The Science of the Eye: The RGB Model

Whether your sat at home catching up on your soaps, or in the cinema watching a new blockbuster, your eyes are being hit with light emissions, and the size of the pupil changes. All kinds of fascinating science stuff occurs when we watch TV, but have you ever stopped to think how we are able to see all them pixels?

Ever stopped to think
Camera-Type Eyes
The human eye belongs to a group of eyes found in nature called “camera-type eyes”. Which, as it sounds, believe it or not works very similarly to a camera lens; the lens focuses light into film. A structure in the eye called the cornea does just this and focuses light into a light-sensitive membrane called the retina.

When we look any any object, including the TV, light enters the eye through the pupil, which then changes the size of our pupils; dependant on how bright the light is. The lens focuses the light through to the back of the eye where it is recorded in the retina. This is a place where a mass number of neurons live called photoreceptors. These light sensitive neurons change light signals into electrical ones.

The human eye works in conjunction with the brain to translate these lights into what we see as colours. Colour is not inherent in objects, but the surface of an object reflects some colours and absorbs others. The human eye only perceives reflected colours. For example, a red apple; the red is not ‘in ‘the apple, but the surface of the apple is reflecting certain wavelengths which we see as red.

The colour we see is only a sensation. Within the Retina, there are two parts; the cones and the rods. The cones in our eyes are responsible for the colours and the rods are responsible for dark adaptation vision. The cones are made up of red, green and blue, which are the additive colours.

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RGB Model

The RGB model is an additive colour model consisting of red, green and blue lights, which are combined to produce a broad array of colours. The purpose of this model is for the representation, sensing and display of electronic system imagery, such as PC monitors and televisions.

Imagine a paint pallet; with red, green and blue colours only. Just as in art, you can combine these three colours to create another colour, which is not primary. This works in a similar way in the electronic world of TV. Although this model has also been used in photography, before the electronic age, RGB colour model had a solid theory already based on our perception of colours and how our eyes work.

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Eyes and RGB

The human eye sees a computer or TV screen differently to any other being, due to our camera type eyes. You may know that screens and monitors are made up of little dots, which are called pixels; well these pixels within RGB and composed of the three primary colours. Each tiny pixel consists of even smaller dots, or pixels which shine a distinct colour. One pixel is made up of RGB, even though we can’t see them with the naked eye due to how small they are. Modern screens have such high resolutions that the only feasible way to see them would be to magnify right in.

RGB3
From a regular watching distance, a TV screen will look normal, and we will see our favourite shows and movies as usual. This is due to an illusion; but would only work for humans. So, when you think your dog is enjoying the TV with you, sadly, they can’t see what you are seeing.
When we see a yellow colour on our screens, this is due to your green and red cones being activated through the light. The little pixels of RGB within the pixels work with your eye to see the correct colour. Fascinating, right?

At Electronic World, we are fascinated by all aspects of technology and aim to entertain and educate on our passion for high-quality television. If you would like to know any more information on any of our products and how their technology performs, get in touch with our technical team.

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