Get Slightly Lighter and Darker Color from UIColor

Question

- (UIColor *)lighterColorForColor:(UIColor *)c
{
    CGFloat r, g, b, a;
    if ([c getRed:&r green:&g blue:&b alpha:&a])
        return [UIColor colorWithRed:MIN(r + 0.2, 1.0)
                               green:MIN(g + 0.2, 1.0)
                                blue:MIN(b + 0.2, 1.0)
                               alpha:a];
    return nil;
}

- (UIColor *)darkerColorForColor:(UIColor *)c
{
    CGFloat r, g, b, a;
    if ([c getRed:&r green:&g blue:&b alpha:&a])
        return [UIColor colorWithRed:MAX(r - 0.2, 0.0)
                               green:MAX(g - 0.2, 0.0)
                                blue:MAX(b - 0.2, 0.0)
                               alpha:a];
    return nil;
}

Use it like this:

UIColor *baseColor = // however you obtain your color
UIColor *lighterColor = [self lighterColorForColor:baseColor];
UIColor *darkerColor = [self darkerColorForColor:baseColor];

EDIT: as @Anchu Chimala pointed out, for maximum flexibility, these methods should be implemented as an UIColor category. Also, from @Riley's idea, it may be a better idea to make the color proprtionally darker or lighter instead of adding or subtracting constant values. As @jrturton pointed out, it's not necessary to manipulate the RGB components; it's better to modify the brightness property itself. All in all:

@implementation UIColor (LightAndDark)

- (UIColor *)lighterColor
{
    CGFloat h, s, b, a;
    if ([self getHue:&h saturation:&s brightness:&b alpha:&a])
        return [UIColor colorWithHue:h
                          saturation:s
                          brightness:MIN(b * 1.3, 1.0)
                               alpha:a];
    return nil;
}

- (UIColor *)darkerColor
{
    CGFloat h, s, b, a;
    if ([self getHue:&h saturation:&s brightness:&b alpha:&a])
        return [UIColor colorWithHue:h
                          saturation:s
                          brightness:b * 0.75
                               alpha:a];
    return nil;
}
@end

TL;DR:

Swift:

extension UIColor {

    var lighterColor: UIColor {
        return lighterColor(removeSaturation: 0.5, resultAlpha: -1)
    }

    func lighterColor(removeSaturation val: CGFloat, resultAlpha alpha: CGFloat) -> UIColor {
        var h: CGFloat = 0, s: CGFloat = 0
        var b: CGFloat = 0, a: CGFloat = 0

        guard getHue(&h, saturation: &s, brightness: &b, alpha: &a)
            else {return self}

        return UIColor(hue: h,
                       saturation: max(s - val, 0.0),
                       brightness: b,
                       alpha: alpha == -1 ? a : alpha)
    }
}

Usage:

let lightColor = somethingDark.lighterColor

Objective-C:

- (UIColor *)lighterColorRemoveSaturation:(CGFloat)removeS
                              resultAlpha:(CGFloat)alpha {
    CGFloat h,s,b,a;
    if ([self getHue:&h saturation:&s brightness:&b alpha:&a]) {
        return [UIColor colorWithHue:h
                          saturation:MAX(s - removeS, 0.0)
                          brightness:b
                               alpha:alpha == -1? a:alpha];
    }
    return nil;
}

- (UIColor *)lighterColor {
    return [self lighterColorRemoveSaturation:0.5
                                  resultAlpha:-1];
}

@rchampourlier was right in his comment to @user529758 (The accepted answer) - The HSB (Or HSV) and RGB solutions give completely different results. RGB just adds (Or makes the color closer to) white, and the HSB solution brings the color closer to the edge in the Brigtness scale - which basically start with black and ends with the pure color...

Basically Brightness (Value) makes the color less or more closer to black, where Saturation makes it less or more closer to white...

As seen here:

So the solution to make a color actually brighter (i.e. closer to white...) will be to make it's Saturation value smaller, resulting this solution:

- (UIColor *)lighterColor {
    CGFloat h,s,b,a;
    if ([self getHue:&h saturation:&s brightness:&b alpha:&a]) {
        return [UIColor colorWithHue:h
                          saturation:MAX(s - 0.3, 0.0)
                          brightness:b /*MIN(b * 1.3, 1.0)*/
                               alpha:a];
    }
    return nil;
}

Swift universal extension for iOS and OS X, using getHue :

#if os(OSX)

    import Cocoa
    public  typealias PXColor = NSColor

    #else

    import UIKit
    public  typealias PXColor = UIColor

#endif

    extension PXColor {

    func lighter(amount : CGFloat = 0.25) -> PXColor {
        return hueColorWithBrightnessAmount(1 + amount)
    }

    func darker(amount : CGFloat = 0.25) -> PXColor {
        return hueColorWithBrightnessAmount(1 - amount)
    }

    private func hueColorWithBrightnessAmount(amount: CGFloat) -> PXColor {
        var hue         : CGFloat = 0
        var saturation  : CGFloat = 0
        var brightness  : CGFloat = 0
        var alpha       : CGFloat = 0

        #if os(iOS)

            if getHue(&hue, saturation: &saturation, brightness: &brightness, alpha: &alpha) {
                return PXColor( hue: hue,
                                saturation: saturation,
                                brightness: brightness * amount,
                                alpha: alpha )
            } else {
                return self
            }

            #else

            getHue(&hue, saturation: &saturation, brightness: &brightness, alpha: &alpha)
            return PXColor( hue: hue,
                            saturation: saturation,
                            brightness: brightness * amount,
                            alpha: alpha )

        #endif

    }

}

Usage :

let color = UIColor(red: 0.5, green: 0.8, blue: 0.8, alpha: 1.0)
color.lighter(amount:0.5)
color.darker(amount:0.5)

OR (with the default values):

color.lighter()
color.darker()

Sample :

I just wanted to give the same result, in RGB, than

• placing the color with alpha x% over a white background to lighten
• placing the color with alpha x% over a black background to darken

Which gives the same result, AFAIK, than picking the color in a gradient 'color to white' or 'color to black', at x% of the gradient size.

For that purpose, the math is simple:

extension UIColor {
    func mix(with color: UIColor, amount: CGFloat) -> UIColor {
        var red1: CGFloat = 0
        var green1: CGFloat = 0
        var blue1: CGFloat = 0
        var alpha1: CGFloat = 0

        var red2: CGFloat = 0
        var green2: CGFloat = 0
        var blue2: CGFloat = 0
        var alpha2: CGFloat = 0

        getRed(&red1, green: &green1, blue: &blue1, alpha: &alpha1)
        color.getRed(&red2, green: &green2, blue: &blue2, alpha: &alpha2)

        return UIColor(
            red: red1 * (1.0 - amount) + red2 * amount,
            green: green1 * (1.0 - amount) + green2 * amount,
            blue: blue1 * (1.0 - amount) + blue2 * amount,
            alpha: alpha1
        )
    }
}

Here are examples with some colors

user529758's solution in Swift:

Darker color:

func darkerColorForColor(color: UIColor) -> UIColor {

       var r:CGFloat = 0, g:CGFloat = 0, b:CGFloat = 0, a:CGFloat = 0

       if color.getRed(&r, green: &g, blue: &b, alpha: &a){
           return UIColor(red: max(r - 0.2, 0.0), green: max(g - 0.2, 0.0), blue: max(b - 0.2, 0.0), alpha: a)
       }

       return UIColor()
}

Lighter color:

func lighterColorForColor(color: UIColor) -> UIColor {

       var r:CGFloat = 0, g:CGFloat = 0, b:CGFloat = 0, a:CGFloat = 0

       if color.getRed(&r, green: &g, blue: &b, alpha: &a){
           return UIColor(red: min(r + 0.2, 1.0), green: min(g + 0.2, 1.0), blue: min(b + 0.2, 1.0), alpha: a)
       }

       return UIColor()
}

If you convert the RGB color to the HSL color model then you can vary the L = lightness component from L = 0.0 (black) over L = 0.5 (natural color) to L = 1.0 (white) . UIColor cannot handle HSL directly, but there are formula for converting RGB <-> HSL.