The colors on computer screens differ from reality due to the way screens produce light and interpret color information, which can vary depending on the screen technology, color settings, and calibration.
Screens do not reproduce all the colors that the human eye can perceive. Each screen has a gamut, which is a specific range of colors it can display. Some very subtle or intense shades, easily visible in real life, exceed this spectrum and are therefore approximated. Furthermore, the technology of the screen itself limits the faithful reproduction of colors, particularly due to RGB systems made up exclusively of red, green, and blue, which are unable to accurately recreate all intermediate shades. LCD screens, in particular, suffer from limited contrast and blacks that are somewhat grayish, while OLED screens offer deeper blacks but sometimes exhibit color shifts depending on the viewing angle. Finally, each pixel combines three light elements (red, green, blue) to simulate a precise color, a combination that can sometimes be insufficient to capture the full subtlety and nuance of real colors.
When you look at a screen, ambient lighting greatly affects how you perceive colors. Under overly bright light, colors will appear washed out and less contrasted. Conversely, a too-dark environment sometimes excessively intensifies certain shades, which can quickly tire your eyes. The viewing angle also changes what you feel when looking at the image: glance at your screen slightly sideways, and suddenly, vivid red can strangely look pale or darker. The same goes for whether the monitor has a glossy or matte surface: even the slightest reflection will influence your overall perception of hues, sometimes giving the impression that the colors are not true to reality.
Each screen uses a specific color profile, a kind of "instruction manual" indicating how it should display colors. Without a correct profile, even a simple color like bright red will appear differently on two distinct screens. For example, a screen with an sRGB profile (the most common on the web) will render colors differently than a professional screen calibrated in Adobe RGB, often used in photography or design. This explains why the same image can sometimes display completely different colors depending on the screen it is viewed on. And if we neglect these profiles, there's no chance of achieving the exact colors originally intended.
Our eyes do not all see exactly the same way. For example, age-related differences mean that your grandmother will perceive colors differently than you do. Some people also have a slight form of color blindness that affects their color perception without them even realizing it. Individual sensitivity to shades, saturation, and brightness varies quite a bit from person to person as well. And then, the brain processes visual information in sometimes very personal ways, which means that even with a perfectly calibrated screen, two people will never have exactly the same color impression.
Screens typically display colors through a combination of just three primary colors: red, green, and blue. This RGB (or RVB in French) technique allows for the reproduction of millions of colors by simply varying the intensities of these three primary hues.
Two identical screens can display slightly different colors simply because they haven't been calibrated in the same way or because their age, wear, or environment has affected their display quality.
The white color displayed by your screen entirely depends on the RGB color balance settings. This explains why some screens appear more bluish or yellowish than others, even when showing the same image.
The human eye distinguishes shades of green better than other colors. This is why the pixels in modern screens are often composed of two green sub-pixels for every red and blue sub-pixel, resulting in a better apparent definition to our eyes.
Even for amateur use, screen calibration can improve color accuracy and visual comfort. It especially ensures that photos or videos are viewed in a more realistic way, close to the original intent of the content creators.
Inadequate lighting in your environment can greatly affect the perception of colors on the screen by creating glare or distorting contrast and shades. Ideally, your space should have soft and indirect lighting to avoid visual distortions.
The disparity between printed colors and digital colors arises from the different color spaces: printing often uses the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) color space, while screens use the RGB (red, green, blue) color space. Suitable color profiles and regular calibration can help reduce these differences.
No, not all screens produce the same color representation. Each model has different technical specifications, uses various lighting technologies, and has its own settings (brightness, contrast, color temperatures). As a result, the same image can appear differently depending on the screen used.
Screens have a limited range of colors called 'color space,' which is often less than what is perceived naturally by the human eye. Furthermore, each screen technology (LCD, OLED, etc.) has its own limitations in color reproduction, which can lead to significant differences from reality.
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