The LMS colour space is a practical implementation of trichromatic colour theory that enables the full range of human observable colours to be specified by measuring the responsiveness of the L, M and S cones to each wavelength of light within the visible spectrum.
- The LMS colour space was one of the first systematic demonstrations of trichromatic colour theory.
- LMS describes how the three types of cone photoreceptors (L, M and S cone types) in a human eye respond given any particular light stimuli.
- The method used in the development of the LMS colour space produced a generalized representation of human colour perception.
- The underlying principle was that any colour can be described in physiological terms by measuring the response of the L, M and S cone cells in the human eye’s retina to different wavelengths of light.
- The initial source of data for the LMS colour space was taken from experiments that compared the spectral sensitivity of subjects with normal sensitivity with other subjects experiencing forms of colour blindness.
- A more recent technique used to collect data for LMS belongs to the field of visual psychophysics and is known as heterochromatic flicker photometry. It provides extensive and accurate spectral sensitivity data obtained from cellular material removed from the eye.
- The LMS colour space describes human observable colours using three parameters, known as tristimulus colour values, each component of which corresponds with the response of the L, M and S cone types.