Color Representation

Foley & Van Dam, Chapter 13

 Color Representation
• Visible Light Spectrum
• Color Matching
• Trichromatic Color Theory
• Psychophysics
• CIE standard
• RGB and CMYK Color Spaces
• HLS Color Model
• YIQ Color Model
Visible Light Spectrum and Colors
Light is an electro-magnetic radiation
Ultra- Short- AC
Gamma X rays violet Infrared Radar FM TV wave AM electricity

-12 -8 -4 4 8
10 10 10 1 10 10
Wavelength in meters (m)

Visible light

400 nm 500 nm 600 nm 700 nm

Wavelength in nanometers (1nm=10-9 m)

• Hue: distinguished among colors

• Saturation: how far is color from a gray of equal intensity
• Lightness: perceived intensity of a reflective surface
• Brightness: perceived intensity of emitting surface
 Spectral Power Distribution
• The Spectral Power Distribution of a light is a
function f(λ) defining the energy at each wavelength
1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0 400 500 600 700

400 500 600 700

Blue Skylight Tungsten bulb

1 1

0.5 0.5

0 0 400 500 600 700

400 500 600 700
Red monitor phosphor Monochromatic light
 Color Matching Experiment
• Three primary lights are set to match a test light
• Metamer: two lights visually undistinguishable
(they might have different spectral power distributions)

test match
+ -
+ -
+ -

Test light Match light

Power

(tungsten light) (monitor emission)

~
=
0 400 500 600 700 0 400 500 600 700
 Trichromatic Color Theory
• Trichromatic: “tri”=three “chroma”=color also tristimulus
color vision is based on three primaries (three dimensional)

•Thomas Young
• A few different retinal receptors operating with different
wavelength sensitivities allow humans to perceive colors
• Suggested 3 receptors

• Helmholtz & Maxwell

• Color matching with 3 primaries
 The Human Eye

Lens

Cornea Fovea Optic Nerve

cones
Pupil Vitreous rods
Humor
Iris Optic Disc

Retina
Ocular Muscle
bipolar horizontal
amacrine
ganglion

light
 Retinal Photoreceptors
• Cones: Sensitive to high illumination levels (Photopic vision)
Less sensitive than rods
5 million cones in each eye
Only cones in fovea (approx. 50,000)
Density decreases with distance from fovea
3 types differing in their spectral sensitivity: L , M, and S

1
Relative sensitivity

L
M
0.75 S

0.5

0.25

0 400 500 600 700

Wavelength (nm)
Retinal Photoreceptors
 Linear Color Spaces
• Colors in 3D color space can be described as linear
combinations of 3 basis colors called primaries

= A• + B• + C•

The representation of the color having spectrum:

Is given by (A, B, C)
 Choosing The Primaries
• Stiles & Burch (1959) used 3 monochromatic primaries
of wavelengths 444.4, 525.3 and 645.2
Primary Intensity

3
r(λ)
2
b(λ) g(λ)
1

0
400 500 600 700
Wavelength (nm)

Color Matching Diagram

Problem: Subtractive components

 CIE Color Standard
• CIE: Commision Internationale d’Eclairage (1931) defined
a standard system (CIE- XYZ) for color representation

1.8
z(λ)
1.4
Tristimulus values

y(λ)
1 x(λ)
0.6

0.2
400 500 600 700
Wavelength (nm)
• Weights are non negative over the visible wavelengths
• The 3 primaries associated with x y z color matching
functions cannot be easily realized in hardware
• y was chosen to equal luminance of monochromatic lights
 CIE Color Standard
If X, Y and Z are the weights used to define a color C, then the chromaticity
values x, y, z (independent from the luminosity) are given by:
x= X/(X+Y+Z) y=Y/(X+Y+Z) z=Z/(X+Y+Z)
(x,y,z) is a point on the plane X+Y+Z=1
Y

0.9
520 530
510 540
550
y 505 560 X
500 570
0.5 580
495 590 Z
600
610
490 650
485
CIE Chromaticity Diagram
480
470
450
x
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0
 CIE Color Standard
• Color Gamut: A convex sum of several colors
 RGB Color Representation
Cathode shadow mask
(electron gun) electron guns
and phosphor
coated screen
shadow mask

focusing phosphors on
anode deflection glass screen
yoke

• In a CRT each color can be defined by the required power

of each electron gun:
C = rR + gG + bB
• The intensity is defined as:
I = r + g + b
•The chroma(ticy) is defined as: rR + gG + bB
C =
r + g + b
 RGB Color Images
111 14 126 36 12 36 10 128 126 200 12 111
200 36 12 36 14 36
36 111 36 12 17 111 111 14 126 36 12 36
200 36 1712 11136 20014 3636 12 36 17 36 36 14 36 72
200 111 14 126 17 111
200 1111414 361261217 3611114 36 36 111 36 12 17 111
10 1283612636200 12 12 17 126 17 111 200
17111 36111
111 1414 12636 17 111 36 36 111 36 14 36
17 36 1736 12614
127236 72200
126
126 17 3611112 36 17 111 200 36 12 36
12 17 2001263617 121113620012 126 14 200 36 12 126 17
17 126 72 126 17 111
14 2007236 1212 1712611117 14 36 14 36 12 36 14 36
126 200 111 14 36 72 126 200 111 14 36 72
200 36 12 36 12 126
36 12 17 72 106 155 17 111 14 126 17 111
36 12 17 72 106 155
72 12 17 111 14 36
white 12 126 200 36 12 36

blue

green
red

black
 RGB to CIE-XYZ Conversion
• RGB to CIE-XYZ is a linear transformation:

 2 .3 6 5 − 0 .5 1 5 0 .0 0 5  R  X 
 − 0 .8 9 7 1 .4 2 6 − 0 .0 1 4  G  = Y 
    
 − 0 .4 6 8 0 .0 8 9 1 .0 0 9   B   Z 

• R = monochromatic primary 700nm

• G = monochromatic primary 546.1nm
• B = monochromatic primary 435.8nm
 RGB vs. CMY(K) Color Scheme
• RGB and CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and
blacK) are hardware-oriented representations
• CMY is used in color photography and (with K) in
most color printers

C  1   R 
M  = 1  −  G 
     
 Y   1   B 

RGB is Additive CMY is Subtractive

 The HLS Color Model
• HLS: Hue Lightness, Saturation similar to
HSV: Hue Saturation Value

Munsell Book of Colors

Hue (red, green, yellow, blue ...)

Saturation (pink, bright red, ....)
Lightness (black, grey, white ....)
 The YIQ Color Model
• Based on the concept of opponent colors
• Used in NTSC Television
(National Television Systems Committee)
• Similar method (YCbCr) used in JPEG and MPEG
 0 .2 9 9 0 .5 8 7 0 .1 1 4  R  Y 
 0 .5 9 6 − 0 .2 7 5 − 0 .3 2 1  G  = I 
    
 0 .2 1 2 − 0 .5 2 3 0 .3 1 1   B   Q 

• Y = Luminance +
• I = Red-Green - +
• Q = Blue-Yellow -
 The YIQ Color Model
• The human eye is more sensitive to luminosity than to colors, so it is
possible to save space by encoding colors more coarsely
• Preferred by the NTSC because of backward compatibility with B/W TV
Original Y - Blur

I - Blur Q - Blur
 Summary
• CIE-XYZ
• Tristimulus Coordinates
• Device Independent
• Universal standard
• CIE-Lab
• Perceptual Space, used to assess image quality
• RGB and CMY
• Hardware oriented
• Additive spaces used for CRT, printers, photography
• YIQ and YCbCr
• Opponent Space
• Used for color television broadcast and image
compression
• HLS
• Perceptual Digitized Space
• Used for Human Interactive Painting