ACES & 3 distinct types of media to colour manage

If u like the to science the shit out out stuff, as I do, then colour science is going to be bit of an issue. You can always test until it breaks. You uncover new apparent truths that appear to contradict previously held working rules. Until you reconcile new with old your colour world feels uncomfortable, as if anything could happen. That is the feeling of advancing your knowledge, the feeling of going backwards.

I looked a little into the world of colour physicists, guys like Charles Poynton who write the standards and specifications we work from. Not only is it deep & complex, but it also hold little interest. if I were to scratch the surface of that area of study, I would barely leave room for this area of study, my chosen field of VFX. It feels right to leave it.

For just about all of us who work in post production therefore, we operate from, or on top of, or close to something we can’t fully grasp. The is no formal documentation. The world of colour mgmt tutorials are based of PC photography, with film and TV remaining the niche, although there are a few very good writers. Victor Perez and Steve Wright [picture quote]. You cannot just go off, get trained and never have another issue. It’s something we’re going to rub up against all the time - and the last thing you want on a live production job is some colour science conundrum inviting you for the deep dive. Worse than that, our need to be right, can obscure the consensus needed for good colour decisions. Some colour decision, for example, might be really troublesome to the compositor, but they may not even matter to the client, making it really useful to air your views. So I’m gonna tell what I know and also where i’m stuck

I’ve battled hard to shape these working rules. They are basically test results; outcomes. They don’t all stack up. you just get what you get & we try to make sense of it - If you care a producer, a comper, a shooter, or a even a colour scientist who could shed more light, I hope you enjoy the discussion.

It’s April 15. I’ll write one per month from here minimum. Much more if I can. For now… let’s start with linear. But I will also set out an agenda for what’s coming

• Gamma

  • image gamma

  • display gamma

  • the problem of working with gamma corrected images

  • EOTF & PQ and HDR

• Linear