Evaluation and improvement of the workflow of digital imaging of fine art reproduction in museums

Fine arts refer to a broad spectrum of art formats, ie~painting, calligraphy, photography, architecture, and so forth. Fine art reproductions are to create surrogates of the original artwork that are able to faithfully deliver the aesthetics and feelings of the original. Traditionally, reproductions of fine art are made in the form of catalogs, postcards or books by museums, libraries, archives, and so on (hereafter called museums for simplicity). With the widespread adoption of digital archiving in museums, more and more artwork is reproduced to be viewed on a display. For example, artwork collections are made available through museum websites and Google Art Project for art lovers to view on their own displays. In the thesis, we study the fine art reproduction of paintings in the form of soft copy viewed on displays by answering four questions: (1) what is the impact of the viewing condition and original on image quality evaluation? (2) can image quality be improved by avoiding visual editing in current workflows of fine art reproduction? (3) can lightweight spectral imaging be used for fine art reproduction? and (4) what is the performance of spectral reproductions compared with reproductions by current workflows? We started with evaluating the perceived image quality of fine art reproduction created by representative museums in the United States under controlled and uncontrolled environments with and without the presence of the original artwork. The experimental results suggest that the image quality is highly correlated with the color accuracy of the reproduction only when the original is present and the reproduction is evaluated on a characterized display. We then examined the workflows to create these reproductions, and found that current workflows rely heavily on visual editing and retouching (global and local color adjustments on the digital reproduction) to improve the color accuracy of the reproduction. Visual editing and retouching can be both time-consuming and subjective in nature (depending on experts\u27 own experience and understanding of the artwork) lowering the efficiency of artwork digitization considerably. We therefore propose to improve the workflow of fine art reproduction by (1) automating the process of visual editing and retouching in current workflows based on RGB acquisition systems and by (2) recovering the spectral reflectance of the painting with off-the-shelf equipment under commonly available lighting conditions. Finally, we studied the perceived image quality of reproductions created by current three-channel (RGB) workflows with those by spectral imaging and those based on an exemplar-based method

The Iray Light Transport Simulation and Rendering System

While ray tracing has become increasingly common and path tracing is well understood by now, a major challenge lies in crafting an easy-to-use and efficient system implementing these technologies. Following a purely physically-based paradigm while still allowing for artistic workflows, the Iray light transport simulation and rendering system allows for rendering complex scenes by the push of a button and thus makes accurate light transport simulation widely available. In this document we discuss the challenges and implementation choices that follow from our primary design decisions, demonstrating that such a rendering system can be made a practical, scalable, and efficient real-world application that has been adopted by various companies across many fields and is in use by many industry professionals today

Test Targets 8.0: A Collaborative effort exploring the use of scientific methods for color imaging and process control

Publishing is both a journey and a destination. In the case of Test Targets, the act of creating and editing content, paginating and managing digital assets, represents the journey. The hard copy is the result or destination that readers can see and touch. Like the space exploration program, everyone saw the spacecraft that landed on the moon. It was the rocket booster that made the journey from the earth to the moon possible. This article portrays the process of capturing ideas in the form of digital data. It also describes the process of managing digital assets that produces the Test Targets publication

The development of multi-channel inkjet printing methodologies for fine art applications

This thesis contributes to the defence of the practitioner perspective as a means of undertaking problems addressed predominantly in the field of colour science. Whilst artists have been exploring the use of colour for centuries through their personal practice and education, the rise of industrialised printing processes has generated a shift in focus away from these creative pursuits and into the computational field of colour research. It is argued here that the disposition and knowledge generated by creative practice has significant value to offer developing technologies. While creative practice has limited influence in the development of colour printing, practitioners and users of technology actively engage with the process in ways that extend beyond its intended uses in order to overcome recognised shortcomings. Here consideration is given to this creative engagement as motivation to develop bespoke printing parameters that demonstrate the effects of colour mixing through methods alternative to standard workflows. The research is undertaken incorporating both qualitative and quantitative analysis, collecting data from visual assessments and by examining spectral measurements taken from printed output. Action research is employed to directly access and act upon the constant developments in the art and science disciplines related to inkjet printing, observing and engaging with current methods and techniques employed by practitioners and developers. This method of research has strongly informed the empirical testing that has formed this thesis’s contribution to fine art inkjet printing practice. The research follows a practitioner led approach to designing and testing alternative printing methods and is aimed at expanding the number of discernible colours an inkjet printer can reproduce. The application of this methodology is evidenced through demonstrative prints and a reproduction study undertaken at the National Gallery, London. The experimentation undertaken in partnership with the National Gallery has proven the ability to increase accuracy between colour measured from the original target and reproduction, beyond the capabilities of current inkjet printing workflows

Assessment of multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems for digitisation of a Russian icon

In a study of multispectral and hyperspectral reflectance imaging, a Round Robin Test assessed the performance of different systems for the spectral digitisation of artworks. A Russian icon, mass-produced in Moscow in 1899, was digitised by ten institutions around Europe. The image quality was assessed by observers, and the reflectance spectra at selected points were reconstructed to characterise the icon’s colourants and to obtain a quantitative estimate of accuracy. The differing spatial resolutions of the systems affected their ability to resolve fine details in the printed pattern. There was a surprisingly wide variation in the quality of imagery, caused by unwanted reflections from both glossy painted and metallic gold areas of the icon’s surface. Specular reflection also degraded the accuracy of the reconstructed reflectance spectrum in some places, indicating the importance of control over the illumination geometry. Some devices that gave excellent results for matte colour charts proved to have poor performance for this demanding test object. There is a need for adoption of standards for digitising cultural heritage objects to achieve greater consistency of system performance and image quality.This article arose out of a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) conducted by Tatiana Vitorino when visiting University College London during a 2-week period in late October 2015. The research was carried out under the auspices of the European COST Action TD1201 Colour and Space in Cultural Heritage (COSCH). The project website is at http://www.cosch.info. Under the COST rules, TV received funding for travel and accommodation expenses, and all coauthors were able to claim travel expenses to attend the subsequent COSCH project meeting. No other funding was received from COSCH for labour or equipment and all work was done on a voluntary pro bono basis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Expanding Dimensionality in Cinema Color: Impacting Observer Metamerism through Multiprimary Display

Television and cinema display are both trending towards greater ranges and saturation of reproduced colors made possible by near-monochromatic RGB illumination technologies. Through current broadcast and digital cinema standards work, system designs employing laser light sources, narrow-band LED, quantum dots and others are being actively endorsed in promotion of Wide Color Gamut (WCG). Despite artistic benefits brought to creative content producers, spectrally selective excitations of naturally different human color response functions exacerbate variability of observer experience. An exaggerated variation in color-sensing is explicitly counter to the exhaustive controls and calibrations employed in modern motion picture pipelines. Further, singular standard observer summaries of human color vision such as found in the CIE’s 1931 and 1964 color matching functions and used extensively in motion picture color management are deficient in recognizing expected human vision variability. Many researchers have confirmed the magnitude of observer metamerism in color matching in both uniform colors and imagery but few have shown explicit color management with an aim of minimized difference in observer perception variability. This research shows that not only can observer metamerism influences be quantitatively predicted and confirmed psychophysically but that intentionally engineered multiprimary displays employing more than three primaries can offer increased color gamut with drastically improved consistency of experience. To this end, a seven-channel prototype display has been constructed based on observer metamerism models and color difference indices derived from the latest color vision demographic research. This display has been further proven in forced-choice paired comparison tests to deliver superior color matching to reference stimuli versus both contemporary standard RGB cinema projection and recently ratified standard laser projection across a large population of color-normal observers

Test Targets 6.0: A Collaborative effort exploring the use of scientific methods for color imaging and process control

Test Targets is a collection of scholarly papers contributed by faculty, students, and alumni of Rochester Institute of Technology. We realize the importance of having faculty set examples as authors for students to follow. We have a three-course sequence over a time span of a year to prepare students to publish their first articles when completing Tone and Color Analysis, Printing Process Control, and Advanced Color Management. In this instance, Test Targets 6.0 is a part of the course content in the Advanced Color Management course

Bayesian Methods for Radiometric Calibration in Motion Picture Encoding Workflows

A method for estimating the Camera Response Function (CRF) of an electronic motion picture camera is presented in this work. The accurate estimation of the CRF allows for proper encoding of camera exposures into motion picture post-production workflows, like the Academy Color Encoding Specification (ACES), this being a necessary step to correctly combine images from different capture sources into one cohesive final production and minimize non-creative manual adjustments. Although there are well known standard CRFs implemented in typical video camera workflows, motion picture workflows and newer High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging workflows have introduced new standard CRFs as well as custom and proprietary CRFs that need to be known for proper post-production encoding of the camera footage. Current methods to estimate this function rely on the use of measurement charts, using multiple static images taken under different exposures or lighting conditions, or assume a simplistic model of the function’s shape. All these methods become problematic and tough to fit into motion picture production and post-production workflows where the use of test charts and varying camera or scene setups becomes impractical and where a method based solely on camera footage, comprised of a single image or a series of images, would be advantageous. This work presents a methodology initially based on the work of Lin, Gu, Yamazaki and Shum that takes into account edge color mixtures in an image or image sequence, that are affected by the non-linearity introduced by a CRF. In addition, a novel feature based on image noise is introduced to overcome some of the limitations of edge color mixtures. These features provide information that is included in the likelihood probability distribution in a Bayesian framework to estimate the CRF as the expected value of a posterior probability distribution, which is itself approximated by a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling algorithm. This allows for a more complete description of the CRF over methods like Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Maximum A Posteriori (MAP). The CRF function is modeled by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Database of Response Functions (DoRF) compiled by Grossberg and Nayar, and the prior probability distribution is modeled by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) of the PCA coefficients for the responses in the DoRF. CRF estimation results are presented for an ARRI electronic motion picture camera, showing the improved estimation accuracy and practicality of this method over previous methods for motion picture post-production workflows

A testing procedure to characterize color and spatial quality of digital cameras used to image cultural heritage

A testing procedure for characterizing both the color and spatial image quality of trichromatic digital cameras, which are used to photograph paintings in cultural heritage institutions, is described. This testing procedure is target-based, thus providing objective measures of quality. The majority of the testing procedure followed current standards from national and international organizations such as ANSI, ISO, and IEC. The procedure was developed in an academic research laboratory and used to benchmark four representative American museum’s digital-camera systems and workflows. The quality parameters tested included system spatial uniformity, tone reproduction, color reproduction accuracy, noise, dynamic range, spatial cross-talk, spatial frequency response, color-channel registration, and depth of field. In addition, two paintings were imaged and processed through each museum’s normal digital workflow. The results of the four case studies showed many dissimilarities among the digital-camera systems and workflows of American museums, which causes a significant range in the archival quality of their digital masters

Preferred color correction for mixed taking-illuminant placement and cropping

The growth of automatic layout capabilities for publications such as photo books and image sharing websites enables consumers to create personalized presentations without much experience or the use of professional page design software. Automated color correction of images has been well studied over the years, but the methodology for determining how to correct images has almost exclusively considered images as independent indivisible objects. In modern documents, such as photo books or web sharing sites, images are automatically placed on pages in juxtaposition to others and some images are automatically cropped. Understanding how color correction preferences are impacted by complex arrangements has become important. A small number of photographs taken under a variety illumination conditions were presented to observers both individually and in combinations. Cropped and uncropped versions of the shots were included. Users had opportunities to set preferred color balance and chroma for the images within the experiment. Analyses point toward trends indicating a preference for higher chroma for most cropped images in comparison to settings for the full spatial extent images. It is also shown that observers make different color balance choices when correcting an image in isolation versus when correcting the same image in the presence of a second shot taken under a different illuminant. Across 84 responses, approximately 60% showed the tendency to choose image white points that were further from the display white point when multiple images from different taking illuminants were simultaneously presented versus when the images were adjusted in isolation on the same display. Observers were also shown to preserve the relative white point bias of the original taking illuminants