10.

Metamerism

Colors change
When colors are viewed using
different light sources they
change a bit. This is metame-
rism.

When the gray part in a light

tertiary color is created in
cmy the color is very sensitive
to different light sources.

Normally you do not observe

it, but when you compare
directly, you see the changes
especially in a neutral gray
balance.

All patches on page 1-3 are

created in cmy no black!

Print page 1-3 in cmyk on

your ink jet or laser printer.

Find the most neutral patch

and cut it out. Use the color
picker 1 on page 4.

1
10. Metamerism

2
10. Metamerism

3
10. Metamerism

Black and white is neutral

Print this page in black and
white on your ink jet or laser
printer to make sure that the
neutral reference is neutral.

Neutral
reference.

Color picker 1. Cut out the striped cyan line and use the neutral refe-
rence patch to nd the most neutral patch on page 1-3.
4
10. Metamerism

Print this page in black and

white and nd the patch that
matches best with the patch
from page 1. Use the color pic-
ker 2 on page 6.

Now you have two patches that

almost look the same but
they are built in two ways:

A. Created with cyan, magenta

and yellow (gray balance).

B. Created with black only.

Now compare the two samples

using different light sources:
Daylight
Fluorescent lamp
Candlelight
Neon
Halogen

You will nd that the gray

balance changes and becomes
a bit colorful.

According to the ISO standard

colors are to be viewed with
a light source: Illuminant D50
(5.000 Kelvin degrees).

5
10. Metamerism

More homogeneous colors

When the gray part is created
in cmy and black the color
is more homogeneous when
viewed with different light
sources.

See also 8. CMYK GUIDE

Color separation.pdf and
9. CMYK GUIDE Gray
component.pdf on
www.cmykguide.com
under downloads.

In the Triangle Colorscale

CMYK GUIDE all the tertiary
colors are created with a little
extra black printing ink to
bring you colors that are more
resistant to different light
sources.

Color picker 2. Cut out the striped cyan line. Place the most neutral
patch from page 1-3 on the magenta area. Then it is more easy to nd
the most accurate lightness patch on page 5.
6