62 | NEC SPECTRAVIEW II - USER'S GUIDE
Appendix
B
Glossary
Achromatic
Neutral in color (having no hue).
–
Additive Primaries
Red, green, and blue light that when combined in different relative
–
intensities produces different colors. (See also Subtractive Primaries)
Backlight – the internal light source for a Liquid Crystal Display, such as fluorescent lamps or
array of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes).
Black body
A hypothetical object that absorbs all incident radiation, thus any radiation (e.g. light)
–
coming from a blackbody must be emitted from it and not reflected.
Blackbody Radiator Locus – The curved formed when the color of light radiated from a
blackbody is plotted at different temperatures on a color space such as CIE xy.
Black Level – The luminance or "brightness" of black when displayed on the screen.
Calibration – The process of bringing a device such as a display monitor to an absolute standard
to ensure consistency over time and with other similarly calibrated devices.
Candelas (cd) – An international unit of light intensity. Luminance can be described in units of
Candelas per meter squared (cd/m
) but is often referred to as just Candelas or Nits for sake of
²
brevity.
CIE – The Commission Internationale d'Eclairage (International Commission on Illumination). An
organization that sets many of the standards used in color and color measurement.
CIE Lab – A color space that is relative to a reference white point. The L value represents
lightness, a represents Red/Green and b represents Yellow/Blue. Lab is almost perceptually
uniform in that differences between colors expressed in Lab correlate to equally perceived color
differences.
CIE uv chromaticity coordinates – Coordinates in the CIE uv color space which are derived
directly from CIE xyY color space. CIE uv is more perceptually uniform than CIE xy.
CIE xy chromaticity coordinates – Coordinates in the CIE xyY color space representing color
independent of luminance.
CIE xyY – A standard color space in which the Y component represents luminance. The x and y
components represent color.
Color Gamut – (See Gamut)
Colorimeter – An optical measurement device used to measure color that responds to light by
separating it into red, green, and blue components.
Color Management System (CMS) – Software used to control the handling of color between
scanner, monitor, and printer. ColorSync is an example of a CMS used on the Macintosh.
Microsoft Image Color Management (ICM) is an example of a CMS used on Windows systems.