Design Issues and Solutions -

[derekleffew]

A curious conundrum: Can/should the words Amber and Yellow be used interchangeably? Or does one use the yellow when talking color theory and amber when lighting? Yellow is a color of light. Amber is fossilized tree sap. Lavender is a weed. Pure H2O is not aqua.

Please discuss.

[gafftapegreenia]

Certainly not interchangeable. I consider yellow, amber and orange to each be unique and individual colors.

[MNicolai]

I agree with gafftapegrennia, they are no where near interchangeable. I think of amber as the middle ground between yellow and orange, as it tends to be yellow with hints of red.

[SerraAva]

Orange, amber, and yellow are defiantly different colors and not interchangeable. So have to agree with greenia and MNicolai. Look at R10, R20, and R23, they are different colors.

As for the comment about yellow being a color of light, is not orange a color of light as well? It gets its name from the fruit, and color is based off of objects absorbing and reflecting certain wave lengths of light. Likewise, amber comes from fossilized tree sap or beer (amber colored beer). Lavender, indigo, and violet all come from the plant they represent. We could call red apple or green apple, which who do sometimes describing things as apple red or candy apple red or apple green.

Lavender and violet are just different versions of purple aka blue and red or cyan and magenta. They are unique enough to get their own 'color name' however. Likewise, orange and amber are just middle grounds between red and green, magenta and yellow, or red and yellow depending on your color system of choice.

[SteveB]

Argghhh....

You should hear the conversation when my wife - who's a scenic artist, and I "discuss" the names of colors.

Topic the other day started with her observing a Chevrolet and commenting "How can you have a red Cobalt ?".

SB

[waynehoskins]

Yep, different. To me, yellow is R10 while amber is R16 through 20-something; straw is somewhere between the two, leaning more to yellow.

[len]

Originally Posted by SteveB

Argghhh....
"How can you have a red Cobalt ?".

SB

Was she eating jumbo shrimp while asking?

George Carlin lives!

[CavezziMagnum]

The Chick Pea is also neither a chick nor a pea. Yet they are still delicious. The chick pea is also neither amber or yellow. While I personally consider amber and yellow separate colors with respect to gel, I think the real answer is that amber is a darker shade of the hue yellow.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by CavezziMagnum

The Chick Pea is also neither a chick nor a pea. Yet they are still delicious. The chick pea is also neither amber or yellow. While I personally consider amber and yellow separate colors with respect to gel, I think the real answer is that amber is a darker shade of the hue yellow.

I don't like chick peas, and the only place that I have ever had falafel that I liked was in Israel. I also don't agree that amber is a darker shade of the hue yellow. Amber has red in it, yellow does not. Yellow is one of the primaries of light, you can't subractively mix to yellow, but you can to amber.

[Grog12]

Originally Posted by MNicolai

I agree with gafftapegrennia, they are no where near interchangeable. I think of amber as the middle ground between yellow and orange, as it tends to be yellow with hints of red.

So then why is it considered CMY color mixing and not CMA?