Steve Wright, an award-winning VFX pioneer and renowned educator, is the published author of two popular books: Digital Compositing for Film and Video and Compositing Visual Effects. In 2005, his attention turned full-time to educating the next generation of VFX practitioners, imparting his vast technical knowledge gleaned from 30-plus years of production experience. His love of digital imaging technology and color science is the mainstay of his training website, FX Ecademy.

Foreword...........................................................................................xv

Preface............................................................................................. xix

Acknowledgments............................................................................ xxiii

Introduction: The Five Spaces of the Digital Imaging Pipeline...........1

Chapter 1 - World Space..............................................................5

1.1 The Nature of Light....................................................................6

1.1.1 Wavelength............................................................................6

1.1.2 Amplitude..............................................................................7

1.1.3 Phase....................................................................................8

1.1.4 Polarization............................................................................8

1.1.5 Monochromatic Light.............................................................9

1.1.6 Coherent Light.......................................................................9

1.1.7 Particles............................................................................... 10

1.1.8 The Inverse Square Law...................................................... 10

1.1.9 Interior vs. Exterior Lighting.................................................. 11

1.2 Measuring Light...................................................................... 11

1.2.1 Candela (cd): The Brightness of a Light Source................... 12

1.2.2 Lumen (lm): The Total Amount of Incident Light................... 12

1.2.3 Lux (lx): How Brightly a Scene is Lit..................................... 12

1.2.4 Other Units.......................................................................... 13

1.3 Dynamic Range........................................................................ 13

1.3.1 Brightness vs. Luminance.................................................... 14

1.3.2 What is Dynamic Range?..................................................... 14

1.3.3 Stops................................................................................... 16

1.4 A Color Science Moment........................................................ 16

1.4.1 Emission Spectrums............................................................ 17

1.4.2 Spectral Reflectance............................................................ 17

1.4.3 Color Stimulus..................................................................... 18

1.5 Light Sources......................................................................... 19

1.5.1 Emission Spectrums............................................................ 19

1.5.2 Color Temperature...............................................................21

1.5.3 Standard Illuminants............................................................23

1.6 Surface Interactions with Light................................................ 24

1.6.1 Spectral Reflectance............................................................ 24

1.6.2 Diffuse vs. Specular Reflections...........................................26

1.7 Exotic Surface Interactions with Light.....................................27

1.7.1 Scattering............................................................................27

1.7.2 Polarized Light.....................................................................29

1.7.3 The Fresnel Effect................................................................30

1.7.4 Color from Interference........................................................32

1.7.5 Dichroic Filters.....................................................................33

1.8 How We See the World.........................................................33

1.8.1 Color Perception..................................................................34

1.8.2 CIE xy-chromaticity Diagram...............................................35

1.8.3 Our Visual Response...........................................................37

1.8.4 Adaptation...........................................................................38

1.8.4.1 General Brightness Adaptation.............................39

1.8.4.2 Lateral Brightness Adaptation...............................39

1.8.4.3 Chromatic Adaptation...........................................40

1.8.5 Calculating Luminance.........................................................40

1.8.6 Metamers............................................................................42

1.9 Conclusion.......................................................................................43

Chapter 2 - Camera Space....................................................................... 45

2.1 Camera Perceptions of Color...........................................................46

2.1.1 Spectral Sensitivity..............................................................46

2.1.2 Camera Gamuts..................................................................48

2.1.3 Converting Light to Digits.....................................................48

2.1.4 The Debayer Process..........................................................49

2.1.5 Camera Imaging Math......................................................... 51

2.1.6 Light Sources......................................................................52

2.1.6.1 Color Temperature................................................52

2.1.6.2 Spectral Emissions...............................................53

2.1.7 CCD vs. CMOS...................................................................54

2.2 Space and Time...............................................................................56

2.2.1 Resolution...........................................................................56

2.2.2 ISO......................................................................................57

2.2.3 Speed..................................................................................57

2.2.4 Sensor Crop........................................................................59

2.2.5 Sensor Size.........................................................................60

2.2.6 Anamorphic Formats...........................................................62

2.2.6.1 Cinemascope 2.39................................................62

2.2.6.2 HDTV 1.33............................................................63

2.3 Camera Dynamic Range..................................................................63

2.3.1 Clipping...............................................................................64

2.3.2 Bit Depth.............................................................................65

2.4 Video Standards..............................................................................66

2.4.1 Resolutions..........................................................................66

2.4.1.1 HDTV Standards ....................................................................66

2.4.1.2 UHDTV Standards ....................................................................67

2.4.2 Scan Modes........................................................................67

2.4.2.1 Progressive Scan..................................................67

2.4.2.2 Interlaced Scan.....................................................67

2.4.2.3 History..................................................................69

2.4.3 Frame Rates........................................................................70

2.5 Output Options................................................................................ 71

2.6 Camera Artifacts..............................................................................72

2.6.1 Noise...................................................................................72

2.6.2 Rolling Shutter..................................................................... 74

2.6.3 DSLR Rolling Shutter...........................................................75

2.6.4 Vignetting............................................................................75

2.7 Lens Artifacts...................................................................................76

2.7.1 Lens Distortion....................................................................78

2.7.2 Spherical Aberration............................................................78

2.7.3 Chromatic Aberration...........................................................79

2.7.4 Depth of Field......................................................................79

2.7.5 Veiling Glare.........................................................................80

2.7.6 Lens Flare............................................................................80

2.7.7 Bokeh..................................................................................81

2.7.8 The Swirly Bokeh.................................................................81

2.8 The DIT............................................................................................82

2.8.1 On-Set Support...................................................................82

2.8.2 Data Management...............................................................83

2.8.3 Color Grading......................................................................83

2.8.4 Post-Production...