When we talk about color, we're talking about how light affects our eyes and brain. In simple terms, the color we see is a mental response to light passing through the retina after it enters our eyes. This reaction is determined by a combination of the light source, the properties of the object, and our own visual characteristics.
You can think of color as a visual property that light produces in our eyes in addition to shape. Specifically, different wavelengths of light correspond to different colors, and the cones in our eyes have different sensitivities to these wavelengths of light. When light hits the surface of an object, the object interacts with the light, absorbing, reflecting, or transmitting part of the light, which determines the color we see.
In addition, the type of illumination source can also affect our perception of color, such as incandescent, fluorescent, or sunlight, which have different spectral compositions that cause objects to appear different colors under different light sources.
Finally, an individual's visual system also has an impact on the perception of color, as each person's sensitivity to color is different. So, color perception is a complex process involving optics, physics, and neuroscience.
In general, color is influenced by a combination of factors, it is not only a physical stimulus, but also a psychological response, and when we express color through language, we often need to use some attributes, such as hue, brightness, and saturation, to describe it more accurately. This ensures that we better understand and convey the message of the color and avoid subjective differences in interpretation.