Whiter Than White - Fluorescence Effect

All color including white can be defined with a minimum of three numbers (learn more about the science of color - from Perception to Instrumentation, click here). What distinguishes white from other color is it’s high lightness and low saturation. It is more attractive with a bluish than with a yellowish cast.

Whiteness is caused by a combination of high lightness and lack of yellowness. Yellowness is usually undesirable in whites as it is associated with product deterioration. Whiteness with blueness is perceived as clean and therefore seems brighter.

High brightness is achieved with the aid of fluorescent whitening agents (FWA) or optical brightener agent (OBA). These are additives designed to enhance the appearance of brightness in fabrics, detergent and papers.
It may also enhance or modify the appearance of the white. FWAs increase the whiteness of a substrate by absorbing ultra violet light and re-emitting blue fluorescence. This overcomes the natural slight yellowness of the substrate to give an intense whiteness. FWAs are commonly used in washing detergents, paper and fabric. White paper and fabrics with FWA appear whiter than normal under UV illumination. Most commercial white fabrics are treated with FWAs. Similarly, washing detergents are formulated with FWAs to maintain the whiteness.

The paper samples below are illuminated by tungsten, TL84, D65 and UV lightings. Tungsten lighting has little or no UV energy and the FWA is not excited to make it flourescence. TL84 and D65 has some UV energy and the samples looked 'whiter'. Under UV lightings, the FWA are excited and produce a whiter than white look.

The spectrum graph shows an incremental amount of UV energy gives higher reflectance.

Computer Color Matching Alogrithm

Computer Color Matching (CCM) has become one of the standard methods in the paint, plastics and ink industry for fast and accurate recipe prediction. The advantages when compared to manual matching include better first shot accuracy, reduced number of corrections, exact prediction of metamerism and price and thus higher efficiency and productivity.

A color matching system consists of a spectrophotometer, a PC and the matching software itself. The major differences between systems are the spectrophotometer, the mathematical algorithm of the software, the software features and user-friendliness of the software and, last but not least, the ongoing service and support offered by the supplier.

The accuracy of a match is dependent not only on the software and its mathematics but also on the accuracy of the calibration samples, the reproducibility in production and between the laboratory and the production. The quality of production can only be influenced by the user of the matching system. However the reliability of the measurements directly depends on the instrument used.

In this context, the short- and long-term repeatability of a spectrophotometer is very important as is the inter-instrument and inter-model agreement.

A critical case in color matching, which cannot be solved by standard matching software is mat­ching of products which are neither opaque nor transparent, but translucent. In theses cases, not only the color but also the opacity has to be matched. This cannot be achieved with the commonly used Kubelka-Munk-Model or Lambert-Beer Law. Other physical models have to be found to de­scribe the complex effect of absorption and scattering of such layers.

A layer is translucent, if there is a difference between the measurements of the layer over white background compared to the one over black background. Therefore paints and inks are applied on contrast cards and plastic samples are measures over such cards or with help of the opacity holder of the instrument.

The bigger the color difference between the layer over white and over black, the more translucent it is. For translucent layers, there are 2 more variables to take into account: the thickness of the layer and the background. Both will change the color appearance if they are changed.

Latest CCM technology uses multi-flux algorithm and is able to handle translucent coatings.

Color In Context

How objects and colors appear is dependent on their context.

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Red appears more brilliant against a dark background and duller against the white background. In contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless and with a blue-green background, it exhibits brilliance.

Notice that the red square appears larger on black than on other background colors.

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The small purple rectangle on the left appears to have a red-purple tint
when compared to the small purple rectangle on the right.
They are both the same color.
This demonstrates how colors can be perceived with different background.

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The above demonstrates how we are fooled by our eyes.
Would you believe that the two circles in the centre of the left and right figures are identical?

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Background Check

Same colors can be perceived differently because of the background. This phenomenon is what you call the "contrast effect".

Generally, when a color is placed against a white background it appears subdued compared to the same color placed against a dark background. As such, when evaluating color make sure that the background that you have is the same or in other words make some "background check".

The Physiological Effect of Colors

"Respiratory movements increased during exposure to red light and decreased during blue illumination" Robert Gerald, University of California.

Powerful, dominating, energetic, fiery, exciting, penetrating

Calm, concentrated, patient, passive, waiting, respecting

See if this is correct.

Powerful, dominating, energetic, fiery, exciting, penetrating

Calm, concentrated, patient, passive, waiting, respecting

What do you think? The caution sign works best in blue or red? Did you notice that the red sign seems to 'jump' at you? And the blue sign is 'retreating'.

It is rare to find a Ferrari in blue. It would be odd. In fact Ferrari sells more red models than other colors.

Size Matters

In color measurement size affects how color is evaluated by the naked eye. Maybe you don't notice it, but if you look closely in the picture below you will understand my point:

This is what you call the area effect. Wherein the same color is perceived by the naked eye differently due to it's size. Normally the larger area is perceived as brighter and more vivid than the smaller area. This is the reason why size should be standardized when color is evaluated.

Technical Color Terms

Objects can be classified into achromatic (no color) or chromatic (having a color). For achromatic objects, they can be arranged according to lightness or value, the order of lightness is from white to gray to black.

Chromatic colors are defined by it’s hue - red, green, yellow, blue or any shades within the color spectrum. Saturation (also known as chroma) determines the degree of the color – or the ‘how much color’.



The color of an object has three attributes - hue, saturation and lightness.

We detect color difference in the order of hue first, followed by chroma and lastly lightness.







Some common color terms are:

Tint is the mixture of a color with white. Pastel is a soft delicate hue. Harmonious colors are colors close to each other in warmth or coldness.

The use of complementary color schemes are like red and green as experienced during Christmas. The use of gold on a rich blue background was a favorite of renaissance painters.

Explore the world of colors.

Anti Aging Skin Care

7-Day Challenge
Pond's Age Miracle, the hugely successful anti-aging skincare uses Color Reader to evaluate the power ingredient behind Pond's age miracle is CLA -Conjugated Linoleic Acid - a natural, non-irritating technology was first discovered by Pond's in 1996. For the past 9 years, this wonder ingredient was intensively researched by Ponds Institute, to make it suitable for Asian skin. CLA works by making your skin 'act' young again by stimulating collagen production. In fact, it kick starts the activity of your skin cells bringing forth the younger skin cells to the surface to reduce appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in just 7 days*.

Konica Minolta Color Reader CR-10 is used for the challenge.

Read the press reports from Philippine and India.

Choosing Your Favourite Cut

Myth:
The colour of frozen meat (such as pork, beef and mutton) is usually darker because the meat is not fresh or of an inferior quality.

Fact:
The colour of meat, frozen or not, is affected by the presence or absence of oxygen. Frozen meat in vacuum sealed packaging is darker in colour because oxygen is not present. Vacuum packing prevents meat from becoming rancid and prolongs its shelf-life if meat is kept under proper refrigerated conditions. Once frozen meat is exposed to oxygen in the air, it will return to its original colour.

Source: http://www.ava.gov.sg/FoodSector/FrozenMeatInfo/Common+Myths+About+Frozen+Meat.htm

Computer Color Matching

In textile, plastics, inks, paints and coatings industries, color formulation and development is critical. Computer color matching (CCM) is a key process at each step of the product development cycle.

A good CCM system helps save time, shorten color development and rationalize the workflow.

A CCM system consists of a spectrophotometer link to a computer color matching software. The CCM software helps to simplify and optimize your color matching processes by improving assessment of color feasability, reliability of coloration, pigments optimisation, recipe calculation and update and quality control.

The software performs hundreds of iterations in a short period of time to produce a recipe to match the intended color. It provides a recipe almost immediately for a colorist to work on. And is a valuable business tool as it provides options of a low cost match with the least metamerism and shade differences.

CCM technology is based on complex mathematical calculations and with the advent of personal computer, the price of a CCM system has decreased through the years.

Journals - Links on Color Research

Banana >>>>>
1. A Study on the Morphological and Physicochemical Charateristics of Five Cooking Bananas

Chicken >>>>>
1. Nutrient, Physico-Chemical and Sensory Evaluation of Meat of A Philippine Native Chicken Strain (Darag)

Cosmetics >>>>>
1. L(+) Lactates for Skin Whitening

Coconut >>>>>
1. Nata de CoCo

Margarine >>>>>
1. Retention of Nutrients In Fortified Margarine

Meat >>>>>
1. Determination of volatile organiccompounds responsible for flavour incooked river buffalo meat

Noodle >>>>>
1. Asian Noodle Technology

Pineapple >>>>>
1. Inhibition Of Chilling Injury And Quality Changes In Pineapple Fruit With Prestorage
Heat Treatment

Rice >>>>>
1. Adaptation of The Chlorophyll Meter (SPAD) Technology For Real - Time N Management in Rice : A New Leaf Color Chart for Effective Nitrogen Management in RiceReview
2. Comparative Efficiency of N Management Practices on Rainfed Lowland Rice in Batac, Philippines
3. New Leaf Color Chart for Effective Nitrogen Management in Rice
4. Properties and Protein Quality in Growing Ratsof a Low-Glutelin Content Rice Mutant

Wheat >>>>>
1. Use of Wheat – Sweet Potato Composite Flours in Yellow – Alkaline and White-Salted Noodles

Degreening From Green To Orange

Green is unattractive. At least for citrus fruits like navel oranges, Valencia oranges, lemons and mandarin oranges.

We know that green oranges are generally immature. In order to make it appetizing, oranges are degreen to turn them from green to orange.

On a tree, oranges depends on the weather to change from green to orange color. Nature with a combination of temperature, humidity and gases to slowly turn the fruit to orange color.

Citrus Degreening are done to hasten the discoloration. Degreening chambers are used for hastening this process. Insulated from the natural envirnoment, harvested oranges are placed in such chambers and the parameters of an optimum weather conditions for turning the color from green to orange are then regulated, kept and monitored.

Temperature, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene level are regulated to optimise the degreening process.

Remember to take your vitamin C.

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RETA 6208 Training-Workshop on Postharvest Research and Technology Development
Training Manual on Postharvest Research and Technology Development for Tomato and Chilli in RETA 6208 Countries

Natural Dyes From Coconut

Coconut, the fruit of life has found another life line. Pink Dyes.

Another reason to go green with pink. Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), has found a way to extract red stains from young coconut husks, this natural stain can produce pink shade on cotton fabric to red and maroon shades on silk.

The Young Coconut Husk Extraction and Textile Application Technology was piloted using various materials, including parts of the Bahaghari and kaLIKHAsan Collections of Kingsmen Corporation and Mariana Fashion Apparels, respectively. This was also part of the package of technologies adopted and commercialized by Soumak Collection to produce one of their original color options. The dyed shirts are sold in selected shops in California, New York, and Asia, and very soon in Europe. They were also tried on bed linens of Soumak’s Bed ‘n’ Beddings in which the coconuts produced the color old rse.

More information on this new development by Julius L. Leaño Jr.Science Research Specialist II, PTRI.

Do You See What I See?

Try this on-line color vision test.

Consists of 8 plates taken from the PIPIC Color Vision Test 24 Plate Edition

Artistry + Color + Style + Fashion + Art

The Power Fruit

Banana peel reveals the stage of ripeness. Bananas are harvested green and at this stage the green peel is firm. As soon as the banana stem is cut from the plant, ripening starts.

• Bananas are harvested green.
• They sweeten as they ripen, as the banana ripens, the peel color lightens and changes to yellow.
• During this process, the starch within the banana converts to sugar giving riper bananas their creamy, sweet taste.

Do not place bananas in your fridge, leave them on the counter is good enough. To hasten the ripening process you can place them in a brown paper bag and close it. The ethylene that's produced by the ripening process actually speeds the ripening process.

Watch the banana peel.

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Check this Banana Color Chart - Suggested Guide For Banana Ripening.

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2007, Vol. 35: 193–199 : Preliminary investigation into the uneven ripening of banana (Musa sp.) peel

Bread Talk

Why is flour whiteness important?

Flour color often affects the color of the finished product and is therefore one of many flour specifications required by bakers. Generally speaking, a bright white color flour is more
desirable for many products.

How does one measure flour whiteness? Get a glimpse of how it is done.

http://www.wheatflourbook.org/ produces an excellent book - Wheat Flour Testing Book. This guide is on Wheat and Flour Testing Methods : A Guide to Understanding Wheat and Flour Quality.

"Wheat and Flour Testing Methods: A Guide to Understanding Wheat and Flour Quality Version 2 provides an introduction to the analysis of wheat and flour in a clear and concise format. Basic information is presented on standardized testing procedures for wheat and flour quality characteristics as well as dough properties. Results from these tests are explained and applied to processing performance an product quality. Laboratory testing of a variety of wheat-based finished products is also included. The finished product formulations and processes described are laboratory testing protocols that are used to evaluate flour quality. They are model systems that may be used to predict commercial production for common uses of wheat flour worldwide"

Happy Baking.

Bread Winner

Every one of us loves bread. From the simple pandesal to the more exotic french breads, we do love to get a bite of this wonderful product. We know that the main raw material for bread is flour. But do you know that color of flour is being monitored by its manufacturer?

Yes, the whiteness is measured because the flour's whiteness do affect the quality of the bread. So the next time you have a bite of your favorite burger, think of how white the flour was used in your bun.

Color Matching Light Cabinets

Color matching light cabinet is a light booth designed to provide a standard set of lighting conditions for visual color inspection. The three most common types of light sources used in the world are incandescent, fluorescent and daylight. In theory, if the product color matches under these light sources in the cabinet, it will match in the real world.

Image: GTI Light Cabinet

Typically:

1. the daylight light source replicates the natural lighting - outdoor lighting
2. the incandescent for the tungsten light bulb and
3. fluorescent for the CFL light bulbs used for lighting up the office, mall and home.

Another light source commonly found in light cabinets is ultraviolet (UV) light. UV is used to observe the presence of fluorescence materials. The next time, when you are in a disco, observe how white fabrics glowed under UV lighting.

Light cabinets are used by manufacturers to ensure that their products matches in these lighting conditions and minimise color differences and metamerism.

The color difference between the zipper and the master color is larger under daylight than under tungsten light. Which means that it would look odd outdoor or in a place lit by fluorescent lighting.

Observe that the zipper has optical brightener agent (OBA) or fluorescence whitening agent (FWA) which causes the zipper to 'glow' under UV lighting whereas the master color has no OBA or FWA and under UV light (which has no color component), the sample looks 'black'.

This is not an optical illusion. It can be scientifically explained.

Welcome to the world of colors.

The Colors of the Philippine Flag

The Colors of the Philippine Flag
The white stands for equality and fraternity

The blue stands for peace, truth and justice

The red stands for patriotism and valor

Going Green

Choosing the right light bulb can help save energy dollars. The choice is yours - flourescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs or LEDs. Compact fluorescent lighting have become one of the most common energy saving devices on the market. Using CFLs instead of incandescent lighting can save you up to 20% of ultility bill every year.

The energy savings of LED lights can be huge. Assume that a traffic light uses 100-watt bulbs today. The light is on 24 hours a day, so it uses 2.4 kilowatt-hours per day. If you assume power costs 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, it means that one traffic signal costs about 20 cents a day to operate, or about $73 per year. There are perhaps eight signals per intersection, so that's almost $600 per year in power per intersection. A big city has thousands of intersections, so it can cost millions of dollars just to power all the traffic lights. LED bulbs might consume 15 or 20 watts instead of 100, so the power consumption drops by a factor of five or six. A city can easily save a million dollars a year by replacing all of the bulbs with LED units. These low-energy bulbs also open the possibility of using solar panels instead of running an electrical line, which saves money in remote areas.

Source: How Stuff Works

The Philippine Efficient Lighting Market Transformation Project (PELMATP), in cooperation with the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines, Inc. (IIEE) and City Government of Malabon held the Turnover of Lighting System and Ceremonial Switching on June 30, 2009 at Penthouse, 11th Floor Malabon City Hall.

The program was opened with the short messages from different personalities: Usec. Ramon G. Santos, DoE, Engr. Benjamic Villacorta. Malabon City Administrator, and Engr. Raymond A. Marquez, 2007 IIEE National President.

Read more about it.

Radiometry and Photometry

Lighting terms can be rather technical and confusing. This may help.

Radiometry is the science of the measurement of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The broader spectrum covered by the science of radiometry is based on physical constants.

The properties of concern to us here are radiated power and its spatial and angular distributions. The four basic concepts are:

1. Radiant Flux
2. Radiant Intensity
3. Radiance
4. Irradiance

Photometry is defined as the measurement of electromagnetic energy that is visible to the human eye.

In 1942 the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) convened to define the response of the average human eye. They defined the Standard Luminosity Function also known as the Photopic curve and the Scotopic curve.

Photometric quantities are derived from radiometric quantities by utilizing a filter which approximates the behavior of the average human eye as defined by the CIE.

A radiometer is a device that measures the intensity of radiant energy. A majority of radiometers utilize only a single sensor whether photocell, photo-multiplier tube (PMT), etc. An optical filter is normally used when measuring radiation emitted from a specific spectrum or to incorporate the radiometer within a certain spectral response.

Radiometers are commonly used to quantify light or energy outside the visible spectrum, i.e., ultraviolet and infrared. Depending on the specific application, different filters with specific spectral responses are used.

A photometer is defined as an instrument for the measurement of visible light. The most common types are the luminance and illuminance meters.

The basic difference between photometers and radiometers is that the photometer incorporates a filter which follows the CIE Standard Luminosity Function Vλ curve (shown below).

Konica Minolta Sensing Inc published a booklet - The Language of Light which helps make the complicated lighting terminology simple for applicators.

Write to me if you need a copy.

Oh No!

Anna complained, “I tried out this pair of blouse and skirt at the fashion store and they matched but when I went to Cheryl’s wedding at the beach hotel, they looked awful, the colors do not match”.

Have you got this experience before, you tried out a nice outfit in a mall and when you wear them outdoors, the colors looked ‘off’? This phenomenal is known as Sample Metamerism, where two color samples appear to match under one light source and then do not match under another light source.

Most people experienced sample metamerism when putting on two different outfit where the colors looked similar in the mall where incandescent lights (warm lightings) are used but later found that they don’t match outdoors (which is natural lighting). Or they may not match indoors in the office lit by fluorescent lights.

Color has a spectral reflectance characteristics and lighting has color component and has a power distribution characteristics. By illuminating objects with lights of considerable differing spectral power distributions, metamerism will occur.

Incandescent lighting contains little blue light in shorter (blue) wavelengths and thereby is not able to bring out the blue colors of an object. And at the opposite end, the fluorescent lighting emits more short-wavelength light and this leads to two different visual difference.

On this note, when you are out buying lightings, check out the color temperature of the lights. It gives you an idea of the 'color' of the light.

Don't worry too much about metamerism with high end fashion. Garment manufacturers take lots of effort to use the right dyestuff to avoid this issue. In fact, these controls are done in fashion accessories, cars, white goods manufacturing to make sure you are not embarrased by 'mismatched' shades (the brand too).

Well, no harm trying out your next purchase under different lightings.

Happy shopping.

Color Inspiration

Looking for color inspiration?

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Keep your eyes open for color combinations. Start with sea, sun rise, mountains and examine the color coordination of nature.

Mom-Friday Philippines has an interesting - article on Color Your World. "Inspiration board. Theme board. Swatch board. Mood board. Call it as you please but they mean the same thing -- these boards serve as a guide and color palette, creating a unique look for a design project or event. The board is a collection of interesting elements, inspiring photos, objects, fabrics, and whatever strikes your fancy"

Be inspired by a mom of 2 / wife / homemaker / mom-preneur / part-time wedding & events planner / ex-marketing-advertising practitioner ex-marketing-advertising practitioner.

Yellow Everywhere

It's been a long day.

Our beloved President Aquino was laid to rest today.

All throughout the metropolis shades of yellow can be found.

Each and everyone was proud to be wearing this color which become a symbol of democracy this side of the world.

As I was watching the funeral proceedings I noticed that different shades of yellow are being worn by each individual.
This lead me to ask myself, what shade of yellow symbolizes the democracy which we Filipinos are proud to show to the wordl?

I guess I have to check this next few days.

But in the end, I guess no matter what shade of yellow we Filipinos wear, we will be forever grateful to the woman who really embodied it all.

Thanks Tita Cory!

Crusing 100 Miles Per Hour

The alarm sounded and I opened my eyes and noticed that it was 5 am. Everything seems dark and I turned on the lights and my eyes instantaneously close as the bright light glare. It felt the same last night as I slipped into bed and the minute I turned off the light, I need to close my eyes before getting use to the dim surrounding.

This phenomenal is due to the design of our eyes. Our eyes have two types of light-sensing cells called rods and cones.

The cones are responsible for bright light vision and the rods for night time vision. Cones have a peak response at about 555 nano-meters and rods have a peak response in about 505 nano-meters. Because both the rods and cones have different sensitivities, they are represented by two different sensitivity curves called photopic curves (representing the cone) and scotopic curves (representing the rod).

Photometry involves measurement of the psychophysical attributes of electromagnetic energy that is visible to the human eye. Photometry is the science of human perception.

Now imagine that you are driving into a tunnel. Bright and sunny highway into a dark tunnel. And your eyes sensors switches from photopic to scotopic. Your eyes shut tightly as you adjust to the dark condition for a second or two. And if you do continue your journey, leaving the dark tunnel into the bright highway ....

This is a major concern for highway engineers. The next time you drive into and out of a tunnel, notice the lighting into and leaving the tunnel, they are specially built to make sure you don't close your eyes. It is not about the lights only, there are instrumentation to make sure that lighting levels are balanced according to the time of the day (or night).

Happy cruising.

Photometry becomes a modern science in 1942, when Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) metto define the response of the average human eye. CIE measured the light-adapted eyes of a sizeable sample group, and compile the data into the CIE Standard Luminosity Function (widely known as photopic curve -chromatic perception at normal state, and scotopic curve - achromatic perception at low level of illuminance.

I See The Lights

Did you noticed the warm glow as the sun risse where everything looks golden and warm. And later the same scenery turns bluish as the noon day sun shines across the sky?

The sun is a light source and this light energy has a 'color'. The morning sun is warm - rich golden glow and the noon day sun is bluish. Technically, the color temperature of a light source is the temperature of a full radiator that would emit radiation of substantially the same spectral distribution in the visible region as the radiation from the light source (never mind the technical jargon).

In short, low color temperature are rich in the red radiation and at high color temperature, it is rich in blue.

It looks so different under various lighting.









The next time you go shopping, check out the lighting used in the mall.

How's Is Your Color Today?

Remember the days of old, when mum goes to the market to get some seafood? The first time she does when looking for some fishes is to look at the gills. She only gets one that has a specific redness. Not any red cos, there are dull red, dark red, pinkish red ............. But there is only a specific redness that tells her that it is fresh. Similarly, appearance or color is the first indicator of a quality of a product. Now, let's go buy a car. What does the color tells you. A red is hot, a black is cool, a silver is classy and so on and so forth. Actually, colors tells a story.

This is a Chlorophyll Meter. It helps a grower estimates the amount of chlorophyll in a plant. In short, it measures the 'greeness' as 'greeness' is coorelated to chlorophyll.

The Chlorophyll Meter SPAD-502 is widely used in the agriculture industry to manage yield and optimise fertilizer use. These days, the price of fertilizer are shooting through the roof. SPAD-502 is busy helping many growers optimise the use of fertilizers saving them lots of money.

There are many journals written on the use of SPAD-502 and the renowned International Rice Research Institute based in Philippines had contributed many research findings helping the world cope with the increasing demand.

Try googling SPAD-502 and you will have a list of articles.

Green fingers to all.

Welcome To Color Application Blog

Welcome to the world of color. Color Application Specialists aspires to bring color science and knowledge to Philippine. Hopefully, the journey will help Filipinos understand how color is used in the industry. Yellow is the symbol for democracy, Philippines famous mangoes are yellow too. So are our bananas. Now how do you describe the 'yellowness' of the democracy symbol, the mangoes and the bananas?

Here is a project for you. Describe the colors of lemon, banana, mangoes, butter and the iconic yellow school bus to me.

(Hint: there is a scientific description of each yellow you are trying to tell me).