1. B O O K R E V I E W
tractable or unreasonably long for inclu- imaging. This umbrella topic covers color
Introduction to Color Imaging Science
sion. measurement, color device calibration, and
Hsien-Che Lee, 695 pages, ISBN 0-521- The contents of the book are organized tone and color reproduction. This part of
84388-X, Cambridge University Press into 22 closely intertwined chapters. An the book takes on a more technological fla-
2005 , $110 hardbound. appendix summarizes commonly used data vor as specific algorithms and technologies
Reviewed by Gaurav Sharma, University sets such as color-matching functions, are described. Color image capture and
of Rochester, Rochester, New York cone fundamentals, and standard illumi- display devices are covered in Chaps. 19
nants. The citations provided in the chap- and 20. Film and digital cameras and scan-
This book provides an introduction to the ters, as pointers to literature with addi- ners are discussed, as are cathode-ray-tube,
scientific principles that govern the opera- tional details on individual topics and liquid-crystal, plasma, and electrolumines-
tion of color imaging devices and systems. related work, amount to a list of more than cent displays. Color printing technologies
As most readers of this review are well 1,000 references. The first chapter serves including offset lithography, xerography,
aware, the “science” of color imaging is, in as an introduction to the subject and pro- and inkjet, along with halftoning and
fact, not just a single scientific discipline, vides an overview for the book. The re- printer calibration techniques are also
but an amalgamation of elements from a maining chapters are organized into six clubbed together with display devices.
number of fields, including, among others, parts. Chapters 20 and 21 on image quality and
physics, chemistry, optics, and vision. Cre- The first three parts of the book cover image processing form the last part of the
ating a single book that provides a concise, the abstract scientific principles of color book. Chapter 20 summarizes principles
yet coherent and accurate, description of imaging that require minimal reference to for conducting subjective and objective
relevant ingredients is an elusive, if not un- color devices and technology. Chapters 2 image quality evaluation. Chapter 21 cov-
attainable, goal. Hsien-Che Lee’s book through 8 introduce light and color. This ers image processing for segmentation,
comes amazingly close to fulfilling this ob- part of the book begins with a short over- edge detection, and denoising, and high-
jective. The book is comprehensive in its view of the nature of light as it relates to lights how color imaging principles are ap-
coverage of the primary scientific prin- imaging systems, and then covers key con- plicable in these problems, particularly in
cepts of radiometry, blackbody radiators, the choice of color space and vectorial
ciples of color imaging. The organization
the physical theory of light-matter interac- treatment instead of separable processing
of material in the book follows a logical
tion, and principles of photometry and of color channels.
framework that aids understanding and as-
colorimetry. Particularly welcome parts of Early in the book p. 2 the author
similation of these principles. The writing
these chapters are the concise introduction states his pedagogical philosophy: “This
style is clear and lucid and several chapters
to radiometry and coverage of the bidirec- book is written based on the belief that for
include useful insights and details that are tional reflectance distribution function, a beginning color imaging scientist or en-
rarely covered in other books on this topic. which are often overlooked in texts on im- gineer, a basic, broad understanding of the
These characteristics combine to make the age processing and color imaging. The physical principles underlying every step
book informative as well as enjoyable next three chapters 9 through 11 , cover in the imaging chain is more useful than an
reading. optical image formation in imaging sys- accumulation of knowledge about details
The book should prove invaluable to its tems and in the human eye. These chapters of the various techniques.” The book ad-
target audience—the increasing number of touch upon the geometry of perspective heres to this philosophy throughout. Ac-
scientists and engineers who are involved projection, geometrical/physical optics, cordingly, readers can expect to see excel-
directly or indirectly in the design and use lens radiometry, aberrations, and imaging lent coverage of principles and should look
of color imaging systems. In addition, it distortions. Chapters 12 through 14 cover elsewhere if they are looking primarily for
will also be useful as a text for graduate the physiology and psychophysics of hu- an overview of existing techniques. Over-
level courses and as a self-study guide for man vision and provide a whirlwind tour all the exclusion has a positive side effect
students preparing for careers in this area. of the elements of the human visual system in increasing the useful life of the book.
The material in the book should be largely that come into play after the retinal optics The presentation in the first three parts
accessible to most readers that possess an going from the retinal mosaic, via the neu- of the book follows a logical progression
undergraduate degree in the sciences or en- ral pathways, and to the brain. The struc- within each topic, beginning with prin-
gineering. Given the wide swath that the ture and functions of these elements are ciples that most graduates in science and
book covers, most readers will, on occa- highlighted along with visual phenomena engineering are familiar with, and then
sion, find it necessary to refresh/extend and the models used to represent these in narrowing the focus and deriving/
their background knowledge in order to color imaging. Chapter 14 presents color summarizing more pragmatic physical
follow the technical details of the exposi- order systems that develop a representation models/concepts that are common in color
tion. A strong point of the book is that pre- of color that conforms to visual perception. imaging. For example, in Chap. 5, the sec-
sentations of mathematical expressions and The latter three parts of the book cover tion on the propagation of light in media
formulas are usually accompanied by text principles and techniques that involve begins with Maxwell’s equations. The so-
and graphs that communicate the physical color technology devices and evaluation lution thereof for a linear, homogeneous,
intuition behind the equations. This par- and processing methods that are often isotropic material is presented and con-
ticularly aids the assimilation of concepts closely coupled with these devices. Chap- nected via suitable analysis to the common
for which analytic derivations are either in- ters 15 through 18 present tools for color optical concepts of refraction, dispersion,
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2. and reflection. The related ideas of scatter- here are still very well written and develop ity. It does, probably, make it harder for
ing, transmission, absorption, and diffrac- extensive connections with the general someone with little experience in color to
tion are briefly described and a summary principles presented in the first three parts, relate concepts to practice and perception.
of the useful mathematical results is in- for some topics the treatment is quite mini- For self-study and classroom instruc-
cluded. The theoretical/empirical develop- malistic. Particular examples of such top- tion, the organization of the book provides
ment for these concepts would be much ics are: color fidelity in capture devices, an excellent structural blueprint. Most
too long and detailed to interest most read- demosaicking, halftoning in Chaps. 18 and chapters include problems that could form
ers, and is included only by reference to 19, and the rather sparse sampling of im- the basis of homework assignments. For
relevant literature. Subsequently, in Chap. age processing in Chap. 21. This is under- instructors adopting the book for a course,
8, these are used as the basis for deriving standable in view of the book length con- a solutions manual is available from the
the commonly used Kubelka-Munk model straints but the imbalance is rather striking publisher. One challenge with using the
under the two-flux model. Other parts of given the comprehensiveness of the first book for classroom instruction seems to be
the book adhere to the same model. The three parts. Perhaps presentation of the its large size and monolithic character,
presentation on each topic is short— limited examples as case studies might which does not seem amenable to parti-
understandably from a desire to have a have been preferable. tioning into semester/quarter-size units.
manageable total book length. Fortunately, A comparison of the book with other Since the author has already used the ma-
the brevity does not come at the expense of texts in this area is also instructive. The terial in teaching classes, road maps of
precision, which is indeed a remarkable first chapter includes an extensive catego- possible one- or two-semester course se-
feat for a book covering such diverse rized list of other books in the areas of quences from the material in the book
ground. Within a chapter, the nature of in- color science, color imaging, and optics. would be quite useful.
formation and the level at which it is ad- Some of these cover specific subjects in- Overall the book represents an excel-
dressed varies significantly among sections cluded in the book, albeit in greater detail, lent synthesis of the basic scientific prin-
addressing different topics. For instance, and others focus on subject areas different ciples across multiple disciplines that ap-
Chap. 8 includes both detailed analytic from the book. The closest book in terms ply in color imaging. If you currently work
sections that develop mathematical models of content is probably the book by Hunt,1 on or plan to work on color imaging, this
for light interactions with colorants and which is, however, still quite different. The well-organized and thorough tome should
media and understandably terse verbal present book is more rigorous in its cover- occupy a handy spot on your bookshelf.
sections on the physics/chemistry of mate- age than Hunt’s book, covers more science
rials that lead to spectral variation and particularly in optics, radiometry, and im- References
thereby color. Though this can make the age formation and less technology e.g., 1. R. W. G. Hunt, The Reproduction of Co-
material in a chapter appear rather nonuni- film and hardcopy reproduction , and is lour, 6th ed., John Wiley and Sons, West Sus-
sex, England 2004 .
form and is occasionally distracting, a re- less vested in film-based color photogra- 2. G. Sharma, Ed., Digital Color Imaging
organization is only likely to compromise phy. The digital color imaging handbook2 Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida
readability and comprehension and there- is likely the most complementary to the 2003 .
fore is not desirable. present book, where a significantly abbre-
The presentation on the latter three viated and shorter introduction to the sci- Gaurav Sharma is an associate professor
parts also attempts to follow the pedagogi- ence is combined with more extensive in the Electrical and Computer Engineer-
cal philosophy mentioned earlier but is chapters on algorithms and techniques. ing Department at the University of Roch-
forced to yield in order to relate the pre- One limitation of the book is the lack of ester, Rochester, New York. He also holds a
courtesy appointment in the Department of
sentation to current color devices. There- any color plates or figures throughout the Biostatistics and Computational Biology
fore, the book does introduce specific book. This is surprising given the main within the same university. His research
methods and techniques in Chaps. 15 subject area of the book. However, given interests include color science and imag-
through 19 in order to illustrate some of the focus of the book on principles, this ing, multimedia security, visual sensor net-
the design principles. While most parts does not excessively detract from its util- works, and genomic signal processing.
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