The colour of light and its effect on objects

Shaden F. Alrowidan

“To love beauty is to see light”

-Victor Hugo

      Of all the senses that connect us to the world such as vision, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, vision plays the greatest role. More than 80% of our sensory experiences are visual. We're attracted to light and colour and if these marged the colour and the lighting, a coloured light happens, the difference in the colours of the lighting is the turning point, we can see things differently. how it might happen. In the last period the lighting developed significantly, it brings out new properties and reduces its risks more and looks more colours according to our needs. The colours of the lighting enabled us to look at things with different colours and know their details more, how the colours of the lighting. effecting of the coloured light on stores and clothes and buildings and finally with artworks whether the lighting is natural or artificial.

      All of the light colours came from 700 nm to 400 nm wavelength. To understand how light colour effect we have to know what it’s light. Light is one of many electromagnetic spectrum waves so The colour depends on the wavelength so the highest length is red and the lowest is violet. The light colour depends on wavelengths, moreover, the white colour light mixed between all colours in equal proportions so refraction of white light gave us a multi-colour for example “Isaac Newton's experiment in 1665 showed that a prism bends visible light and that each colour refracts at a slightly different angle depending on the wavelength of the colour” (Visible Light | Science Mission Directorate, n.d.)  other colours like maroon, aquamarine and even the light green are integrate of light rays. white light is it reflects all the wavelengths at the opposite of it the black so rare to find a black colour.

Figure 1. wavelength colour.

Shows the light colour and their wavelength starting with violet 400 nm ending with red 665 nm.

The length depends on the colour tone(From: Colours of Light, 2019).

      Light is a vision, without light, we can’t see anything. Eyesight is made up of light reflected from the objects we look at. “The key point for the moment is that before any frequencies of light can be reflected. They have to begin first existing in the light source. If you start with a yellowish light–like a typical incandescent bulb–you start with a high proportion of photons in the red and green range compared to the number in the blue range. That’s why an incandescent light bulb itself looks yellowish, and it’s also why an incandescent bulb brings out the so-called warmer colours in objects–there’s more red and green available in the light itself to bounce off the object and reach your eye”.(Mstone,2001) That’s mean artificial light we use is not a pure yellow light it’s mixed with other colours to gave a warm colour for the daily light.

when we talking about the light there are two kinds of light, natural and artificial. Natural light has limited colours. The type of artificial light in an area influences how a colour looks. Some of the most common sources are fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs, halogen bulbs, and LED lighting. For example, incandescent lighting cast a warm glow that can enhance reds, oranges, and yellows. Cool fluorescent light works best with blues, violets, and greens. When we have a piece of full knowledge about the type of artificial light, having some wavelength we can’t see it, will effects our design. that knowledge allowed the designer to decide which type will influence their design. The yellowish or blueish can affect the material texture, colour, and harmony “ Firstly Incandescent light bulbs provide warm light with a touch of yellow or amber and are warmer than fluorescent bulbs. Bright and warm colours like red, yellow or orange will appear more intense if incandescent bulbs light your room. Cooler colours like blues or greens will be dulled a bit by incandescent lighting. Secondly, Fluorescent Bulbs Standard fluorescent lights give off a cool, slightly bluish light and work well with cool colours like blues or greens. Some more specialized fluorescents can give off warmer light, but not to the degree of an incandescent. Finally, Halogen lights are closest when it comes to replicating natural light. Halogen light is mostly white and bright and doesn’t distort colour as much as other artificial light sources. However, it can sometimes cool down colours.” (Value, 2021) Every moment in our life we can manufacture a new type of light.

Figure 2. the disparity between artificial and neural.

Artificial light and the sunlight are yellow light colour as we see but the sunlight more like white wavelength so the artificial light gave us to the paint yellow colour effects and pale(From: Smith, n.d.)

      The light colour controls how clarity the skin look, some of the light Visibly reveal skin imperfections.  These differences in the light sources explain the common observation that incandescent light is more flattering to people than fluorescent light. Bringing out blue and other cool colours in a human face gives it an unhealthy-looking pallor. Bringing out warm colours makes the face look healthy, if not radiant. Choosing the light colour to depend on the properties of light to see the skin clearly. for example to see if we have red acne put on a blue light to give this acne a dark reflection accentuating the because our skin keeps in acne so it’s hard to see. In our daily life, the light on our faces can change significantly, and it has a big impact on colour choice for makeup and which season when we take a look there are differences between summer and winter makeup all that depend on natural light effect on our faces, for example,” Blue light The winter light The atmospheric cloud cover associated with wintertime blocks the earth from the sun, So the light bouncing onto your face is mostly scattered light, rather than that directly from the sun. Most colours on your face can reflect blue light. Orange will also absorb the blue light and darken significantly, which is why orange-toned makeup like blush and bronzer will appear brown. “White light The light given off by the sun is white light all year long and for most of the day. It comes from a part of the sun that is about 5500° Kelvin. It is composed of all colour wavelengths, so it can reflect all different colours. White light is by far the most versatile colour of light because it can be reflected by any colour.” (How Different Light Colors Affect the Way Your Skin and Makeup Look, 2013) Always makeup artist choosing the white or mostly like the sun colour to take a photo of the makeup looks truest under this light 

Figure 3. Colour of light effect on makeup.

In the orange light, colours are reflected more, blue light gave a drama look and under-eye circles-. There is no too much difference between white and yellow because yellow has a white wavelength, the white gave a softness and clear colour, yellow light warm colour (From: How Different Light Colors Affect the Way Your Skin and Makeup Look, 2013).

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      The surface can change the light absorb. The softer the surface, the more directly reflected the light it reaches, so it will appear lighter, and vice versa. For example, if we compare the same colour on a rough surface and another smooth surface, the softer surface will be lighter, and the rougher surface will be darker.

And because there is indirect lighting there is an indirect colour. Indirect colour is an accidental result of indirect light. Indirect colour occurs when light from a public source reaches a colourant that is highly reflected on a wide surface or level. Some of this general light, and a large amount of reflected colour, is redirected to any surface placed at an angle to be received

      If there were no light, there would be no colour. The object can’t absorb their colour from the light so they reflect us the colour that we see, it is a combination of light and its actual colour and The main factor in how we see the objects is the colour of light. For example, if we highlight a  green plastic cube with a white light on it, will reflect as their colour with plastic spangle it’s from plastic Properties because absorb all the wavelength in the White light except his colour.

Usually recommend the white colour light in the commercial store with high CRI and Direct on the product, for example, some of the store we saw a product when we pay it and come back home we discover the colour changes even the wall painting it’s different between another because the light kelvin and amount even in the same wall. For example, when they show us the new phones in the event we saw that phone saturated with colour, they use a  low light white colour when they photo it so the product takes all of the wavelengths and reflect actual and saturated colour because too much light can make a colour appear less saturated or washed out.” white ball would also look red in red light because it reflects all colours. If instead, we shine blue light on a red ball, it will look dark, because it does not reflect blue light. It cannot look red unless there is a red light coming to it from the light source.  And it cannot look blue because the red ball absorbs blue light.  So when we ask what colour an object is, the answer is not simple - it depends on what colour light we are using to see the object.” (J. P. Straley and S. S. Kovash, 2000) The colour of the object mixed with a light colour gave us the colour we see, except the white light show the real colour.

      Good choice of light effects on marketing. Using a coloured light in marketing depend on what we want to sale any store wants to show his product in a perfect way so for supermarket using a pure white colour to see the fruit fresh and clearly, skincare store use natural light or warm with pinkish colour not mean pink light but some of the wavelength is pink or even using a pink design with warm light to reflect the pink on the store because it gives a clean and refreshing feeling to sale. Clothes store when we highlight a red shirt and blue short with all of the light rays get the real colour (figure 4) so using a good Color of light outcome the customers' trust but using a wrong light will effect on commercialization  and consumer sentiment, for example, using a yellowish light to a blue shirt gives a green effect on the shirt when they buy it at The store as a green shirt they will discover later that it’s not green so it will impact on the customers' trust of the store

Figure 4. coloured light and the colour reflection

All of the white colour rays absorb except the actual colour (From: Colours of Light, 2019).

      Getting healthy by light colour. Impact the light colour and tone effect on how we see this tree if it’s healthy or no and also impact if we need to remove this tree or not, all of these can manage by the light kelvin so 5000 K of light show the green so clear and on another site that 3000 K of light colour gave us the amber yellow colour. even light colour impact the texture and how to look like, so if the wall has 3D texture we can change anything we want by lighting colour, angle and shadow.

Figure 5. Colour of light effect on the tree.

Using a different light color can impact on the tree health and colour (Form: [[Colour of light on the tree]], n.d.).

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      The difference in the colour of the sun varies by temperature, high-temperature cause damage, Sunlight colour depends on the damage, The more heat, damage the textile, plastic, iron etc..., the impact is that if the light is direct and there is no egg-crate “As objects grow hotter, they radiate energy dominated by shorter wavelengths, changing colour before our eyes. In the same way, the colour of stars tells scientists about their temperature.” (Visible Light | Science Mission Directorate, n.d.).all the damage can control by the colour of the object so “one consequence of the fact that different coloured objects absorb different wavelengths of light is that darker objects heat up faster in the sun than white ones because they absorb many of the different wavelengths of light energy, while white objects reflect most of the wavelengths” (J. P. Straley and S. S. Kovash, 2000) for example, the dark asphalt absorb the high temperature if we replace it by painting it white colour Reduces the sun's heat, especially in hot areas. That will affects hot areas how buildings avoid heat through colours and in cold areas bring warmth to buildings and all depends on the colour and temperature of the sun in the area.

Figure 6. Colour of light an temperature.

The blue colour of the planets has increased its temperature like a Rigel so they know the temperatures of the planets from the colour of the lights issued and they can gather information from the colour of the lights and also know the natural light temperature of its colour “Our Sun produces more yellow light than any other colour because its surface temperature is 5,500°C. If the Sun's surface were cooler—say 3,000°C—it would look reddish, like the star Betelgeuse. If the Sun were hotter—say, 12,000°C—it would look blue, like the star Rigel.”(Nasa Science, n.d.). (From: Visible Light | Science Mission Directorate, n.d.)

      The light colour can change the building luxury, light effects are not only functional and Aesthetic it’s also how people think about this, Color light of the building facade, affect the season colourful a decline in the community from affiliation, bonding and more we than can’t imagine. For example when the building covered by the green light on the Saudi national day boosts pride for the community. In addition, my opinion affect the colour of light it’s more than we think, we use on the object to caution people by using colour light on something we want to warring about, we know the red colour is something to warning about so If building collapse use a red light on it to warn the people around it. Also, the colour of light can control the luxuries of the budling the overuse for coloured light can low of the luxury level, For example, luxury hotels don't use green, blue and red light to focus on the facade of the hotel to emphasise the luxury design.

      We need a light to see the artworks, some artworks have cumulative damage from light. Low light gave the damage in the Longtime even the high light in the short time this damage come off the light, it’s radiant energy cause a heat, the heat differs according to the wavelength, The longer wavelength, infrared, is a common source of radiant destruction. Radiant heat may cause a reaction on the surface of an object, such as cracking, lifting, and discolouration, which means sometimes they have to remove the first layer of the paint to be more clear .” The new research should move beyond examining fading effects of exposure to studying ways to satisfy viewers with minimum absorbed energy” (SAGE Journals: Damage to Museum Objects Due to Light Exposure, 1996)

Figure 5. Color of light radiation.

The more red, the hotter it gets(From: Effects of Light Exposure, n.d.)

      To sum up the colour of the lighting whether natural or artificial effects in all of the things around us whether our awareness of it or not

‏ There are many things that we can know from the colour of the lighting or even we can benefit from it, it should not be an explicit colour of light, it can be rolled with colour and improve our look of colours to increase our material income and marketing of our products and the way of life and purify the atmosphere and preserve the environment by reducing the heat of the atmosphere by changing the colours

Reference

Effects of light exposure. (n.d.). National Gallery of Art. Retrieved June 25, 2021, from https://www.nga.gov/conservation/preventive/effects-of-light-exposure.html

How different light colors affect the way your skin and makeup look. (2013, September). https://www.usailighting.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/1/54341a94e6953fb3afa22ed6800823de/misc/differentlightcolorsaffectskinandmakeup_xovain.pdf

J. P. Straley and S. S. Kovash. (2000). The physics of light -- color. Pa.Uky.Edu. https://www.pa.uky.edu/%7Esciworks/light/preview/color4aa.htm

M. (2001, June 9). Lighting affects color. ExtremeTech. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/49030-lighting-affects-color

SAGE journals: Damage to museum objects due to light exposure. (1996). SAGE Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/action/cookieAbsent

Smith, K. (n.d.). Finally, COLOR EXPLAINED by an expert in a way that everyone can understand. Sensational Color. Retrieved June 17, 2021, from https://www.sensationalcolor.com/light-affects-color/

Value, T. (2021, April 17). How Light Affects Paint Color | DIY: True Value Projects. True Value. https://www.truevalue.com/diy-projects/post/paint-and-stain/how-light-affects-paint-color

Visible Light | Science Mission Directorate. (n.d.). NASA SCIENCE. Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight