About the HSB colour model and saturation
The HSB colour model, like the RGB colour model, is an additive colour model used to mix light.
- The RGB and HSB colour models differ in the way colours are represented and handled in software and apps.
- Both the HSB and RGB colour models involve mixing red, green, and blue light to create various colours.
- HSB is popular due to its intuitive colour selection and adjustment in applications like Adobe Creative Cloud for design, photography, or web development.
- The S in HSB refers to saturation.
Hue, saturation and brightness explained
- Hue refers to the perceived difference between one colour and another and accounts for colour names such as red, yellow, green or blue.
- Hue can be measured as a location on a colour wheel and expressed in degrees between 00 and 2590.
- Saturation refers to the perceived difference between one colour and another in terms of purity.
- Saturation is measured between a fully saturated colour (100%) and an unsaturated colour (0%).
- Saturation determines the vividness and richness of colours. Highly saturated colours appear vibrant, while desaturated colours appear muted or pastel-like.
- A fully saturated colour is produced by a single wavelength or a narrow band of wavelengths of light.
- On HSB colour wheels, saturation is usually shown to increase from the centre to the circumference.
- Brightness (colour brightness) refers to the difference between a hue that appears bold and vivid at maximum brightness (100%) and then appears progressively darker in tone until it appears black at minimum brightness(0%).
- Colour brightness is often apparent in the difference between the way a colour appears to an observer in well-lit conditions compared with its subdued appearance when in shadow or when poorly illuminated.