Colour spaces: perceptual, historical and applicational background

In this paper, we present and overview of colour spaces used in electrical engineering and image processing. We stress the importance of the perceptual, historical and applicational background that led to a colour space. The colour spaces presented are: RGB, opponent-colour spaces, phenomenal colour spaces, CMY, CMYK, TV colour spaces (YUV and YIQ), PhotoYCC, CIE XYZ, Lab and Luv colour spaces.