Color compensation using nonlinear luminance-RGB component curve of a camera

Abstract

Many color image processing methods employ gray scale image algorithms first and then apply color mapping afterwards. Most popular gamut mapping techniques are hue-preserving methods such as shifting or scaling of color components. However, those methods result in unnatural modification of color saturation. In this paper, we propose a novel color mapping method based on nonlinear luminance-RGB component characteristic curves of a camera taking the image. We obtain an accurate color value after luminance enhancement using luminance-RGB curves of the camera. All experiments demonstrate that our algorithm is effective and suitable to be embedded in a camera because of its simplicity and accuracy in color enhancement of digital images. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.