The brightness of a color can be changed by adding black or white. Adding black is referred to as shading a color while admixing white is termed tinting a color.

Light-dark contrasts affect both the contrast between different shades and tints of one color. In this case, it is referred to as monochromatic design. It also affects the contrast between different pure hues which differ in their subjective brightness, such as the primaries yellow and blue. In any image, it is always the brightest color which is the first to attract the viewer’s attention.