Black- The great debate

[Heed]

Ok, so I have met someone really cool. Anyway, we were trying to get to know a little bit more about each other and she asked me what my favorte color is, and I replied "Black." She then told me black is not a color but a shade.

What is evryone's opinion? I passed this questin around my college a bit and most everyone agreed it is a color.

Here is the greatest point ever- If lack was not a color, why would it come in a pack of crayola crayons?

Please post your opinions

[rii namuras]

(That reminds me of when I'm asked my least favorite color, and I say, "Clear.")

(My... inguenity (~_^) aside, black is indeed a color and not a shade. Why? Because with the right mixing, you get black. I'm not sure how to properly explain this, but I can ask my art teacher on Friday.)

[Warrior4Christ]

Technically, black is a lack of colour, not a colour.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist with the 'u's!)

[Alice]

Black is all the colors together. (Except for in space, when it's the lack of color.) ^___^

[CDLviking]

Yes, it is neither a color nor a shade, but the lack of color.

[Nate]

(That reminds me of when I'm asked my least favorite color, and I say, "Clear.")

Clear isn't a color. It's a measure of transparency.

I can have something that's blue and clear, or red and clear. Since clear measures the transparency, not the color, clear is not a color. You're probably thinking of "clear and colorless."

Technically, black is a lack of colour, not a colour.

Depends on what you're talking about. As far as color wheels and stuff go, black is a mixture of all the colors. But as far as light wavelength, it's an absence of colors.

So, yeah.

[soul alive]

When it comes to black in art, if you don't pay attention when mixing lots of colors, you could get it. In art, black is the presence of all color and white is the absence. In physics, black is the absence of all color and white the presence. (those two ideas threw me for a loop for a while a few years ago, lol)

If I remember my physics correctly, the spectrum is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (ROYGBIV), black and white are outside of it. Black is used to darken or dull those seven colors, just as white is used to brighten or lighten. Colors could be lightened to complete white or darkened to complete black, but neither is actually in the spectrum. (who'da thunk it? high school science 'does' come in handy... huh.)

So, black is a color in art, but not in physics. XD

OT: Architecture is wierd, there is no 'orange' in the architecture color wheel, instead there is red-yellow. Which doesn't make sense to me, since there are the primary blue, red and yellow, and secondary green and violet, as well as red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, but only red-yellow, no orange, no red-orange or yellow-orange, like in the regular color wheel. Those architects, throwing a wrench into everything, lol. Anyway, sorry for my tangent/rant. *kicks soapbox away*

[Yumie]

I always said that black was all the colors mixed together. So, yeah.

[CDLviking]

Depends on what you're talking about. As far as color wheels and stuff go, black is a mixture of all the colors. But as far as light wavelength, it's an absence of colors.

So, yeah.

I think the correct term for that would be a pigment, not a color.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

crayons can have shades....

its a shade! SHADE I TELL YOU!

white is a shade too.....

[Puguni]

I remember my art teacher kept insisting it is an absence of color...or was it my chem teacher?

[Scribs]

I would say that by common definition it is a color.

The title of this thread really suprised me! I thought it was going to be about racial issues of some sort. I was much releived when I found out otherwise.

[Yojimbo]

I thought it was going to be about black apparel.

Well black is rarely found in nature compared to everything else at least. I only know that because the Army did away with black in the woodland camo patterns laster year. But yeah it's commonly referred to as a color and not the absence of color. I personally wouldn't go around saying "Hey look at this awesome absence of color shirt" or anything.

[Slater]

physical standpoint: Something is black if no photons reflect off of it. Such stuff is the theoretical substance known as Dark Matter. A person cannot see a black object.

However, there are very dark shades of certain colours that absorb the majority of photons that hit them, but will reflect a little of a certain wavelength.

[mechana2015]

physical standpoint: Something is black if no photons reflect off of it. Such stuff is the theoretical substance known as Dark Matter. A person cannot see a black object.

However, there are very dark shades of certain colours that absorb the majority of photons that hit them, but will reflect a little of a certain wavelength.

this is why black typically looks to be tinted another color isn't it.

[Debitt]

You see black when an object absorbs most of the wavelengths in the visible spectrum..so depending on how you look at it, it could be an absence of color or a mixture of all the colors.

But to avoid busting my brain, I just say it's a color and leave it at that.

[Yeshua-Knight]

well, according to my art teacher, black is neither color, nor shade, but a neutral, both white and gray(obviously) are neutrals, because they lack the warmth or cold that is associated with the colors that make up the color wheel, thusly they are neutral, the complementary to black is white, and when you mix the two you get gray (no duh!), you can easily pick black as your favorite "color", but only if you let white and gray into that definition too

[uc pseudonym]

I believe the formal answer is that black is only a shade, not a color. The key difference is that when you mix two colors, you get a new color: red and blue make purple. When you add black or white to a color, however, you only get a modification of that color (because you can't add "black", only a degree of black). Some white added to red results in pink, which is only derivative from red.

Not that people won't or shouldn't still call it a color.

As for the suggestion that in art black is presence of all color, I think it is important to consider why. Each of the colors reflects only certain wavelengths, absorbing the rest. When you combine enough colors (not necessarily all), all light is absorbed. So even though you put all the colors together, you actually aren't seeing any of them, only a lack of them.

[Kura Ookami]

Black is absence of colour and white is all the colours in the spectrum together. Why else would white light create rainbows when it rains? Water slows light down seperating all the different colours from each other thus forming a rainbow. So white is a combination of all the colours, not black.

Also if you combine a red filter and a green one for example you'll end up with black. This is because only red light can travle through a red filter and only green light can travel through a green filter. When you combine these two filters then no light can pass through so you get black which is the lack of any colour.

[mechana2015]

well, according to my art teacher, black is neither color, nor shade, but a neutral, both white and gray(obviously) are neutrals, because they lack the warmth or cold that is associated with the colors that make up the color wheel, thusly they are neutral, the complementary to black is white, and when you mix the two you get gray (no duh!), you can easily pick black as your favorite "color", but only if you let white and gray into that definition too

neutral? somehow practical experience dosn't jive with that... I've seem mismatched black clothes: EG a warm black and a cool black dont mix well.

[Cap'n Nick]

Whether black is technically a color or not it was a tad rude of your friend to answer the way she did. "Black's not a color! Your choice is invalid! I hate you and I hate the band that you like!"

[SnoringFrog]

From what I know, black is what we see when an object absorbs all the colors of light adn reflects none. What normally give an object its color is the light reflected back from it, for instance, a purely red shirt absorbs all the colors except red, which it reflects back. This is what our eyes pick up and translate as a color.

Since black is absorbing everything, and reflecting nothing, what we are seeing, IMO, is an area void of color, but when it is surrounded by all the rest of the colors and whatnot, it seems to be just another color.

However, there are most likely few things that are pure black, most everything is going to reflect a little bit of something, giving us different degrees(or shades) of black. So, unless it is pure black, I guess it could technically be called a color, but instead of black it would be something like "A very very faint red that looks nothing like red at all." In a book I was looking at, black was defined as the absense of color, so, ever since then I have always tried to say something else for my favorite, just to be technical. You can call it a color though, it doesn't really matter. You're just defineing 'color' in a slightly different way.

[rii namuras]

Clear isn't a color. It's a measure of transparency.

I can have something that's blue and clear, or red and clear. Since clear measures the transparency, not the color, clear is not a color. You're probably thinking of "clear and colorless."

(Um. Kae. I wasn't being serious. While I do answer that when someone asks me my least favorite color, I do it because I'm being difficult/witty. Technically, I agree with you, clear isn't a color, but I'm just messing with their minds.)

(Annnyways, back on topic. While I personally consider black a color, because I can mix it with my paints (I more or less think of something as a color if I can paint it), it isn't really a color, for above stated reasons. With the pigments and all that.)

[Heart of Sword]

It's a shade. Any color can be reduced to black. Red can become black. Blue can become black. White can become black.

But it's still my favorite color. ^^;