LED Multispectral Imaging: Reconstruction of Reflectance Spectra

When we take photos with digital cameras and view them on display devices (such as LCD monitors), we want it to be an accurate representation of the original scene. However, the camera only gives us a limited set of data that does not allow for a very accurate reconstruction of the image. We can see this by comparing the data that the camera captures with the true information that is available in a scene. A digital camera records only three values for each point (pixel) in the image: a red channel value, a blue channel value, and a green channel value. However, at every point there is actually a smooth curve of spectral reflectance spanning across wavelengths. Additionally, the information that a camera captures from a scene depends on the illuminant and the particular characteristics of a camera's sensors, among other factors. With only three numbers for each pixel, a digital camera does not accurately capture the original properties of the scene.