Applied color processing

Graduation date: 2012The quality of a digital image pipeline relies greatly on its color reproduction which should at a minimum handle the color constancy, and the final judgment of the excellence of the pipeline is made through subjective observations by humans.\ud \ud This dissertation addresses a few topics surrounding the color processing of digital image pipelines from a practical point of view. Color processing fundamentals will be discussed in the beginning to form a background understanding for the topics that follow.A memory color assisted illuminant estimation algorithm is then introduced after a review of memory colors and some modeling techniques. Spectral sensitivity of the camera is required by many color constancy algorithms but such data is often not readily\ud available. To tackle this problem, an alternative method to the spectral characterization for color constancy parameter calibration is proposed. Hue control in color reproduction can be of great importance especially when memory colors are concerned. A hue\ud constrained matrix optimization algorithm is introduced to address this issue, followed by a psychophysical study to systematically arrive at a recommendation for the optimized preferred color reproduction. At the end, a color constancy algorithm for high dynamic range scenes observing multiple illuminants is proposed