colors become most vibrant when illuminated by light whose hue is close to their own, i.e. Warm colors benefit from warm lighting, cool colors benefit from cold lighting. White and gray paper are much less red and bright under red or blue light than red or blue paper under the same circumstances. On the contrary, warm colors darken, approaching black in some cases, when illuminated by rays of cold colors, for example, orange from blue, and cold colors from warm ones, for example, violet from yellow-green.

We are talking about cases of lighting matte, not smooth surfaces; smooth green leaf, for example, can reflect a wide variety of rays.

A very smooth surface in some cases almost does not retain its color. For example, polished red copper can perfectly reflect all colors, even green complementary to its color, just as the surface of leaves can reflect the red light of the setting sun with great purity. I imagine burdock leaves; they are so tortuous that one part of them reflects the blue color of the sky, becoming, however, grayish-green-blue; other parts of the leaf, located in the shadow, have a dark green, and some shine through in a bright yellow-green tone.

From all that has been said, it follows that in the eyes of the artist, not a single object has a certain constant color. The normal color of foliage is green, but if it is heavily lit or in deep shade, it can take on tones that are extremely far from green.

The tones of air and water are particularly variable in nature. Transparent and light colors sky and clouds and more dark clouds, which, in contrast with brightly illuminated objects of the earth, may appear completely black, present vast gamuts in all tones from white through gray to black, from light blue and faint red to dark blue or dark purple, etc. All this diversity is produced either by the reflection of light from the air and water of which the clouds are made, or by the passage of the sun's rays through them. The color of water, lakes, rivers and seas is determined by transparency: the top of the wave can be gray-yellow, yellow-green, emerald green. Muddy water may appear brownish, almost red in direct light. By reflection, all water may be blue, but the degree of blueness depends not only on the purity and strength of the blue of the sky, but to some extent on the color of the water itself.

Calm water does not take on as much blue as rippled or disturbed water. In every wave, the top is more or less translucent, and the surface of the depression more or less reflects the color of the sky and clouds. Some parts of the troughs between the waves receive so little light that they appear very dark. In a distant strip of sea, it is impossible to see individual parts of waves even of a decent size, and in ripples consisting of very small waves, these parts are indistinguishable even from a short distance; all parts merge into one color, which is darker than the color of calm water, thanks to the dark parts of the waves.

In a smooth calm water, with a blue sky, darkness, but not purity, blueness intensifies as the surface of the water approaches the viewer. Standing on an elevated seashore, you can see that the water in nearby coves is much darker than at some distance from the shore. This occurs, among other things, from the fact that the blue color of the sky, formed by reflection from the air, being reflected again from the water, under certain circumstances will be very poor in light, i.e. very dark. Another reason for the darkening of the water below and almost underfoot is that with an almost vertical incidence of the rays, they mostly penetrate it and, therefore, are reflected little.

The color of the water in which trees or other objects are reflected depends on their color, but this reflection is not always just a lower-tone image of the object. The illuminated wall will appear like this in the reflected image, but it would be a mistake to depict the illuminated tree only overturned in water with a repetition of its light and dark parts. Most of the reflection in the water is from the undersides of the leaves. The undersides of horizontal leaves cannot receive direct sunlight even at sunset, just like the ceilings of rooms, even on the very high tower, cannot be illuminated by sunset. If the sun is close to the horizon, then its rays still fall on earthly objects from a certain height; if it sank to the horizon and even partially disappeared under it, then the visible part of the solar disk sends rays only horizontally, but not from bottom to top.

We see, however, that the sun, being between the clouds, illuminates the upper edges of some and the lower edges of others; and in this case, the perspective deceives us. The upper clouds are turned with light edges, as if downward, but in reality they are only further away from us and, being turned towards the sun, are illuminated through and through. Clouds located on the side opposite the sun are always illuminated, as if from the top edge, but in reality from the front; The parts of these clouds that are more distant from the viewer and from the sun appear promisingly lower.

We judge the transparency of bodies by the through light entering our eye. The top of a wave appears transparent if the changed color of the sky passes through it; The transparency of the water near the shore is obvious if we see stones, sand or algae through it. Even when the outlines of underwater objects are not visible, one change in the color of the water serves as a sign of its transparency. Light passes from outside into the water and illuminates the bottom, but part of the light is reflected from the surface of the water. When the light reflected from the water is stronger than the light from the sandy bottom, the bottom will not be visible and the water will not be transparent.

It happens that the color of the reflected object is combined with the color of the bottom visible through the water, and then the water receives a new tone, indicating its transparency. These tones come from the mixing of rays, not colors; the yellow bottom, visible through water reflecting the blue color of the sky, will not turn green from this, but will receive a tone that is easier to observe than to predict. Likewise, a red underwater rock will not appear purple when the blue sky is reflected from the surface of the water.

When the sun disappears behind or emerges from clouds, the change in the colors of objects is striking, especially since it occurs suddenly; in addition, the illuminated parts of objects are located next to the unlit ones, which further enhances their difference. To notice the gradual change in tones during the day requires great attention, which is given only to the artist and the habitual observer, but by sunset the changes become very sharp for everyone.

Evening artificial lighting of homes with gas or kerosene is of great concern for the artist and lover of paintings, since the tones of the paintings change and in general the relationship between tones is disrupted. The picture is painted in daylight, and each paint applied or mixed by the artist has the appropriate tones; under orange gas light, the tones of the paints are completely different, because the paints cannot select all their characteristic colors in sufficient quantity from kerosene or gas light, which has a composition very different from daylight. Cinnabar, cadmium, some green ones will find in this light in abundance all the components they need, and they will get the same or even brighter appearance than they had during the day, but the blue and violet colors will lack a lot and therefore these tones are separate or mixed with others, will not be blue and purple. Cobalt blue paint appears violet in the fire, ultramarine - grayish, indigo - completely gray. In most paintings there will be such optical dissonances that will completely ruin the impression of them. Artificial lighting seems to act even more falsely on watercolors, because a thin layer of water paint transmits the orange light of the flame through itself to the paper, from which it is reflected and joins the color changed by this light from the paint.

Color perception is in a special state in the evening. Anyone without hesitation calls the color of white paper illuminated by fire white, although the color is necessarily yellow-orange and actually appears to be so if one were to examine paper illuminated by fire in a dim lamp during the day. But if this orange paper is recognized as white, then other colors in the fire would only be recognized as real if their relationship to orange was the same as to white during the day. In reality, this is true only for some colors, while others remain difficult to recognize when burned. In any case, the color perception of the eye under evening artificial light turns out to be not so false in the gradation of colors as one might expect, judging by the extraordinary changes that actually occur in colors.

This conclusion could be confirmed by such an experiment. Let's imagine that, being in a room in daylight, we can through small hole, made in the door, look into the dark next room, in which the painting is placed, illuminated only by lamp light. The coloring of this picture may seem terrible to us, but by going into a dark room and giving the eye time to get used to the light of the lamps, we will find that the impression of the picture is not as bad as it seemed to us a few minutes ago. While we were in a room with daylight, white was for us the norm with which we compared all other colors and then we found that the change in colors by fire lighting is amazingly great, but when dark room the basis of comparative impressions becomes not white, but orange color, mentally recognized as white, then the relationship of other colors to this conventional white will seem to us less disturbed. In the special state of the eye under artificial light, we must look for an explanation why some artists can paint pictures by fire, preserving so much the relationship of tones that during the day their coloring sometimes requires only small improvements, which must finally be done, of course, during the day.


In daylight. On fire.
1. Whitewashed.Whitewashed.
2. Neapolitan yellow greenish.Neapolitan yellow.
3. Light cadmium (not lemon color)Light cadmium.
4. Green Veronese.Dark cadmium.
5. Dark cadmium.Indian yellow.
6. Indian yellow.Light ocher.
7. Light ocher.Cinnabar.
8. Chinese cinnabar.Green Veronese.
9. Cobalt light green.Burnt sienna.
10. Green chromium oxide.Venetian red.
11. Burnt light sienna.Green chromium oxide.
12. Venetian red.Cobalt light green.
13. Sienva natural.Sienna natural.
14. Cobalt dark green.Cobalt dark green.
15. Green land.Green land.
16. Burnt umber.
17. Cobalt.Green emerald (chromium oxide hydrate).
18. Burnt umber.Cobalt.
19. Krapplak is average.Krapplak is average.
20. Ultramarine.Ultramarine.
21. Prussian blue.Prussian blue.
22. Ivory black.Ivory black.

In order to see how the order of colors moves, in relation to their lightness, during the transition from daylight to evening lighting with kerosene, based on my experiments, the following list was compiled, in which the colors are arranged in order, starting with the lightest.

From this list it is clear that the order of lightness of the colors changed significantly when illuminated by fire; for example, green Veronese (vert Paul V?ron?se, Deckgr?n) moved from 4th place to 8th. Cobalt light green (Cobaltgr?n hell) or green Rinmann, from 9th place moved to 12th and in general almost all greens dropped in the rank , i.e. darkened relative to yellow, red and brown. But at the same time, all the green ones remained in the second, evening, row between the same greens as in the first, daytime row; for example, chromium oxide green in both rows is darker than cobalt light green and lighter than cobalt dark green.

The same is noticeable in yellow, red and generally warm colors; Almost all of them rose during the transition from the first row to the second, but the place of each of them, between the other two, remained the same. It should also be noted that the three lightest colors, named at the beginning of the first row, and the four darkest ones, at the end of this row, moved without changing places to the second row.

As for the change in the order of colors due to the yellow-orange evening lighting, since it is difficult to arrange the colors in rows by tone, we will limit ourselves to some comments. Yellow paints are little noticeable under fire, since paper, taken as the standard white, has a yellow-orange tint. Green Veronese has a wonderful, slightly changed tone, green chromium oxide becomes gray-green, chromium oxide hydrate becomes warmer, but slightly departs from the character of the day tone, cobalt gets purple tint, which is even more noticeable in cobalt mixed with white, artificial ultramarine becomes cloudier, and when whitened it is close to gray, Prussian blue becomes greener, dark cadmium becomes completely orange, light ocher acquires a slight greenish tint. All these color sensations appear as such to the eye under the influence of evening artificial light.

Hello dear visitors to our school! In today's lesson I want to talk to you about one thing most interesting phenomenon in interior design, which provides great importance to the right choice color scheme interior (at the same time it brings a lot of difficulties), namely about the influence of lighting on color.

You may already know that the lighting of a room greatly affects its color (the example above illustrates this perfectly). And such a change, in fact, depends on many factors: starting from the time of day and ending with the orientation of the room to the side of the world. And this is another reason why it is very difficult for beginners to choose the right primary color for the rooms of an apartment or house. Let me remind you that main color- this is the color that occupies the most large area rooms are usually the color of the walls, since the walls in the room have the largest area. And we are talking, first of all, about the influence of lighting on the main color of the room.

At the same time, some people have a lot of questions about technical aspects colors, for example: why color reacts differently in different environments, like different aspects of light and environment influence him, and even, as some chemicals affect color.

And this is not to mention the psychological perception of color. I recently consulted with my client on the right choice apartment colors. She admitted to me that she hated the color of the walls in one room of her house so much that she was determined to move. This is how much influence color can have on a person, and this is why we (architects and designers) sometimes lose sleep due to doubts about choosing the right color.

But I got a little distracted, let's continue our lesson. Before I learned to "see" the different shades in complex neutral colors, I was obsessed with learning the different physical phenomena, such as exposure, lighting, various diffuse reflections, such as how the ocean water, reflected from the sky, acquires its own shade, or how many green trees outside the window lead to a change in the shade of the paint in the room. And that was the time when I was completely obsessed with trying to understand the whole metaphysics of light and its influence. Is all this necessary for a complete interior design, you ask? Of course not. Of course, some points must always be remembered, but it is quite possible to do without them.

An experienced architect, interior designer or decorator is able to see the future shade on the walls even on small sample paints that various color fans provide us with, thanks to some specific knowledge. But for novice designers, and even more so for ordinary homeowners, this will not be possible.

So how to work with shades correctly in order to learn how to select them accurately. In fact, choosing the right shade of the interior, taking into account different types lighting is the pinnacle of interior design, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. There are at least two ways in which you can learn to choose shades more correctly, and everything else will come from constant practice. So:

First. It is necessary to know the basic physical laws of perception and color changes under the influence of light.

Second. Use large samples of paints (colors), which allow you to see with your own eyes color changes under the influence of different lighting, which is called in real time.

So, let's find out the basic patterns of color changes under the influence of lighting, and let those who know them just refresh their knowledge.

How different sources of natural light affect paint color and what happens to it:

  • Morning sunlight- cold light, adds coolness and shifts to more saturated color pigments.
  • Strong midday light - very bright direct sunlight, washes out colors, brightens and whitens them.
  • Evening sunlight is a mixed light, cancels out both warm and cold colors, the colors become “duller” and more neutral.
  • Artificial light at night - warm light, absorbs heat, shifting it towards cool pigments.
The influence of natural light on colors depending on the direction of the world:
  • North - adds blue and dulls other colors;
  • East - adds green;
  • West - adds orange;
  • South - adds yellow-white and washes out the color.

When I first learned about this, I immediately tried to remember it and always tried to keep this information with me so that I could use it at the right time. And if all you have when choosing colors for yourself or your clients are small samples of paint in a color fan, then this information will also be very useful for you. This knowledge makes it a little easier to try to predict how a color will look when exposed to natural or artificial light, although, of course, you won't be able to see exactly (100 percent) what's happening to it from small color fan samples.

It's another matter when you work with large samples of paint (paints), which, including me, taught me to see color changes under the influence of light, and what I'm telling you about today. To this day, choosing a color based on the room's lighting from a large paint sample is the best way to figure out what paint to use to make it look greener, yellower, bluer, pinker, more orange or more purple, right on the spot. It is enough to simply choose a similar shade a little warmer or cooler, depending on what is required, and immediately see its change under the influence of light.

If you ask any successful architect or designer today what is more important to them, understanding how lighting affects color or having a collection of large paint samples. The answer will be clear: “An ever-growing collection of large samples makes it possible to ignore and not even care about all the things that one should know about color and light. All this is true only in theory, but in practice the following happens: you put a large sample of paint into right place and it (color) either “works” in this room, or not."

At the same time, any paint samples must be “tried on” exactly on the surface for which they are intended. This means that if you are choosing a color for the walls, then you need to attach the samples to the wall, and not lay them out on the table or floor and try to see the changes in the color of the wall.

Of course, I am not dissuading you from completely abandoning the study of the theory of the effect of light on color; at least, this has not stopped any of the designers yet. But best way The best way to find out which shade of paint will be correct in a particular room is to do a regular large-size test paint.

So, starting from this day, apply the acquired knowledge in practice and your interiors will certainly become even better than now. Also tell us, dear readers of the site, what allows you to choose the right color for your interior today. That's all. See you soon.

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Artificial evening light (electric and especially kerosene lamps and candles) compared to daylight is yellow-orange, the yellow-red part of the spectrum predominates in it. Naturally, all surfaces under such lighting reflect yellow-orange radiation to a relatively greater extent (compared to other parts of the spectrum) than under daylight

Consequently, all colors should acquire a yellowish tint - red ones become more orange and more saturated, while blue, indigo and other cold ones become very dark, lose their saturation, and some of them turn black (objects of this color strongly absorb yellow-orange light).

This is what is actually observed in evening artificial light: red, orange and yellow colors brighten; blue-green, blue, indigo and violet darken; the lightness of yellow-green does not change; red colors become more saturated; orange ones turn red; blue ones turn green and are sometimes indistinguishable from blue-green ones; blues lose saturation; dark blue ones become indistinguishable from black ones; some blue ones turn slightly red (for example, cornflower); violet ones turn red and are sometimes indistinguishable from purple ones.

Yellow colors appear paler in the evening under artificial light. Picturesque sketches written in artificial evening light by inexperienced people turn out to be too yellow during the day (in the evening the yellowness is not noticeable). This peculiar phenomenon is explained by a special reason.

The fact is that when we see and realize the lighting conditions in which the objects we observe are located, when this lighting is general, we, so to speak, restore the colors inherent in the objects, as if we discard the shade caused by the lighting. While in a darkroom, under the light of a red photographic flashlight, it is impossible to find a red piece of paper, since all the pieces of paper appear white.

A similar phenomenon occurs in cases where we simultaneously observe objects in the light and in the shadow. Two objects that are exactly the same in brightness, one in the shadow and the other in the light, appear different in lightness; the shadowed object is somewhat brightened. Therefore, when an artist paints from life, he must simultaneously cover with his eye the entire depicted object and the entire environment surrounding it, and not peer at it in parts; otherwise, an inexperienced painter will become confused in color relationships.

In the red light of the rising or setting sun, all colors turn red, reds become more saturated, and greens darken greatly, losing saturation (achromatize). Under red lighting, some green ones become indistinguishable from black ones. The leaves of the trees turn red (the coloring substance in the leaves - chlorophyll - reflects a certain amount of red light).

The general rule regarding color changes under colored lighting can be formulated as follows: colors of the same color tone with lighting increase in saturation, colors of the opposite tone become achromatized (lose saturation or even turn black), all other colors acquire a shade of lighting, while colors related in tone lighting, lighten, and those approaching the opposite tone darken.

Colors that are opposite in tone in a color wheel of eight and of a multiple of eight colors lie opposite each other (at opposite ends of the diameters): red is opposite green, orange is blue, yellow is blue, yellow-green is violet.

Here we will touch on the issue of color changes depending on the intensity of lighting. These changes are explained by other reasons related to the activity of the eye.
In bright light, all colors are bleached, become whitish, and in blinding brightness of light - yellowish. In bright lighting, the number of visible images decreases. color shades on light surfaces; in low light - on dark surfaces, as well as in shadows.

To what has been said, we must also add that color on illuminated surfaces looks“dense”, and in penumbra and shadows - “light”, “transparent”. Rubens is credited with the following saying: “Start painting your shadows lightly, avoiding introducing even an insignificant amount of white into them: white is the poison of painting and can only be introduced in highlights. Once whitewash disrupts the transparency, golden tone and warmth of your shadows, your painting will no longer be light, but will become heavy and gray: The situation is completely different in relation to lights. Here the paints can be applied body-wise as needed, but it is necessary, however, to keep the tones pure.

Indeed, in any picture where the light is well conveyed, you can see the transparency of the shadows when the body is densely laid in the light. In paintings that convey sunlight well, you can also notice the whitishness of the color of the illuminated objects.

Beginning painters, trying to convey sunlight in a landscape, increase the contrast of shadows and the yellowness of illuminated surfaces. This leads to sharpness and harshness of color, but does not provide the effect of lighting. This effect can be achieved only on the basis of full consideration of the changes that colors undergo under one or another lighting conditions.

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