Like many resources about color, this one has an output-medium-centric followed by early-20th-century-experiment-design-centric viewpoint, presumably because that was where the author started and what he read about. But however perfect the exposition might otherwise be, that is the wrong way to start a general discussion of the subject, and the result is inevitably misleading and confusing for non-experts.
> it is a pragmatic approach
Having tried to talk face-to-face to many people from different backgrounds about color, in practice this doesn’t work. People are starting with too many misconceptions and gaps in foundational knowledge.
If you want to understand color you have to start with at least the basics about the physiology of human vision, along with some basic optics. It is all but impossible to properly understand what is going on with RGB displays, understand what “white point” means, etc. without that background.
One of the resource recommended at the end, Bruce MacEvoy’s site http://handprint.com/LS/CVS/color.html is a much better starting place, albeit pretty long for someone just interested in the basics.
Or there are many books about human color vision and color reproduction, some friendlier for laypeople and others highly detailed and technical. To understand recent color models Mark Fairchild’s book Color Appearance Models is pretty good, and the first half is a pretty accessible general overview. Or for more about color reproduction try Billmeyer and Saltzman’s Principles of Color Technology (recent editions rewritten by Roy Berns). For more about colorimetry try Hunt & Pointer’s book Measuring Color. Or for something historical, try Kuehni’s Color Space and Its Divisions.
> it is a pragmatic approach
Having tried to talk face-to-face to many people from different backgrounds about color, in practice this doesn’t work. People are starting with too many misconceptions and gaps in foundational knowledge.
If you want to understand color you have to start with at least the basics about the physiology of human vision, along with some basic optics. It is all but impossible to properly understand what is going on with RGB displays, understand what “white point” means, etc. without that background.
One of the resource recommended at the end, Bruce MacEvoy’s site http://handprint.com/LS/CVS/color.html is a much better starting place, albeit pretty long for someone just interested in the basics.
Or there are many books about human color vision and color reproduction, some friendlier for laypeople and others highly detailed and technical. To understand recent color models Mark Fairchild’s book Color Appearance Models is pretty good, and the first half is a pretty accessible general overview. Or for more about color reproduction try Billmeyer and Saltzman’s Principles of Color Technology (recent editions rewritten by Roy Berns). For more about colorimetry try Hunt & Pointer’s book Measuring Color. Or for something historical, try Kuehni’s Color Space and Its Divisions.