The Science of Digitizing Two-Dimensional Works of Art for Color-Accurate Image Archives – Concepts Through Practice

A review of the human visual system, the CIE L*, a*, b* color space and its use in evaluating color-image quality, and digital image capture is presented, the goal of which is to provide background information for imaging professionals involved in creating digital-image databases for museums, archives, and libraries. Following this review, an analysis was performed to determine the effects of bit depth, dynamic range, gamma correction, and color correction on the ability to estimate colorimetric data from R, G, B digital images with a minimum of error. The proper use of gray scale and color targets was also considered. Recommendations are presented for the direct digital image capture of two-dimensional works of art. Finally, a brief look into the future using spectral-imaging techniques is given.