Color has three components:  hue, value and intensity.  We have explored how to sight-read hue and value.  Now, we're ready to round this out and sight-read the full range of every color we see.  Let's look at intensity.

  

This  part of color also is called chroma and sometimes, saturation.  I prefer the calling it intensity because chroma feels a bit too technical for that one aspect of color that determines its vibrancy.   Perhaps the word saturation would be even better, but we'll use it to describe the degree of intensity.

  

Continuing to parallel color with music, when sight-reading music, we might see an indicator ppp for very soft or ff for very loud. When reading color, the intensity controls the softness or loudness of the color.  If the color is very bright, it's hue is at its highest saturation, therefore loud, but if it is more neutral, the hue is at a lower saturation, therefore softer.  

 

Last week we looked at a bluish green for value and hue.  This week we will see that it's intensity is low or soft because it contains very little hue.   Intensity then is the amount of hue contained in the color.  So to label the color accurately we'd call it low-intensity/middle value/bluish green.

 

If a color is fully saturated with hue, its intensity is high; if somewhat saturated, its intensity is medium; if very little hue is present, its intensity is low.  It is important to note, though, that a hue's change in intensity does not affect the color's value.    

Intensity scale for bluish-green from completely neutral to high intensity

When a hue is fully saturated, it is like a glass full of water:  just as a glass becomes empty when all the water is gone, so hue goes away as it's intensity is neutralized.  When all the hue is neutralized, it becomes no-hue, therefore neutral or what we normally call gray.  This happens when an equally saturated amount of complementary hue is added to it.  

When the 12 major hues are arranged in equidistance around a circle, those directly opposite each other--neither having any of the other's hue within it--are complements.  In our example here, orangish-red is complement to bluish-green.  Here's how the mixing of them looks.

Last week's color is between the neutral and high intensity green.

So, how do we sight-read intensity?   Unlike sight-reading hue and value, we don't need to isolate a section of the overall color.

1. Look at something that is the same color throughout.  Do you immediately recognize its hue?  If so, that's a sign that it's intensity is in a medium to high range.  If you want to call it a gray or beige or some other earth color name, its intensity is in the low range.  
2. Does the color closely match one of the hues on the color wheel?  If so, it is in the high intensity range

Light and shadow also effect the intensity of the color.  Both soften the intensity.  That's why when mixing shadows for a color, you get a truer shadow color by adding a complement rather than adding black and when lightening a color with white, it's a good idea to add back some yellow or red.

To wrap up this three-part sight-reading tip, when you encounter a color, determine its intensity first, then isolate sections of it to determine the hues and values distributed throughout.  Try to avoid labeling any color gray. Instead, determine what low intensity hue you are seeing.