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Color science reading list-recommendations?

John Miguel King

John Miguel King

Hi all,

With no work lined up for the foreseeable I'm taking this time to expand knowledge and polish skills. Maybe even abandon on set DIT work and move into colouring so I get to have a more "normal" existence in the mid term.

One thing that I keep finding and that I am constantly puzzled by is the use of colour science as a way to create looks, film emulations and so on and on. I keep finding all these power grades that change a colours space and so on and on in order to replicate photochemical processes. I've realised my knowledge of colour science is pedestrian at best.

So, where should I start reading?. I'm very competent with maths and physics so definitely keen to purchase a couple of books that explore the whole field in depth. My usual online search keeps bringing me to some awfully expensive books, so recommendations before parting with a fraction of my ever-shrinking savings would be very helpful indeed!

Thanks in advance.
 
"Color reproduction in electronic imaging systems" (Link here) is really in depth and is also up to date with modern developments like Aces and digital camera sensors. But that is just colour science, there's nothing in it about looks or film emulations, or replicating photochemical precesses. AFAIK there's no books or resources really about that kind of practical implementation of colour science, at least I haven't run into any.
 
Jussi Rovanpera said:
"Color reproduction in electronic imaging systems" (Link here) is really in depth and is also up to date with modern developments like Aces and digital camera sensors. But that is just colour science, there's nothing in it about looks or film emulations, or replicating photochemical precesses. AFAIK there's no books or resources really about that kind of practical implementation of colour science, at least I haven't run into any.
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Thanks! It's a good starting point. I wouldn't expect a text covering both fields. I think I could connect them once I have a solid understanding of the science.
 
Here's some that have been posted before:

VES: "Cinematic Color" (free 52-page white paper)
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jeremyselan/cinematiccolor/master/ves/Cinematic_Color_VES.pdf

"Color & Mastering for Digital Cinema"
by Glenn Kennel
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Digital-Cinema-Industry-Handbook/dp/0240808746

"Digital Cinematography: Fundamentals, Techniques, & Workflows"
by David Stump
https://www.amazon.com/Capturing-Sh...es-Cinematography-dp-0240817915/dp/0240817915

"Color Reproduction in Electronic Imaging Systems" by Michael Tooms
https://www.amazon.com/Colour-Reproduction-Electronic-Imaging-Systems/dp/1119021766

"Digital Video and HD: Algorithms and Interfaces"
by Charles Poynton
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-HD-Algorithms-Interfaces/dp/0123919266

"The Reproduction of Colour"
by Dr. R.W.G. Hunt
https://www.amazon.com/Reproduction-Colour-R-W-Hunt/dp/0470024259

There's a lot more, but this is a good start.
 
 
 
John Miguel King said:
One thing that I keep finding and that I am constantly puzzled by is the use of colour science as a way to create looks, film emulations and so on and on. I keep finding all these power grades that change a colours space and so on and on in order to replicate photochemical processes. I've realised my knowledge of colour science is pedestrian at best.
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Noted cinematographer Steve Yedlin's tech paper "On Color Science" specially talks about film emulation, and while he doesn't reveal everything he does, what he does say is very thought-provoking:

http://www.yedlin.net/OnColorScience/

Steve has a bunch of other "Nerdy Film Tech" papers at this link which go in-depth into a lot of related subjects like saturation, optics, enhancement, resolution, all kinds of stuff:

http://www.yedlin.net/NerdyFilmTechStuff/index.html

It's a fascinating read, highly recommended.
 
Colour Appearance Models v3 https://www.amazon.com/Appearance-M...pearance+Models&qid=1626150812&s=books&sr=1-1
Digital Image Processing (Gonzalez) v4 https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Imag...mage+processing&qid=1626150833&s=books&sr=1-1
Circles of Confusion https://tech.ebu.ch/publicaions/circles-of-confusion
Colour Science Tome: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471399183/ref=ox_ya_os_product
Principals of Colour Technology https://www.amazon.com/Billmeyer-Sa...r=1-2&keywords=principles+of+color+technology

Most of these were recommended to me by chief colour scientist Graeme Nattress of RED many moons ago. My faves are the Digital Image Processing, Colour Appearance Models and Circles of Confusion.
 
I constantly update the book list on my learning platform and have a lot of Color Science books featured in there too: https://www.demystify-color.com/books

Also I just released a masterclass by Matthias Stoopman called "Color Science For Colorists": https://www.demystify-color.com/colorscienceforcolorists

And last but not least you'll generally also find quite a bit of Color Science and DCTL coding tutorials on the website too: https://www.demystify-color.com/dctl-coding

Hope this helps:)
Cheers,
Nico
 
I actually own pretty much all the published ones as physical books (and some as eBooks as well):

1vt9CBZ.jpeg


Cinematography books on the top shelf, including the last 5 editions of the ASC manual. I need a bigger bookshelf.
 
Do you guys have recommendations for literature about color more specific in analogue film and the whole analogue pipeline?
 
Oke Keiper said:
Do you guys have recommendations for literature about color more specific in analogue film and the whole analogue pipeline?
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Well, if you mean motion picture film lab practices, I'd point to these two books:

"Film Technology in Post Production"
by Dominic Case
https://www.amazon.com/Film-Technology-Production-Media-Manuals/dp/0240516508

The latter explains how film was color graded in the laboratory prior to television and digital. Some of the basic principles still apply today.

The following book is old, but it's the only one I know of that finally revealed some of the secrets behind 3-strip Technicolor matrice alignment in color film printing:

"Colour Cinematography"
by Adrian Cornwell-Clyne
Chapman & Hall
https://www.amazon.com/COLOUR-CINEMATOGRAPHE-Third-Revised-enlarged/dp/B000GU30WE
 
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