Light and Color Characteristics

In the world of sports, lighting is not just about illuminating the venue. It plays a crucial role in creating atmosphere, enhancing the spectator experience, and ensuring athletes perform at their best. The fascinating characteristics of light and color play a vital part in this.

1.‌Color Identification: The Colorful Secrets in the Spectrum‌

The human visual organ has a unique function. It can not only reflect the intensity of light but also the wavelength characteristics of light, enabling us to perceive color. In bright environments, people with normal color vision can see various colors of the spectrum. Each color has its corresponding wavelength and range. For example, red has a wavelength of 625 – 740nm, orange 590 – 625nm, and yellow 565 – 590nm, etc. Moreover, the human eye can perceive various intermediate colors in the transition areas between adjacent color ranges. Furthermore, for some wavelengths, the relationship between the color people see and the wavelength is not entirely fixed and can be influenced by light intensity. Except for 572nm (yellow), 503nm (green), and 478nm (blue), which remain constant, other colors shift slightly towards red or blue as light intensity increases. The following table provides a clearer overview of spectral color wavelengths and ranges:

Color	Red	Orange	Yellow	Green	Cyan	Blue
Wavelength Range/nm	625-740	590-625	565-590	500-565	485-500	440-485

2.Color Characteristics: Brightness, Hue, and Saturation‌

Colors can be divided into two categories: achromatic and chromatic. Achromatic colors refer to white, black, and various shades of gray, which only have variations in brightness. Chromatic colors refer to all colors outside the black-and-white series and possess three characteristics: brightness, hue, and saturation.

Brightness represents the degree of visual stimulation caused by chromatic light, that is, the level of brightness. Generally, the higher the brightness of chromatic light, the higher its brightness level. The higher the light reflection rate on the surface of a chromatic object, the higher its brightness. For instance, when an object reflects 80% – 90% or more of all wavelengths in the visible spectrum, it appears white and has high brightness. When the reflection rate is below 4%, the object is black and has very low brightness.

Hue is the characteristic that distinguishes one chromatic color from another and is determined by the wavelength-defined color category. Different wavelengths in the visible spectrum produce various hues in visual perception. The hue of a light source depends on its spectral composition, while the hue of an object depends on the proportion of reflected (transmitted) radiation of various wavelengths from the light source that affects the human eye. For example, light with a wavelength of 700nm appears red, 579nm appears yellow, and 510nm appears green.

Saturation represents the purity of a chromatic color. A narrow-band monochromatic light without any white light mixed in appears as a highly saturated color in visual perception. Monochromatic light in the visible spectrum is the most saturated chromatic color. The more white light mixed into a color, the less saturated it becomes. The saturation of an object’s color depends on the selectivity of its surface reflection spectrum.

3.Trichromatic Theory: The Magic of Color Mixing in Sports Lighting‌

Research has shown that all colors in the spectrum can be obtained by mixing three spectral wavelengths of red, green, and blue light. This is known as the trichromatic theory of color. The CIE (International Commission on Illumination) developed a chromaticity diagram in 1931. According to this theory, a particular color is obtained by the proportion of the three primary colors, expressed by the formula (C)=R(R)+G(G)+B(B), where R, G, and B are the proportion coefficients of each color, and R + G + B = 1. In sports lighting, by reasonably adjusting the proportions of red, green, and blue primary colors, different color atmospheres can be created. For example, in basketball games, appropriately increasing the proportion of red light can create a warm and passionate atmosphere, while in some events requiring a calm atmosphere, the proportion of blue light can be increased.

The characteristics of light and color offer endless possibilities for sports lighting. By understanding these characteristics, we can better utilize lighting technology to create more exciting and suitable lighting environments for sports events.