The color doesn't reproduce at all on screen, so I have to assume it's partially an optical illusion.
I'm sure you know this, but RGB is not able to represent all possible colors, and monitors themselves are not able to represent all of RGB. This gives us a somewhat limited subset of available colors for use on screen, which is why (I assume) photographs don't look as colorful as the subject did real life. The film / CCD can't record all color information, and the print / monitor can't display it all.
Re:Impossible colors
by malnourish on Monday February 28, 2011 @06:16PM
(#2273420)
Is there any known, or conceivable technology, that would improve the color field for displays?
Adding color channels can help. For example, Sharp sells LCD televisions with an extra yellow channel. Problem is that these need software computes/approximates/guesses at the perceived yellowness of pixels based on their RGB (for computer monitors) or HSV? (for television) values. I have no idea how well we know color perception to pull that of reliably, whether it actually can work across the population (including the colorblind), or whether they implemented the best-known solution.
There are "HDR" displays that can display a wider range of colours, my university had one.
HDR (high dynamic range) displays are those that can reproduce wider differences between dark and light. What you're talking about would be called a wide gamut display, such as an LCD with RGB LED backlighting or a special wide-gamut fluorescent backlight.
I'd mix, and mix and end up with a dark yellow, that when printed over blue turned green, or reddish or some other stupid hue. And my printmaking professor came over, and she said to use gray, and some yellow, and some brown (please, don't ask for the exact ink mix). When we were done, the ink sat on the slab as a puce, but printed slightly yellow.
However, when printed over a thalo blue, it was exactly like I needed: yellow-blue. Not green, yellow-blue. It was the damnedest thing, and not lost on the other students: I had to remix it at least six times within a week for other people.
The color doesn't reproduce at all on screen, so I have to assume it's partially an optical illusion.