Color balance

In graphics, color balance is the term for the dynamic range of the colors in an image. In artworks in general, the color palette can be selected by the artist to convey a mood or an impression .

In image processing, color balance refers to the mapping of the distribution of colors in each pixel of the image to lie within the 8-bit range of human perception (256 colors in any given image). Although the visual system of a human being can distinguish many more colors than a camera or a photograph, the subtleties can be satisfactorily simulated by artful color balance of the palette in any given image.

Some implementations of color balance use histogram equalization .

Color balance is frequently a hardware or software feature of cameras and also of image manipulation programs like The Gimp.

A similar compression, not in color space, but in the perception of acoustic information can be seen in psychoacoustics.

See also

Gamma correction in television cameras

External References

• Using Illumination Information in Color Balance Adjustments
• Television Production Color Balancing Cameras
• How do I adjust color balance in Photoshop?
• PhotoNotes.org Dictionary - Colour/color balance
• The Gimp: Open source program for Color Balance