What is color saturation?
Saturation describes the intensity and purity of a color. It refers to how much a color is mixed with other colors (especially gray) which affects how vivid or muted it appears. A highly saturated color is rich, pure, and vibrant, while a less saturated color contains more gray and appears softer or duller. In simple terms, the more a color is diluted or mixed, the lower its saturation; the cleaner and more vivid the color, the higher its saturation.
Physics: single wavelet?
In physics, saturation refers to the intensity or purity of light at a specific wavelength. A highly saturated light contains a narrow range of wavelengths, making the color appear pure and vivid. When multiple wavelengths are mixed together, especially with white or gray light, the color becomes less saturated and appears more washed out. In optics and vision science, saturation is one of the key properties used to describe perceived color, alongside hue and brightness.
saturation in color theory?
In color theory, saturation describes how vivid, rich, or muted a color appears in relation to gray. A fully saturated color looks bold and pure, while a desaturated color appears softer, duller, or closer to neutral gray. Artists and designers use saturation to create mood, emphasis, contrast, and visual hierarchy. Increasing saturation can make colors feel energetic and attention-grabbing, while lowering saturation often creates a calmer or more subtle visual effect.
How to calculate saturation?
In Negarity library, to calculate saturation, the color is first converted into the LCh color space, where the C channel represents chroma — the intensity or vividness of the color. The algorithm extracts this chroma value and normalizes it against an approximate maximum chroma constant (LCH_C_MAX_APPROX). The result is then scaled into a percentage between 0 and 100, where 0 represents a completely gray or desaturated color and 100 represents a highly vivid and saturated color. Finally, the value is clamped to ensure it always stays within the valid range.