Everything is not Black & White

What is black? Most people will say that it is the absence of all colors. This is a half truth. The real definition would be that it doesn’t reflect light of the visible spectrum. Some will call me a purist, but the distinction is important. Especially when you think about the next question: What is white? Now, after reading this, a five years old could figure out that the answer is that white reflect all the light of the visible spectrum.

But what about our good old definition: White is a combination of all colors & Black is the absence of all color. Well its all depend of the system your are referring to. This is true is the additive color system. In the subtractive color system, it is the opposite (try to mix paint of all colors together, you will get Black). This difference would be a big deal if our primary reference system would be the additive one. But if you ask a kid what are the primary color, he will answer yellow, red & blue (which is not even correct, the real colors are yellow, magenta and cyan). Theses colors are the primary color of the subtractive system. In the additive system, the primary colors are red, blue and green (like for a television).

Now what about Gray? We often hear those grays are note a color, but a shade or a tint. Gray is a color … but it’s also a shade. A tint is a mix of a color and white. A shade is a mix of a color and black. Since White is considerate as a color (but not black), Grays are then a mix of a color (white) and black. So they are a shade.