Tone

Tone is sometimes used to refer to the perception of a colour’s brightness.

Tone can also be used to refer to the shades of grey between black and white.

  • A hue reduced in intensity is called a tone.
  • In the context of the HSB colour model, a darker tone of a hue is produced by reducing its brightness (intensity).
  • Tone is associated with the term value.
    • Value is the amount of light that is reflected from a surface or emitted by a computer screen.
    • As the amount of light associated with a hue increases the colour becomes brighter – a lighter tint of that hue.
    • As the amount of light associated with a hue decreases the colour becomes a darker –  a darker shade (tone) of that hue.
    • In terms of tone, white has a high value, black has a low value.
    • The value of an object is usually evaluated relative to the brightness of a similarly illuminated white in the same situation.