{"id":1169,"date":"2016-05-26T14:54:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T14:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2022-05-25T18:12:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T18:12:17","slug":"blinded-by-color-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/blinded-by-color-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinded by Color Science"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday a good friend and colorist had this to say:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The dirty secret of color science is that it&#39;s only about 80% science. 15% wishful thinking and 5% \u00af_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af. cc <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iampliny\">@iampliny<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Juan Salvo (@j_salvo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/j_salvo\/status\/735471517887238144\">May 25, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>pJuan is speaking to something to important: the term \u201cscience\u201d is loaded with the notion of\u00a0impartial, objective truth about the universe:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1170\" style=\"width: 190px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/263\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1170\" class=\"wp-image-1170 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-impartial-truth.png\" alt=\"xkcd-impartial-truth\" width=\"180\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-impartial-truth.png 180w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-impartial-truth-173x300.png 173w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-impartial-truth-50x87.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"image-attribution\">via <a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/263\/\">XKCD<\/a><\/span>\u00a0No, thank <em>you<\/em>, XKCD.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sure, you need to understand some of the underlying scientific principles of color theory in order to calibrate a monitor, design a workflow, or build a LUT.<\/p>\n<p>The problem arises when (probably) well-meaning people start talking about \u201ctheir\u201d color science, or \u201cARRI\u2019s color science\u201d vs. \u201cRED\u2019s color science.\u201d Or worse yet, when a post production Dojo breaks out the scary\u00a0phrases like \u201cProprietary Color Science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At best, this is laziness.<\/p>\n<p>At worst, it\u2019s a shoddy\u00a0attempt to Blind You With Color Science.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s getting confused here is the practice of the scientific method (induction, falsifiable hypotheses) and the <em>application<\/em> of science (engineering, aka building stuff.)<\/p>\n<p>An aeronautical engineer sure needs to have studied the sciences. But when he builds an airplane he calls it an airplane. He does not call it \u201cA Science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1172 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science-262x300.jpg\" alt=\"i made a science\" width=\"262\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science-262x300.jpg 262w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science-200x229.jpg 200w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science-400x458.jpg 400w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science-50x57.jpg 50w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/i-made-a-science.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Color Science\u00a0is real, and uniquely difficult.<\/h2>\n<p>This\u00a0is not say that color science isn&#8217;t a legitimate field of inquiry. Quite the opposite &#8212; it is, in fact, a uniquely difficult one. It\u00a0doesn&#8217;t merely concern itself with objectively measurable optical\u00a0phenomena. Very specifically, it is concerned with the human perception of those phenomena. The discipline of color science therefore overlaps physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology.\u00a0Which is why we\u00a0need constructs like \u201cThe Standard Observer\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As one reader pointed out to me: &#8220;Most real color science is not even related to the film industry.&#8221; That is true. At the same time,\u00a0many film industry professionals have made significant contributions to the advance of color science. People\u00a0like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.studiodaily.com\/2012\/04\/qa-fotokems-new-color-guru-joseph-slomka\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joseph Slomka<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joshua-pines-214515b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Pines<\/a>, and of course <a href=\"http:\/\/www.poynton.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charles Poynton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve often been asked why color encoding standards are not neater, tidier, more symmetrical. That one&#8217;s easy: we humans are not neat, tidy, or symmetrical. And the models that go around encoding that light and color information have\u00a0to interact meaningfully with our\u00a0complex, messy, and evolved human visual system.<\/p>\n<h2>Science vs. Engineering<\/h2>\n<p>So the problem arises not with the existence of the term color science, but with its casual hijacking.<\/p>\n<p>Chatter about \u201cmy color science\u201d or \u201ctheir science\u201d usually comes down to one party&#8217;s\u00a0specific, subjective approach to a challenging engineering problem that involves\u00a0color theory. How do I process this particular film stock? How do I build a perceptual transform from P3 to 709 color space? How do I algorithmically convert Standard Dynamic Range footage into a High Dynamic Range image that is pleasing to look at? How to de-mosaic this particular camera\u2019s RAW sensor data?<\/p>\n<p>These are difficult and interesting problems to solve. They all involve knowledge of color theory. But one party\u2019s <em>preferred approach<\/em> should really not be described as <em>their science<\/em>. It is merely their technique, their algorithm, their solution, or their product.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1173\" style=\"width: 611px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/435\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1173\" class=\"wp-image-1173\" src=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity.png\" alt=\"xkcd purity\" width=\"601\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity.png 740w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity-200x83.png 200w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity-300x125.png 300w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity-680x283.png 680w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity-400x166.png 400w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xkcd-purity-50x21.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"image-attribution\">Quick refresher via <a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/435\/\">XKCD<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>So\u00a0if you ever meet a post production supervisor whose blood pressure spikes when she hears the phrase \u201cproprietary color science\u201d \u2014 hire her on the spot.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>UPDATE<\/strong>: This article was revised to better\u00a0clarify the legitimacy of color science as a field of inquiry, as delineated from the &#8220;casual hijacking&#8221; of the term itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday a good friend and colorist had this to say: The dirty secret of color science is that it&#39;s only about 80% science. 15% wishful thinking and 5% \u00af_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af. cc @iampliny &mdash; Juan Salvo (@j_salvo) May 25, 2016 pJuan is speaking to something to important: the term \u201cscience\u201d is loaded with the notion of\u00a0impartial, objective truth about the universe: Sure, you need to understand some of the underlying scientific principles of color theory in order to calibrate a monitor, design a workflow, or build a LUT. The problem arises when (probably) well-meaning people start talking about \u201ctheir\u201d color science, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3276,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions\/3276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}