Towards Colour Imaging with the Image Ranger

Abstract

Many of the colour images captured by different types of digital camera do not provide quality colour image according to human visual perception. In this study we explore technique for colour correction of the colour images from the Waikato Image Ranger. Colour images were captured using three different illuminants with the Waikato Image Ranger. The colour image formed from the ranger data do not have good quality because illuminants used do not match usual RGB standard illuminants. The spectral power distribution values of the illuminants were measured using spectroradiometer. To calculate tristimulus values the reflectance function of the scene is required. A mechanism of calculating the reflectance functions from the ranger data using genetic algorithm was explained. The reflectance functions are approximated using variable Gaussian basis functions, and fit to the ranger colour triplets by genetic algorithms. From the estimated reflectance functions standard CRT RGB values were calculated. It was found that the genetic algorithm approach was for too slow for practical purposes and produced images with far too much colour variation.