Sources of Metamerism
Metameric matches are quite common, especially in near neutral (grayed or whitish colors) or dark colors. As colors become lighter or more saturated, the range of possible metameric matches (different combinations of light wavelengths) becomes smaller, especially in surface colors.
Metameric matches made between two light sources provide the trichromatic basis of colorimetry. For any given light stimulus, regardless of the form of its spectral emittance curve, there always exists a unique mixture of three "primary" lights that when added together, or added to the stimulus, will exactly match it.
The basis for nearly all commercially available color image reproduction processes such as photography, television, printing, and digital imaging, is the ability to make metameric color matches.
Making metamerism matches using reflective materials is more complex. The appearance of surface colors is defined by the product of the spectral reflectance curve of the material and the spectral emittance curve of the light source shining on it. As a result, the color of surfaces depends on the light source used to illuminate them.
Read more about this topic: Metamerism (color)
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