Color categories and physical specifications of color are associated with objects through the wavelength of the light that is reflected from them. This reflection is governed by the object’s physical properties such as light absorption, emission spectra, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The photo-receptivity of the \u00ab\u00a0eyes\u00a0\u00bb of other species also varies considerably from that of humans and so results in correspondingly different color perceptions that cannot readily be compared to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The familiar colors of the rainbow in the spectrum\u2014named using the Latin word for appearance or apparition by Isaac Newton in 1671\u2014include all those colors that can be produced by visible light of a single wavelength only, the pure spectral or monochromatic colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The intensity of a spectral color, relative to the context in which it is viewed, may alter its perception considerably; for example, a low-intensity orange-yellow is brown, and a low-intensity yellow-green is olive green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A viewer’s perception of the object’s color depends not only on the spectrum of the light leaving its surface, but also on a host of contextual cues, so that color differences between objects can be discerned mostly independent of the lighting spectrum, viewing angle, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some objects not only reflect light, but also transmit light or emit light themselves, which also contributes to the color.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
To summarize, the color of an object is a complex result of its surface properties, its transmission properties, and its emission properties, all of which contribute to the mix of wavelengths in the light leaving the surface of the object. <\/p>\n\n\n\n