Probabilistic Modelling of Film

Density
Thatcher Freeman
thatcher.imaging@gmail.com

Abstract

In this work, we present a probabilistic model that derives the density of film.

I. Introduction
ilm is an imaging medium that is conventionally found appealing. A film pipeline for cinema

F invoves many components, including spatial and color characteristics. One of the most
important qualities of film is the characteristic curve. That is, given a certain exposure, the
developed film will contain a certain density, representing how dark and opaque the resulting
image is. To model the mapping of light intensity to density is a fundamental step to simulating
film and recreating its characteristics when using digital cameras and computer-generated imagery.

II. Components of Film

The undeveloped film negative consists of a volume of gelatin in which silver halide crystals are
suspended. When an image is taken, the crystals are exposed to photons. If enough photons hit a
crystal, then these photons build up a charge in the crystal which forms a silver speck. During
the development process, the crystals which have a silver speck are turned opaque and the other
crystals are washed away. When light is passed through the developed film, the resulting image
appears as an inverse as the darkest parts of the negative are those which were originally hit by
the most light.

III. Modelling
Let Iy be the intensity of light in pixel y of the input image. Let this be a scene-linear value and
therefore be proportional to the number of photons that land within that pixel. Let β be a scalar
parameter that controls the conversion from the measured intensity to photons. Note that β can
also be used to control exposure.
At the smallest level, the film image consists of grains that are either present or removed in
the final developed film. Thus, each grain can be considered as a Bernoulli random variable with
parameter p, where the grain has a probability p of developing a silver speck.

G ∼ Bernoulli( p)

The value of p is the probability that this grain was hit by more than t photons, where t is a
parameter representing the activation threshold for the film grain. Let Xg be a random variable

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representing the number of photons that hit this grain. Xg is the following poisson random
variable:

Xg ∼ Poisson(λ = βIy )

It follows that p can be expressed as the probability that Xg exceeds t for this pixel.

p = P( Xg ≥ t) = 1 − PoissonCMF(t, λ = βIy )

Consider a flat layer of n grains that are contained within pixel y, in which no grains overlap
and the grains are uniformly sized and randomly distributed across the pixel. Suppose each grain
has an area equal to the proportion n1 of the entire pixel y area. Then, the number of grains N that
will be activated by the light hitting the pixel can be modelled as a Binomial random variable.

N ∼ Binomial(n, p)

After the film is developed, we will consider shining a light through the film with intensity I0
and observe intensity IT . The transmittance of the film is given by:

IT
T=
I0
The transmittance of the flat layer of n grains can be found accordingly, representing the
amount of light that is not absorbed by the activated grains.

n−N N
T= = 1−
n n
This definition must be modified as it makes two erroneous simplifying assumptions. First,
it assumes that each grain is completely opaque, and thus, if N = n, then this layer of grains
would absorb all light. This is incorrect in part because there will be gaps between the grains,
and also because the developed grains may not be completely opaque. Thus, we must introduce
a parameter α that represents the absorption of a grain of film, with 0 ≤ α ≤ 1, usually with α
close to 1. Additionally, we make the assumption that if no grains are activated (N = 0), that the
layer of film will be completely transparent. This is also incorrect, as the material of the film will
block some amount of light. Thus, we can introduce a parameter τ to represent the maximum
film transmittance, with 0 ≤ τ ≤ 1, typically with τ ≈ 1.

τn − αN N
T= = τ−α
n n
However, film is not simply one layer of grain. Instead, it’s a thick layer of gelatin in which
crystals are distributed throughout the entire volume. We can model this as m flat layers of n
grains. Thus, the overall transmittance of the film is given by the product of the transmittance of
all m layers.
    
N1 N2 Nm
T = T1 T2 ...Tm = τ−α τ−α ... τ − α
n1 n2 nm
If we make the assumption that each layer is sampled from the same distribution (n and p
are held constant), then by Gilbrat’s Law, we can consider this product of random variables to be
log-normally distributed.

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 m         
Ni N N
T∼ ∏ τ−α
n
≈ Log-Normal µ = E m ln τ − α
n
, σ2 = Var ln τ − α
n
i =1

Film density is given as the negative log of transmittance.

D = − log10 T

The overall film contrast curve is given by the expected density within a pixel.

D = − log10 E[ T ]

Thus, we have the overall density as a function of parameters (α, β, τ, t, n, m, Iy ), of which all
but Iy are fixed for every pixel. By ramping Iy across all nonnegative values, we can get the
resulting density contrast curve D ( Iy ; α, β, τ, t, n, m).

IV. Reparameterization

Typically, film is described not by the parameters (α, β, τ, t, n, m), but by the parameters DMIN and
DMAX , representing the minimum and maximum densities of the film, and by the “Film Gamma”,
representing the maximum slope of the density vs log10 -exposure curve.

i. D-Min and D-Max

DMIN represents the minimum density of film, when the film is entirely not exposed. Effectively,
this would occur in parts of the frame where no light hits the film. This number is not zero
because it represents the light absorbed by the clear plastic material of film, which is not entirely
transparent. For a film with minimum density DMIN , we have:

DMIN = − log10 T
0 m
 
= − log10 τ − α
n
= − log10 τ m
DMIN
10− m =τ

DMAX represents the maximum density that an exposed film can reach after development.
Given a scene where p = 1, we would expect the developed film to block nearly all the light.
Suppose we are given a film with DMAX . Then, we would necessarily have:

DMAX = − log10 T
 n m
= − log10 τ − α
n
= − log10 (τ − α)m
− DMAX
10 m = (τ − α)

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ii. Film Gamma
TODO

V. Conclusion

i. Future Work
This model does not model reciprocity failure, a phenomenon in which particularly low intensities
of light take longer to induce a certain film density. This occurs because in order for a film grain
to be activated, it needs to be hit by a certain number of photons t within a limited time window.