Fundamentals of Imaging

Tao Zhou

Chapter 1

Light Source
1.1 Different kind of light sources and their mechanisms
1.2 Intensity and color of light sources
 1.2.1 Light Characterization:
Intensity and Power

Radiometry vs. Photometry

Radiometry
radiant flux or radiant power is the measure of the total
power of electromagnetic radiation (including visible light).

Photometry
luminous flux or luminous power is the measure of the
perceived power of light by human eye.
A general comparison and units
 Radiant vs. Luminous Power (Flux)

The radiant power is the total radiated power in watts, also

called radiant flux. This power must be factored by the
sensitivity of the human eye to determine luminous flux
in lumens. The standard definition is as follows:
Luminous Efficacy
where Iv(λ) is the luminous intensity in
candelas, I(λ) is the radiant intensity in
W/sr and y() is the standard luminosity
function

The curves represent the spectral

luminous efficacy for human vision.
The lumen is defined such that the
peak of the photopic vision curve
has a luminous efficacy of 683
lumens/watt. This value for the
scotopic peak makes the efficacy
the same as the photopic value at
555 nm. The scotopic vision is primarily
rod vision, and the photopic vision
includes the cones. The response curve
of the eye along with the spectral power
distribution of a luminous object determine
the perceived color of the object.
 Luminous Efficacy Table
Photopic Photopic Scotopic Scotopic
Wavelength Luminous Luminous
Conversion Conversion
 (nm) Efficacy V Efficacy V
lm/W lm/W
380 0.000039 0.027 0.000589 1.001
390 0.000120 0.082 0.002209 3.755
390 0.000120 0.082 0.002209 3.755
400 0.000396 0.270 0.009290 15.793
410 0.001210 0.826 0.034840 59.228
420 0.004000 2.732 0.096600 164.220
430 0.011600 7.923 0.199800 339.660
440 0.023000 15.709 0.328100 557.770
450 0.038000 25.954 0.455000 773.500
460 0.060000 40.980 0.567000 963.900
470 0.090980 62.139 0.676000 1149.200
480 0.139020 94.951 0.793000 1348.100
490 0.208020 142.078 0.904000 1536.800
500 0.323000 220.609 0.982000 1669.400
 Photopic Photopic Scotopic Scotopic
Wavelength Luminous Luminous
Conversion Conversion
 (nm) Efficacy V Efficacy V
lm/W lm/W
507 0.444310 303.464 1.000000 1700.000
510 0.503000 343.549 0.997000 1694.900
520 0.710000 484.930 0.935000 1589.500
530 0.862000 588.746 0.811000 1378.700
540 0.954000 651.582 0.655000 1105.000
550 0.994950 679.551 0.481000 817.700
555 1.000000 683.000 0.402000 683.000
560 0.995000 679.585 0.328800 558.960
570 0.952000 650.216 0.207600 352.920
580 0.870000 594.210 0.121200 206.040
590 0.757000 517.031 0.065500 111.350
600 0.631000 430.973 0.033150 56.355
610 0.503000 343.549 0.015930 27.081
620 0.381000 260.223 0.007370 12.529
630 0.265000 180.995 0.003335 5.670
 Photopic Photopic Scotopic Scotopic
Wavelength Luminous Luminous
Conversion Conversion
 (nm) Efficacy V Efficacy V
lm/W lm/W
640 0.175000 119.525 0.001497 2.545
650 0.107000 73.081 0.000677 1.151
660 0.061000 41.663 0.000313 0.532
670 0.032000 21.856 0.000148 0.252
680 0.017000 11.611 0.000072 0.122
690 0.008210 5.607 0.000035 0.060
700 0.004102 2.802 0.000018 0.030
710 0.002091 1.428 0.000009 0.016
720 0.001047 0.715 0.000005 0.008
730 0.000520 0.355 0.000003 0.004
740 0.000249 0.170 0.000001 0.002
750 0.000120 0.082 0.000001 0.001
760 0.000060 0.041 0.000000 0.000
770 0.000030 0.020 0.000000 0.000
 Power Per Unit Solid Angle
The power (flux) per unit solid angle (sometimes called pointance) is the
nearest precise terminology to the common term intensity. It expresses the
directionality of the radiated energy and is appropriate for the description
of point sources. In the case of radiant power, it is expressed in watts per
steradian. In photometry it is expressed in lumens per steradian = candela.
The candela is the foundation unit
for the measurement of visible light.
It is one of the seven foundation SI units.
It's formal definition is:
The candela is the luminous intensity,
in a given direction. of a source that emits
monochromatic radiation of frequency
540 x 1012 hertz and that has a radiant
intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per
steradian.
The candela is abbreviated cd and its
Standard symbol is Iv. The candela is then
used to define the lumen and other
quantities used in the measurement of
visible light.
 Power Per Unit Area Per Unit Solid Angle
The power per unit area per unit solid angle is sometimes called sterance.
In the radiant case it is measured in watts/m2 steradian and is also called
radiance. In the luminous case it is measured in lumens/m2 steradian which
is equivalent to candela/m2 = nit. This quantity is also called luminance.

Power Per Unit Area of Surface

The power per unit area on an illuminated surface, sometimes called areance,
is distinguished from the similar quantity for the source. In radiometry the surface
areance may be called irradiance and luminous areance may be called illuminance.
This is the quantity of practical importance in judging whether an area is lighted well
enough for reading or other activities. The illuminance is measured in lux. The lux is
defined as a lumen per square meter and is a unit of illuminance. An equivalent term
is luminous flux density.

Illuminance Ev = Luminous intensity Iv /radius2

The SI units of Radiometry and Photometry
 Radiometry Summary
Quantityr Abbr. Notes

SI radiometry units
Radiant energy J energy

Radiant flux W radiant energy per unit time, also called radiant power

Radiant intensity W·sr−1 power per unit solid angle

Radiance W·sr−1·m−2 power per unit solid angle per unit projected source area.

Sometimes confusingly called "intensity".

Irradiance W·m−2 power incident on a surface.

Sometimes confusingly called "intensity".

Radiant emittance / Radiant exitance W·m −2
power emitted from a surface.

Sometimes confusingly called "intensity".

Spectral radiance W·sr−1·m−3 commonly measured in W·sr−1·m−2·nm−1
or

W·sr−1·m−2·
Hz−1
Spectral irradiance W·m−3 commonly measured in W·m−2·nm−1
or
W·m−2·Hz−1
 photometry summary

Quantity Sym SI unit Ab Notes

bol br.
Luminous en Qv lumen second lm·s units are sometimes called Talbots
ergy
Luminous F lumen (= cd·sr) lm also called luminous power
flux
Luminous int Iv candela (= lm/sr) cd an SI base unit
ensity
Luminance Lv candela per cd/ units are sometimes called nits
square metre m2
Illuminance Ev lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light incident on a surface

Luminous Mv lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light emitted from a surface

emittance
Luminous effi   lumen per watt lm/ ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux;
cacy W maximum possible is 683.002
 1.2.2 The color of light source

A spectral color is composed of a single wavelength and can be

correlated with wavelength as shown in the chart above.
 The characteristics of color:
hue, saturation, and brightness
It is common practice to define pure colors in terms of the wavelengths of light
as shown. This works well for spectral colors but it is found that many different
combinations of light wavelengths can produce the same perception of color.

The inherently distinguishable characteristics of color are hue, saturation, and

brightness. Color measurement systems characterize colors in various parameters
which relate to hue, saturation, and brightness. They include the subjective
Munsell and Ostwald systems and the quantitative CIE color system.
 Hue
The Newton Color Circle
The terms "red" and "blue“ primarily describe
hue – hue is related to wavelength for spectral
colors. It is convenient to arrange the saturated
hues around a Newton Color Circle. Starting
from red and proceeding clockwise around the
circle below to blue proceeds from long to
shorter wavelengths. However it shows that not
all hues can be represented by spectral colors
since there is no single wavelength of light which
has the magenta hue - it may be produced by an
equal mixture of red and blue.
Newton's color circle is a convenient way to
summarize the additive mixing properties of
colors. R,G,B are thought of as the additive
primary colors, and their complementary
colors are placed across from them on the
circle. The colors then fall on the circle in the
order of the wavelengths of the corresponding
spectral colors. Magenta is not a spectra color.
Hue
 Hue

Additive color mixing Tristimulus Values

Any color which can be
produced by the primary
colors blue, green, and
red can be written:

where B,G,R can be

considered to be
"unit values" for blue,
green, and red and
B,G,R are the
magnitudes or relative
intensities of those
primaries and are called
"tristimulus values".
 saturation

Pink may be thought of as having the
same hue as red but being less saturated.
A fully saturated color is one with no
mixture of white. A spectral color consisting
of only one wavelength is fully saturated,
but one can have a fully saturated magenta
which is not a spectral color.
Note that the blue of the sky is more
saturated when you look further from
the sun. The almost white scattering
near the sun can be attributed to Mie
scattering, which is not very wavelength
dependent. The mixture of white light
with the blue gives a less saturated blue.
Brightness
The brightness of a colored surface depends upon
the illuminance and upon its reflectivity. Since
the perceived brightness is not linearly proportional
to the reflectivity, a scale from 0 to 10 is used to
represent perceived brightness in color measure-
ment systems like the Munsell system. It is found
that equal surfaces with differing spectral characte-
ristics but which emit the same number of lumens
will be perceived to be equally bright.

If one surface emits more lumens,

it will be perceived to be brighter
in a logarithmic relationship which
yields a constant increase in
brightness of about 1.5 units with
each doubling of brightness.

The images on the left from the

commercially available Color
Wheel depict 10 levels of bright-
ness for gray or achromatic light.
 Color Space

The three essential parameters hue, saturation, and brightness

can be thought of as defining a color space. in analogy with three
spatial dimensions. Three color "coordinates" would specify a color.

Space can be described by different coordinate systems, and the

three most widely used color systems, Munsell, Ostwald, and CIE,
describe the color space with different parameters. The Munsell
system uses hue, value, and chroma and the Ostwald system uses
dominant wavelength, purity, and luminance. The more precise CIE
system uses a parameter Y to measure brightness and parameters
x and y to specify the chromaticity which covers the properties hue
and saturation on a two dimensional chromaticity diagram.
The MUNSELL system is a collection of color
samples for comparison, with adjacent samples
based upon equal perceived differences in color.

Some features of the Munsell system are

used in commercially available paint and
pigment mixing guides like the Color Wheel.
 The C.I.E. Color Space

Spectral power distribution reflectance Color matching function integration

Any color on the CIE chromaticity diagram can x,y,z is normalized according to
be considered to be a mixture of the three CIE X,Y,Z. x and y are used as the
primaries, X,Y,Z. That mixture may be specified coordinates in the CIE color
by three numbers X,Y,Z called tristimulus values. space. Color C = xX + yY + zZ
X,Y,Z uniquely represent a perceivable hue, and
different combinations of light wavelengths which x = X / (X+Y+Z),
gives the same set of tristimulus values will be y = Y / (X+Y+Z),
indistinguishable in chromaticity to the human eye. z = Z / (X+Y+Z) = 1- x- y
The C.I.E. Color Space
The C.I.E. Color Space
 Color Temperature

An incandescent light is very close to being a black-body radiator. Of all

colors based on the black body blue is the "hotter" color, while red is
actually the "cooler" color. This is the opposite of the associations both
colors have taken on, with "red" as "hot", and "blue" as "cold". A proof of
this is that while incandescent bulbs glow a reddish to yellowish color
throughout their lifetimes, when one blows out, the flash of light is
noticeably bluish. The filament is hotter when it burns out.

5000 K and 6500 K are also called respectively D50 (US standard) and D65
(Europe standard) in all professions working with light (photographers,
publishers, etc). It is a temperature similar to the black body temperature
but not strictly identical.
Correlated Color Temperature
The Kelvin system for lamp description
works well for an incandescent light bulb.
Since these lamps are very nearly black
body radiators, their chromaticity coordinates
land directly on the Planckian locus in the
CIExy color space. (In Color theory, the
Planckian locus is generally the path that
the color of a black body would take in a
particular color space as the blackbody
temperature changes. See the black line on
The left graph.)

However, many other light sources, such as

fluorescent lamps, do not emit radiation in the
form of a black-body curve, and are
assigned what is known as a correlated color
temperature (CCT), which is the color
temperature of a black body which most
closely matches the lamp's perceived color.
 Correlated Color Temperature
Fluorescent lighting is not incandescent and
presents a new challenge. Fluorescent lamps
are made using myriad combinations of phos-
phors and gases. The illumination that they
produce is almost never described by a point
in color space which lies on the Planckian locus.
The left plot shows lines crossing the
Planckian locus for which the correlated color
temperature is the same. Nevertheless, the
colors are not the same, and the method gives
only an approximate specification of a particular
color. Due to this shortcoming, the rated CCT
of any fluorescent tube does not completely
specify its color. To be more precise: A
number of color spaces have been developed
in which the difference between two colors
may be estimated by the distance between them on a chromaticity diagram.
On a chromaticity diagram for which distances specify color distances, the
best estimate of the color temperature of any point will be the color
temperature of the point on the Planckian locus closest to that point.