Welcome:
This web site is dedicated to technical aspects of digital photography. Topics such as color space, colorimetry, chromatic adaptation, input and output devices together with practical examples of scanning, calibration, profiling, and color management are discussed. This work has started from my own desire to understand the underlying principles of color imaging and reproduction that I could later apply in my digital photography workflows - with an obvious hope for the best technical output.
This web site also presents examples of device calibration, characterization, and some hints on analysis of icc profiles. I have also included more advanced sections that discuss technical and mathematical aspects of digital color processing.
Disclosure: These web pages were writen and are presented as a non-commercial site. I am not affiliated or I neither sell any products discussed here. I hope that this site will provide appreciable level of information and guidance to a novice, serious amateur or advanced enthusiast. Please contact me with any suggestions or comments.
Enjoy,
Marcel Patek
For image galleries and for specific details on particular photos, visit my Photography pages.
From my blog:
Below is RSS feed from my blog posts. Subscribe by clicking RSS icon on the right.
Introduction:
Over the years, the exponential growth of digital imaging technologies has created a huge demand for careful color reproduction. Since majority of the processing steps in digital photography is about the color, it is important that both photographers and users of digital media understand how to describe, communicate, and interpret the color accurately. Color management and digital color imaging are relatively new fields that now spread rapidly into other areas, such as home entertainment, advertisement, education, and electronic publishing. On the quest for successful color management, one has to amass at least a fair understanding of light and color science together with a certain amount of experience.
For a number of years, importance of monitor calibration, printer profiles, or scanning techniques has been clearly acknowledged, particularly at professional studios or press labs. Even at the more basic level, one would like to capture the image and be able to see it on a computer display or final print as close as possible to the original scene.
As mentioned above, these web pages provide some tips, procedures, and "recipes" that might help in uncovering poor profiles and even help in identifying causes of the poor color quality. However, at this point, a word of caution is in place. Proper device calibration can be quite a complex process and if one aims for high accuracy and reproducibility, expensive measuring devices are usually needed - not mentioning the long hours spent in a dimly lit room on regular basis. Fortunately, there are simple (affordable or even free) calibration or color assessment tools available that can provide a significant improvement in the color output.
When possible, I use a "low budget" or even free software together with affordable measuring devices. Some sections have freely downloadable monitor/scanner profiles, spreadsheets, or Photoshop files/actions to assist you in runnig described examples on your system. Feel free to use them - I don't impose any copyright or license requirements. In cases where I used published code, scripts, or work of others (clearly stated in the files or instructions), please respect rights of those individuals.
Site Maintenance:
- Recent changes
- Included RSS feed from my blog site - December 2011
- Added Jquery and CSS3 enhancements - June-July 2011
- Finished and uploaded Scanner section - 11/27/2009
- Included GammaCalc feature - calculate your own gamma - 5/30/2009
- Fixed broken links - 4/14/2009
- Repaired local links to downloads - 4/14/2009
- Added scripts to extract XYZRGB data from LOGO and CGATS formatted files.
