A general framework to study the price‐color relationship in paintings with an application to Mark Rothko rectangular series

We propose a general framework to study the relationship between the price of a painting and its color‐related attributes. To this end we focus on four key aspects: dominant colors, features of the color palette, color harmony, and color emotions. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach with an example based on Mark Rothko's post‐1950 paintings (the “rectangular” series), and auction data from the 1994 to 2018 period. We identify two distinct price‐color regimes in Rothko's market: (a) [1994‐2005], a period in which prices are explained mainly by the growing popularity of the artist regardless of the color attributes of the paintings sold; and (b) [2006‐2018], a period in which color‐related attributes explain most of the prices. Furthermore, we find that in this second period, the dominant colors and the diversity of the color palette, are by far the most relevant attributes that influence the price; color harmony and color emotions hold almost no explanatory power during this period. Finally, we propose a new metric based on the Herfindahl Index to describe color diversity; this metric seems to be promising at characterizing the effect of the color palette on the price of a painting.     

Familiar objects and memory color

Memory color for a set of eight different familiar objects has been investigated. Our results obtained with one hundred observers, eighty color samples of NCS, and two illuminants indicate that: (a) the shifts that are produced in the dominant wavelength with memory depend on the familiar object considered; (b) colorimetric purity, as a measure of saturation, of the remembered objects is not the same as that of the familiar objects; (c) in the SVF representation space, with illuminant D65 and regardless of experience in color matching of the observer, the color that was best remembered was purple aubergine and the worst remembered was brown chestnut. With the illuminant A, red tomato was the best remembered color and yellow lemon the worst. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 23: 416–427, 1998     

Skin‐color correction method based on hue template mapping for wide color gamut liquid crystal display devices

The development of wide color gamut (WCG) liquid crystal display (LCD) plays an important role in the high‐quality television (TV) field. Nowadays, people want their TV or display devices to have the capability of showing vivid colors while keeping skin colors as natural as they remember. Therefore, it is necessary to develop color‐correction technologies for WCG LCD system. A new color‐correction method named “natural skin‐color mapping algorithm” (NSCMA) for WCG LCD is proposed in this study. It can solve the skin‐color contour problem in color‐corrected images with simple skin‐color detection. Its development is based on the concepts of performing color mapping between source hue colors and target hue colors on each hue page. The polynomial regression is also applied to calculate the color mapping conversion matrices. Two color mapping factors called template‐size factor and tone‐compression factor are designed in NSCMA. The template‐size factor is used to adjust target template sizes adequately. The tone‐compression factor is designed to control the degrees of image enhancement. For facial skin‐color pictures, the appropriate settings of template‐size factor and tone‐compression factor will get suitable color image rendering on the WCG LCD. It is demonstrated that the WCG LCD can be corrected to show vivid color pictures and keep facial skin colors as natural as possible when the proposed NSCMA is performed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

数字中间片后期制作中的色彩管理

在色彩管理中使用LUT具有相当大的潜在应用价值。LUT是一个简单的数据结构,它把每一个输入值映射到相应的输出值,并且还可以确定视频硬件里每帧图像中每一个像素的数据值的大小。模仿和校正LUTs提供的转换,不但能保证多种显示器之间的匹配,而且在后期制作过程中还可以使显示的图像与胶片完美的匹配。介质中呈现的色彩组叫做色彩范围。电影正片的色彩范围与数字显示器的色彩范围具有不同的特性。数字中间片(DI)工艺有2种不同的图像编码方法:一种是使用DPX文件,其作用是进行输入和输出及表示底片密度,预览画面则需要显示LUT;另一种方法是不使用LUT而直接显示图像数据。图像数据显示的是显示器的色彩范围,而不是胶片的色彩范围。在记录到胶片上之前,数据需要转换成密度值。在制作DI过程中,可以模仿洗片厂配光工序,通过调节印片光号进行的色彩校正。本文从8个方面较详细的叙述了制作数字中间片时的色彩管理。     

Color appearance rating of familiar real objects under immersive viewing conditions

With the concept of memory colors being considered to play a crucial role for many imaging and lighting applications, the questions how people assess the color appearance of familiar objects and what kind of fundamental characteristics can be derived from these assessments have extensively been studied in the past. However, all of the previous studies, the authors of this article are aware of, lack in realistic viewing and adaptation conditions. In the attempt of overcoming these deficiencies, a new experiment investigating the impact of long‐term memory on the color appearance ratings of 12 familiar test objects was performed. The pooled observer data were modeled in CIECAM02 color space using bivariate Gaussian functions whose centroids define the corresponding memory color centers for each test object. Comparisons with previous results obtained by Smet et al. revealed no significant differences in the reported memory color centers, but showed distinct deviations in the covariance matrices defining the shape of the fitted distribution functions. It is supposed that this new set of functions will lead to significantly different results when being used for the construction of an updated memory‐based color quality metric.     

No measured effect of a familiar contextual object on color constancy

Some familiar objects have a typical color, such as the yellow of a banana. The presence of such objects in a scene is a potential cue to the scene illumination, since the light reflected from them should on average be consistent with their typical surface reflectance. Although there are many studies on how the identity of an object affects how its color is perceived, little is known about whether the presence of a familiar object in a scene helps the visual system stabilize the color appearance of other objects with respect to changes in illumination. We used a successive color matching procedure in three experiments designed to address this question. Across the experiments we studied a total of six subjects (two in Experiment 1, three in Experiment 2, and four in Experiment 3) with partial overlap of subjects between experiments. We compared measured color constancy across conditions in which a familiar object cue to the illuminant was available with conditions in which such a cue was not present. Overall, our results do not reveal a reliable improvement in color constancy with the addition of a familiar object to a scene. An analysis of the experimental power of our data suggests that if there is such an effect, it is small: less than approximately a change of 0.09 in a constancy index where an absence of constancy corresponds to an index value of 0 and perfect constancy corresponds to an index value of 1. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 347–359, 2014     

Quantitative representation of floral colors

Human and insect pollinator perceived floral colors of 81 species of angiosperms (flowering plants) from Trivandrum (Kerala, India) was represented using the CIE 1976 L*a*b* color space and color hexagon, respectively. The floral color difference among human perceived red, yellow, and blue‐hued flowers and that of each flower from its respective pure hue was calculated using the CIE ΔE 2000 formula. Human perceived floral color difference values were consistently higher than 3.5, indicating the uniqueness of floral colors. Flowers perceived red and yellow by humans were dominant and of comparable proportions. Insect pollinators perceive most of the flowers as blue‐green. Quantitative representation of human and pollinator perceived floral colors would be invaluable to understand the information broadcasted by flowers. It can form the basis of flower grading in the floriculture industry and underpin objectivity in evolving the framework for national pollinator strategies.     

Dictionary‐based estimation of spectra for wide‐gamut color imaging

With the widespread use of commercialized wide‐gamut displays, the demand for wide‐gamut image content is increasing. To acquire wide‐gamut image content using camera systems, color information should be accurately reconstructed from recorded image signals for a wide range of colors. However, it is difficult to obtain color information accurately, especially for saturated colors, if conventional color cameras are used. Spectrum‐based color image reproduction can solve this problem; however, bulky spectral imaging systems are required for this purpose. To acquire spectral images more conveniently, a new spectral imaging scheme has been proposed that uses two types of data: high spatial‐resolution red, green, and blue (RGB) images and low spatial‐resolution spectral data measured from the same scene. Although this method estimates spectral images with high overall accuracy, the error becomes relatively large when multiple different colors, especially those with high saturation, are arranged in a small region. The main reason for this error is that the spectral data are utilized as low‐order spectral statistics of local spectra in this method. To solve this problem, in this study, a nonlinear estimation method based on sparse and redundant dictionaries was used for spectral image estimation—where the dictionary contains a number of spectra—without loss of information from the low spatial‐resolution spectral data. The estimated spectra are represented by a mixture of a few spectra included in the dictionary. Therefore, the respective feature of every spectrum is expected to be preserved in the estimation, and the color saturation is also preserved for any region. Experiments performed using the simulated data showed that the dictionary‐based estimation can be used to obtain saturated colors accurately, even when multiple colors are arranged in a small region. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2013     

Optimal employment of color attributes to achieve saliency in icon matrix designs

With the wide use of smart devices, through which information is presented in vast quantities, objective guidelines are needed to enable designers to choose appropriate colors for information display. The purpose of this study is to determine which colors are the most eye‐catching in displays that employ icon matrices and thereby provide empirical grounds for strengthening the visual information structure of interface designs. Three attributes of color, which include hue, tone, and color combinations, are examined to optimize the color saliency in information displays. An eye‐tracking study was conducted to evaluate saliency objectively by analyzing fixations of visual attention. Based on the hue‐saturation‐brightness color system, a 5‐by‐5 matrix of 25 color patches was adopted to generate 21 color stimuli. Part I of the study focused on hue and indicated that warm colors are perceptually more eye‐catching relative to cool and neutral colors. Part II of the study investigated tonal influences and revealed that highly saturated colors provoked the greatest visual magnetism against a black background across all hue groups, although there was an alternative tendency for a blue hue. Contrary to expectations, no distinctive patterns were observed among brightness groups. With regard to color combination, Part III of the study provided empirical verification that high contrast between a foreground and a background generates a more dominant conspicuity. The results of the present study can be applied in designing electronic interfaces that display icon matrices to create effective communication by guiding visual attention and increasing aesthetic satisfaction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 429–436, 2015     

Color meaning and context: Comparisons of semantic ratings of colors on samples and objects

This article reports the results of a study comparing semantic ratings of color samples (chips) with those of the same colors applied to a variety of familiar objects. Subjects rated a set of 13 color chips and 5 sets of objects, each appearing in the same 13 colors, against 5 bipolar, 7-step semantic differential scales. The scales consisted of beautiful-ugly, elegant-vulgar, loud-discreet, masculine-feminine, and warm-cold. Analyses performed on the data indicated that generally few significant differences existed between chip and object ratings for the same color; when such differences existed, the chip was always rated more beautiful, elegant, discreet, feminine, and warm than the object; and differences between chip and object ratings were confined primarily to a limited number of colors, objects, and semantic scales. The results of this study have implications for the use of color chips in color planning and for the generality of results of earlier color meaning research. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 22, 40–50, 1997.     

Formulation of interior design color palette based on the regression analysis of digital color samples

Various color models have been developed to represent color as a synthetic construct of its component attributes. The CMYK color model is based on a mathematical framework efficient for digitally planning and processing the colors for a domain‐specific application such as interior design. The CMYK color model correlated with the Munsell system would also increase usability and effectiveness. In this research, we suggest a computationally assisted systematic method to formulate a color palette useful for interior design. A continuous process of sampling, statistical analysis, and computational manipulations has been performed to derive a desirable color palette. First, color samples have been extracted from the representative interior design cases of residential buildings, offices, and commercial spaces. Second, the interrelationships among C, M, Y, and K values in all samples have been statistically analyzed followed by calculating the number of elements in the numerically categorized sets for C, M, or K value. New CMYK combinations were generated by using selected sets of C, M, or K value showing relatively dominant presence in the original samples. Then, the statistically extracted correlation function was used to propose a complete list of CMYK color combinations for interior design. The resulting CMYK combinations were then converted into the values represented in the Munsell color system. We envision that the proposed approach can increase both applicability and efficiency of the resulting color palette by considering both intuitive and mathematical color models with the support of a computational data processing technique. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 135–145, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20092     

A novel analysis of color component for top dyed melange yarn with support vector machine

In view of the difficulty of distinguishing the color component in top dyed melange yarn due to the spectral overlap of the component colors, a novel color component analysis method based on support vector machine is presented. With this method, spectra data can be distinguished more accurately and effectively than with the traditional method—human‐eye detection—and therefore, the method will be very helpful for accurate color matching. In our work, the core idea was to convert the overlapped spectra data into linearly separable ones in a high dimension space, followed by recognition and determination of the composition of melange yarn by trained support vector machine classifier. The effects of four kernel functions, i.e., linear, radial basis kernel, sigmoid, and polynomial, as well as five spectral preprocessing methods, including amplification, first derivative, second derivative, principal components analysis, and L*a*b* values were studied. The results demonstrated that with the amplification factor of 100 of reflectance spectra coupled with L*a*b* as input data, and using radial basis kernel as kernel function, the highest recognition rate was achieved, with an average recognition rate of eight colors of 96.5%, indicating that it was a better color component analysis method for top dyed melange yarn. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 41, 636–641, 2016     

A new color image space HRU related to the CIEL*a*b* color space

The color image space with one kind of merit color image scales (WIP) is derived using the psychophysical method of magnitude estimation method, usually used in visual assessment of color appearance, which can be used to describe the color image meanings of colors of works of art in parallel with those of people. The results show that a new color image space HRU is developed, and the relativity between this space and the CIEL*a*b* color space is also discussed. And, a good relationship between the HRU color image space and the CIEL*a*b* color space can be found. This may be of great advantage to the new color image space HRU in predicting the color image for single color based on the color space CIEL*a*b*. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 34, 452–457, 2009     

Physics‐based spectral sharpening through filter‐chart calibration

The spectral overlap of color‐sampling filters increases errors when using a diagonal matrix transform, for color correction and reduces color distinction. Spectral sharpening is a transformation of colors that was introduced to reduce color‐constancy errors when the colors are collected through spectrally overlapping filters. The earlier color‐constancy methods improved color precision when the illuminant color is changed, but they overlooked the color distinction. In this article, we introduce a new spectral sharpening technique that has a good compromise of color precision and distinction, based on real physical constraints. The spectral overlap is measured through observing a gray reference chart with a set of real and spectrally disjoint filters selected by the user. The new sharpening method enables to sharpen colors obtained by a sensor without knowing the camera response functions. Experiments with real images showed that the colors sharpened by the new method have good levels of color precision and distinction as well. The color‐constancy performance is compared with the data‐based sharpening method in terms of both precision and distinction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 564–576, 2015     

A comparative analysis of the characteristics and images of costume colors in the traditional plays of Korea,China, and Japan

The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitatively the characteristics and images of costume colors in the traditional plays of Korea, China, and Japan. The study focused on the Korean Masque, Beijing Opera, and Kabuki costume colors based on a selection of 1135 color samples. The collected source data were selected by extracting digital color data by using the Eyedropper Tool of Photoshop 7.0. The RGB color data were transformed to H V/C and the attributes of hue and tone were analyzed. Color images were analyzed with the color image scales of IRI Color Design Institute and Shigenobu Kobayashi to increase the validity of the evaluated images. As a result, the “five element colors (red, yellow, purple–blue (PB), white, and black)” from the theory of “Yin‐Yang Wu‐Xing” were used in the common stage costume colors of the Korean Masque, Beijing Opera, and Kabuki. Red, a preferred Asian color, was used most frequently in the costumes of these three traditional plays. A comparison of the traditional stage costume colors in the three northeast Asian countries revealed a difference in tones rather than in hues. First, the Korean Masque frequently used white in accordance with the tradition of white‐clad people and the cultural view of colors in which natural colors were preferred. Additionally, in the Masque, Koreans used colors based on the theory of Yin‐Yang Wu‐Xing with high‐chroma tones. On the other hand, the Beijing Opera exhibited the gorgeous and strong color images of China, by adopting high‐chroma colors in the Five Element Color: R, Y, PB, white, and black. Last, in the Kabuki costumes, a variety of white, black, dull, light, dark, strong, vivid, deep, bright, and grayish tones played an important role in showing various color images. The costume color images of the traditional plays of the three countries revealed that all shared the use of dynamic, springy/casual, and gorgeous images in the strong contrast of five element colors. Regarding the differences, the Korean Masque exhibited natural images in favor of natural colors, whereas the Kabuki displayed modern, decent/formal images by using dull, dark, and grayish colors. The study results suggested that the three countries commonly used five element colors from the theory of Yin‐Yang Wu‐Xing, but that their color images differed in terms of the tones used and the techniques for color combination. These results reflect that colors in the traditional costumes of the three countries are affected by their cultural codes, thereby representing the characteristics ofcertain peoples and cultural circles. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

A systematic approach of predicting color preference on the basis of gray relational grade

During the color design process, it is critical to create diversified color schemes for various consumer groups. It is also important to allow members in a design team to brainstorm for creative ideas. A theory of inspecting natural color elements was proposed in this study based on the CIE 1976 (L*,a*,b*) (CIE 1976) color space and the fuzzy c‐means clustering method. A calculation model was built to determine people's preference for colors based on a serialized system. To determine which factors affect the prediction of consumers' preference for a series of products, a gray relational color preference system was used in combination with gray relational grade so that a designer can obtain reasonable prediction results. The proposed system recommends not only the optimal colors for a product but also the optimal color scheme for a series of products.     

Measurement of memory of color

Colors produced by monochromatic wavelengths of light viewed in isolation have been used as the only visual variables in short‐term delayed matching (DM) and long‐term recall (LTR) protocols to quantify three types of color memory in individuals with normal color vision. Measurements were normally distributed, so that color memories of individuals could be compared in terms of means and standard deviations. The variance of LTR of colors of familiar objects is shown to be separable into two portions, one due to “preferred colors” and the other due to individuals' precisions of matching. The wavelength dependence of DM exhibited minima of standard deviations at the same wavelengths as those reported for color discrimination measured by bipartite wavelength matching, and these wavelengths were shown to occur at the wavelengths of the intersections of cone spectral sensitivities. In an intermediate “green” region of relatively constant color discrimination, it was possible to combine DM measurements for different wavelengths for statistical analysis. The standard deviations of DM for individuals of a healthy population were normally distributed, providing a 95% upper confidence limit for identifying individuals with possible short‐term memory impairment. Preliminary measurements of standard deviations of DM for delay times of ≤ 1 s were consistent with a proposed rapidly decaying color imagery memory. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 27, 233–242, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10067     

Dependence of the color appearance of some flowers on illumination

Seven flower colors perceived by five color experts using visual color measurement under 2800 K warm white fluorescent lamps, 3500 K plant growth lamps, and 6500 K light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) were compared with those under 6500 K fluorescent lamps, which represented illuminants in florist shops. Fluorescent lamps (6500 K, 1000 lx) were found to be effective for displaying flower colors and were used as the standard condition. The colors of flowers generally shifted in the same direction as those of the illuminants in CIELAB space. The color differences were highest under the 3500 K fluorescent lamp at both 500 and 2000 lx. At 500 lx, the ΔE values under the 6500 K LED were higher than those under the 2800 K lamp. The C* and ΔE values revealed that the 2800 K lamp was unsatisfactory for purple‐blue and purple flowers and was more suitable for floral displays at lower illuminance. Under the 3500 K lamp, the highest color distortion occurred in cool‐colored flowers, but C* increased for purple‐blue and purple flowers. The 6500 K LED tended to decrease C* for warm‐colored flowers under both illuminances, but it was effective for displaying purple‐blue and purple flowers with increased C*. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 28–36, 2014