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Managing Color With ColorSync


Hue, Saturation, and Value (or Brightness)

Color is described as having three dimensions. These dimensions are hue, saturation, and value. Hue is the name of the color, which places the color in its correct position in the spectrum. For example, if a color is described as blue, it is distinguished from yellow, red, green, or other colors. Saturation refers to the degree of intensity in a color, or a color's strength. A neutral gray is considered to have zero saturation. A saturated red would have a color similar to apple red. Pink is an example of an unsaturated red. Value (or brightness) describes differences in the intensity of light reflected from or transmitted by a color image. The hue of an object may be blue, but the terms dark and light distinguish the value, or brightness, of one object from another. The 3-dimensional color spaces based on hue, saturation and value are described in HSV and HLS Color Spaces .


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