[Tig] color table: system gives name?

[Steve Hullfish]

In a way, the whole point of a more name-based solution instead of  
simple numeric declaration of what the RGB (or whichever color space)  
values are is more to make it a creative communications discussion  
than a hard and empiric discussion, like "I want the grass to be RGB  
13, 200, 46." Since the human eye isn't that great at picking out hue  
differences, we don't need to be that exact in describing every  
nuance of a color anyway. Plus, we're not talking about CGI here.  
Even if you describe - for example - the perfect shade of grass there  
are going to be dozens of variations from that specific color anyway,  
just because of the way light hits the grass and variations in the  
colors of each blade or area of a lawn. Even describing the clients  
logo color - a specific Pantone color - won't lock in something  
perfectly if the logo is actually on something that was filmed,  
because there will be variations in the surface and lighting that  
will alter the color.

In the last color correction book that I wrote, one of the feature  
film DPs that I interviewed said that he got to be a better  
communicator with his colorists when he realized that using words  
like "That needs to be more pearly or peach or aqua" weren't as  
effective as directing them with simple red, green and blue  
descriptions, like "The skin tones seem to green." He said he knows  
DPs who try to direct colorists using the colors of specific filters,  
like antique white or tobacco, and even that doesn't work as well as  
simple red green and blue direction.

The Avid Symphony is pretty cool in that you can do a sample and  
actually save the sampled color (whether it has a name or not) in a  
bin for later reference. You can use that sample to match to another  
color in the next shot or even in the next project. You can save  
those references and say "I want the talent's skin tone to always  
match that." If you want, you can replace the name that the system  
gives the color with your own name, like "Angelina Jolie's skin  
tone." Personally, being able to store a still, where you see the  
range of the skin tones or the specific lighting that caused that  
specific skin tone is probably more valuable than a single pixel sample.


On Jun 21, 2008, at 12:49 PM, glenn chan wrote:
>
> For broadcast, some of the issues would be:
> (A) There is no standard (out right now) that specifies the transfer
> function of the display device.  Previously you would just assume that
> the reference monitor was a CRT and the transfer function would be
> that of a CRT's.  (But there are people working on this.)
> (B) When doing HD<-->SD conversions, the conversion probably won't
> account for the difference in primaries (rec. 709, EBU, SMPTE C) and
> transfer functions (rec. 709 versus rec. 601 transfer function).  So
> even when we do have standards, they aren't always followed.
> (C) Consumer displays have colors that are generally way off.  This
> will get worse if more manufacturers release wide gamut displays and
> intentionally oversaturate the image so that the wide gamut capability
> is used.  I recently read a Sony Bravia ad where they advertise this
> 'feature'.
>
> On the other hand, it is still useful to be able to communicate color.
>
> 2- Perhaps we are not so much interested in specific colors as we are
> in the emotion or mood it evokes.