CIELCHväriavaruudet

CIELCHväriavaruudet, also known as CIELCH color spaces, are a family of perceptually uniform color spaces that represent color based on three components: Lightness (L), Chroma (C), and Hue (H). These color spaces are derived from the CIELAB color space, where L represents the perceived lightness of a color on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being black and 100 being white. Chroma (C) describes the saturation or intensity of the color, with higher values indicating more vivid colors. Hue (H) represents the color itself, often expressed in degrees from 0 to 360, corresponding to different colors on a color wheel.

The CIELCH system offers an intuitive way to understand and manipulate colors. By separating lightness, chroma, and hue, it allows for independent adjustment of these attributes, which is particularly useful in applications like graphic design, digital imaging, and color management. For example, one can increase the saturation of a color without altering its lightness or hue, or change the hue of a color while maintaining its original lightness and saturation.

Several specific CIELCH color spaces exist, each based on a different reference white point and illuminant. The most common are CIELCHab and CIELCHuv, which are direct transformations of CIELAB and CIELUV, respectively. These spaces aim to provide a more uniform perceptual experience, meaning that equal numerical differences in color values correspond to roughly equal perceived color differences to the human eye. This uniformity is a significant advantage over older color models like RGB or CMYK, which do not align as closely with human visual perception.