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Shades of
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
are
color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...
s that differ only slightly from pure black. These colors have a low lightness. From a photometric point of view, a color which differs slightly from black always has low
relative luminance Relative luminance Y follows the photometric definition of luminance L including spectral weighting for human vision, but while luminance L is a measure of light in units such as cd/m^2, Relative luminance Y values are normalized as 0.0 to 1.0 ...
. Variations of black include what are commonly termed off-black colors, which may be considered part of a neutral
color scheme In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in various artistic and design contexts. For example, the "Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web de ...
, usually in
interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...
as a part of a background for brighter colors. Black and dark gray colors are powerful accent colors that suggest weight, dignity, formality, and solemnity. In color theory, a '' shade'' is a pure color mixed with black. It decreases its lightness while nearly conserving its
chromaticity Chromaticity is an objective specification of the quality of a color regardless of its luminance. Chromaticity consists of two independent parameters, often specified as hue (h) and colorfulness (s), where the latter is alternatively called ...
. Strictly speaking, a "shade of black" is always a pure black itself and a "tint of black" would be a neutral gray. Unlike these, many off-black colors possess a
hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...
and a colorfulness (also called saturation). Colors often considered "shades of black" include ''onyx'', ''black olive'', ''charcoal'', and ''jet''; these colors and other variations of black are shown below.


Black

Black is a color, the
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
of which is evoked by the total absence of
light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...
that stimulates any of the three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye and with very low
brightness Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating or reflecting light. In other words, brightness is the perception elicited by the luminance of a visual target. The perception is not linear to luminan ...
compared to the surroundings. A black visual stimulation will be void of
hue In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that ...
and grayness. Black is the darkest possible color.


Technical black varieties

A
black body A black body or blackbody is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence. The name "black body" is given because it absorbs all colors of light. A black body ...
is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation (regardless of frequency or angle of incidence). To the human eye, it seems black. Some recent surface treatments to simulate a black body are: *
Carbon black Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
*
Super black Super black is a surface treatment developed at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom. It absorbs approximately 99.6% of visible light at normal incidence, while conventional black paint absorbs about 97.5%. At other angles ...
* Roseman Black *
Vantablack Vantablack is a brand name for a class of super-black coatings with total hemispherical reflectances (THR) below 1.5% in the visible spectrum. The coatings were invented by Ben Jensen, who first publicly unveiled them in July 2014, and commerci ...
* Coal black * Red Black * Graphite * Midnight


Variations of black (off-black colors)

The colors are arranged in order of value (brightness) (v code in the hsv code), the lightest colors at the top and the darkest at the bottom.


Dim gray

The web color ''dim gray'' is a dark tone of
gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
. The color name ''dim gray'' first came into use in 1987, when this color was formulated as one of the colors on the X11 color list, introduced that year. After the invention of the World Wide Web in 1991, these colors became known as the " X11 web colors".


Cool black

''Cool black'' is a dark shade of
blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
. It is one of
Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphi ...
colors.


Ebony

The color ''ebony'' is a representation of the color of the wood
ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
, a tropical hardwood widely used to make fine furniture, notably for French kings. The first use of ''ebony'' as a color name in English was in 1590.


Davy's grey

''Davy's gray'' is a dark gray color, made from powdered slate, iron oxide and
carbon black Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
named for
Henry Davy Henry Davy (1793–1865) was an English landscape painter, engraver and lithographer active in East Anglia. Davy was born on 30 May 1793 in The Poplars, what is now Birketts Farm, on Westhall Common, near Halesworth, Suffolk. He was the tent ...
. The first recorded use of ''Davy’s gray'' as a color name in English was in the 19th century (precise date uncertain).


Charcoal

''Charcoal'' is a color that is a representation of the dark gray color of burned wood. The first recorded use of ''charcoal'' as a color name in English was in 1606.


Outer Space

The color ''Outer Space'' is a metaphorical representation of the color of
outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. The color ''Outer Space'' was formulated by
Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...
in 1998.


Taupe

The color displayed at right matches the color sample called ''taupe'' referenced below in the 1930 book ''A Dictionary of Color'', the world standard for color terms before the invention of computers. However, the word ''taupe'' is currently often used to refer to lighter shades of taupe, and therefore another name for this color is ''dark taupe''. The first use of ''taupe'' as a color name in English was in the early 19th century (exact year is not known).


Black bean

''Black bean'' is a color that resembles black beans. It is the color called ''bean'' on th
Xona.com Color List
which was formulated in 2001.


Black olive

''Black olive'' a representation of the color of
black olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
s. Also known as ''olive'', color No. 6015, in the RAL color matching system, widely used in Europe.


Onyx

The color ''onyx'' is a representation of the color of
onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The ...
. This is one of the colors in the Crayola specialty crayon set called "Gem Tones", introduced in 1994.


Jet

The color ''jet'', also called ''jet black'', is a representation of the color of the mineraloid jet. The first recorded use of ''jet'' as a color name in English was in 1450.


Raisin black

Raisin black is a color that is a representation of the color of black
raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...
s.


Charleston green

Displayed at right is the color ''Charleston green''. The color ''Charleston green'' originated after the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, when the North provided black paint to the South for use in its
reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
. Charlestonians, i.e., the inhabitants of Charleston, South Carolina, mixed the black with a little bit of
yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...
and
blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
and created ''Charleston green''. Since this color has a hue code of 180, it is actually an extremely dark shade of cyan. The paint manufacturer Duron/
Sherwin-Williams Sherwin-Williams Company is an American Cleveland, Ohio–based company in the paint and coating manufacturing industry. The company primarily engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coatings, floorcoverings, and related p ...
paint color number for "historic Charleston green" is DCR099—the color sample at right was taken from this color swatch (hex code #232B2B), which is on the website accessible called Colors of Historic Charleston: This color looks black unless the sun hits it just right, and then the color registers a very dark
forest green At right is displayed the color forest green. ''Forest green'' refers to a green color said to resemble the color of the trees and other plants in a forest. This web color, when written as computer code in HTML for website color display, is w ...
. From Rust-Oleum paint company it is color No. 214086 but still looks black on color cards.


Eerie black

The color ''eerie black'' was formulated by Crayola in the early 2000s as one of the colors in its Heads 'n Tails specialty box of colors.


Licorice

The color ''licorice'' (also known as light black) is a representation of the color of licorice candy, which is made from
licorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liq ...
. This color was introduced by Crayola in 1994 as one of the colors in its specialty Crayola Magic Scent crayons.


See also

* Ultra-Black *
Lists of colors These are the lists of colors; * List of colors: A–F * List of colors: G–M * List of colors: N–Z * List of colors (compact) * List of colors by shade * List of color palettes * List of Crayola crayon colors * List of RAL colors * List of X ...
*
Shades of white Shades of white are colors that differ only slightly from pure white. Variations of white include what are commonly termed off-white colors, which may be considered part of a neutral color scheme or yellow that looks like brown. In color theo ...
*
Shades of red Varieties of the color red may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades ...


References


External links


Ultra-black Camouflage in Deep-Sea Fishes
{{Color shades Shades of gray