Program item

33rd Color and Imaging Conference

Camera Color Characterization: Theory and Practice

SC13

Camera Color Characterization: Theory and Practice
Instructor: Eric Walowit, consultant
Level: Introductory
Duration: 4 hours
Prerequisites: A basic understanding of color science.
Course Time: 8:30 - 12:45

Benefits
This course enables the attendee to:

Perform target-based and spectral-based camera characterization.
Solve for colorimetric camera transforms and build profiles using linear and nonlinear techniques.
Evaluate current colorimetric camera characterization hardware and software technology and products.
Participate in hands-on spectral camera characterization, camera transform generation, and matching from capture to display.

Course Description
This course covers the process of colorimetric camera characterization in theory and practice. The need for camera characterization and calibration and the impact on general image quality is first reviewed. Known issues in traditional approaches are discussed. Methodology for building camera colorimetric transforms and profiles are detailed step-by-step. State-of-the-art solutions using current technology are presented including monochromators, multispectral LED light sources, in situ measurements of spectral radiances of natural objects, and modern color transform methods including multidimensional color look up tables. A live demonstration is performed of the end-to-end process of spectral camera characterization, camera transform generation, and matching from capture to display. This course provides the basis needed to implement advanced color correction in cameras and software.

Intended Audience: engineers, project leaders, and managers involved in camera image processing pipeline development, image quality engineering, and production-line quality assurance.

Eric Walowit’s interests are in color management, appearance estimation, and image processing pipelines for digital photographic applications. He is the founder (retired) of Color Savvy Systems, a color management hardware and software company. He graduated from RIT’s image science program, concentrating in color science. Walowit is a member of ICC, ISO/TC42, IS&T, and CIEJTC10.