Colorimetry for the stain technologist. IV. Analysis of the components of color difference.

Total color differences have been calculated for various pairs of stained microscopic substrates. The latter include azure B/eosin stained blood cells and Papanicolaou stained cells from the uterine cervix. Both the CIE L*u*v* and L*a*b* color spaces have been used. Total color differences have been analyzed in terms of lightness, hue and chroma components. Various discrepancies have been noted among these components, especially the chroma difference, for the two spaces. It is concluded that current color-difference formulae are less than perfect, although they can provide much useful information.