Abstract
The paper reviews some of the problems of colour perception as they affect the illuminating engineer. Reference is made to the processes of colour perception, and to the relation between the colour of an object and the spectral composition of the light which it reflects. Colour matching by a mixture of three matching stimuli is described, together with the development of the CLE. system of colour specification. An elementary discussion of the maximum amount of light which a coloured surface can reflect is given, and the representation of the colour of a surface with the aid of a colour chart, in particular the charts based on the Munsell and Ostwald systems, is referred to. Finally, the dependence of the colour-rendering properties of an illuminant on the spectral composition of the illumination is stressed, and mention is made of the extent to which changes in the quality of the illumination may be compensated by changes in the colour adaptation of the eye.
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