CONSIDERING THE SURROUND IN DEVICE INDEPENDENT COLOR IMAGING

When viewing images, the relative luminance of the surround has a prof ound impact on the apparent contrast of the image. For this reason, ph otographic transparencies intended for projection in a darkened room a re produced with an objective contrast substantially higher than that necessary for optimum reproduction as prints viewed in an illuminated surround. The dark surround causes the image elements to appear lighte r and this effect is stronger for darker colors resulting in a loss in perceived contrast. This effect is also of great importance in device -independent color imaging since resultant images might be observed in a wide variety of media and viewing conditions. Research on psychophy sical scaling of brightness and lightness and the effects of backgroun d and surround relative luminance on lightness and chroma is reviewed. The importance of this research for device-independent color imaging systems is described along with the prediction of these effects using the RLAB color-appearance model. Finally, experiments testing the use of RLAB and other color-appearance models in cross-media color reprodu ction applications are described. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.