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Burned (image)
Encyclopedia
An image is said to be burned when its original gamut
considerably exceeds the target gamut, or when the result of processing considerably exceeds the image's gamut, resulting in clipping
. Colloquially, an image is burned when it contains uniform blobs of color, black, or white where there should actually be detail.
All media for storing or capturing images, both analog and digital, are capable of storing only a limited number of color hues, and are bound to a certain gamut. Squeezing an image with a given gamut into a medium with a smaller gamut is done either by adapting the whole range of colors to the new gamut, or by trimming the colors out of gamut. Trimming colors at the extremes results in burning the image. While converting and capturing images is usually a "smart" process which tries to accommodate the entire gamut of the original into the target color space
, extreme processing of an image usually results in burning, as defined above.
The most obvious case of burning is when an image's contrast is raised too much, and the result contains obvious black or white blobs, where there used to be detail in the shadows or the highlights. In this case, the brightness can be adjusted in parallel, and in this way the artist decides whether to preserve detail in the shadows (increase brightness) or in the highlights (decrease brightness), at the expense of detail in the opposite.
A more subtle case of burning occurs when an image's saturation is increased too much. In this case, whichever color reaches its limits starts burning, and the resulting image contains blobs of that color where there used to be detail. In this case, avoiding the burn is much more difficult if the saturation needs to be increased to the respective level, because all other colors need to be adjusted proportionally, or chromatic aberration
s occur.
While burned images in color are typically not pleasing and need to be avoided, black and white photographs can sometimes be enhanced artistically by burning them; the decision to burn, along with the degree of burning is a subjective matter.
Typically, as a rule of thumb
, shadows are more "forgiving" with burning than highlights.
Gamut
In color reproduction, including computer graphics and photography, the gamut, or color gamut , is a certain complete subset of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a...
considerably exceeds the target gamut, or when the result of processing considerably exceeds the image's gamut, resulting in clipping
Clipping (photography)
In digital photography and digital video, clipping is a result of capturing or processing an image where the intensity in a certain area falls outside the minimum and maximum intensity which can be represented. It is an instance of signal clipping in the image domain...
. Colloquially, an image is burned when it contains uniform blobs of color, black, or white where there should actually be detail.
Color space
A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components...
, extreme processing of an image usually results in burning, as defined above.
The most obvious case of burning is when an image's contrast is raised too much, and the result contains obvious black or white blobs, where there used to be detail in the shadows or the highlights. In this case, the brightness can be adjusted in parallel, and in this way the artist decides whether to preserve detail in the shadows (increase brightness) or in the highlights (decrease brightness), at the expense of detail in the opposite.
A more subtle case of burning occurs when an image's saturation is increased too much. In this case, whichever color reaches its limits starts burning, and the resulting image contains blobs of that color where there used to be detail. In this case, avoiding the burn is much more difficult if the saturation needs to be increased to the respective level, because all other colors need to be adjusted proportionally, or chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration
In optics, chromatic aberration is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It occurs because lenses have a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light...
s occur.
While burned images in color are typically not pleasing and need to be avoided, black and white photographs can sometimes be enhanced artistically by burning them; the decision to burn, along with the degree of burning is a subjective matter.
Typically, as a rule of thumb
Rule of thumb
A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination...
, shadows are more "forgiving" with burning than highlights.
See also
- Clipping (photography)Clipping (photography)In digital photography and digital video, clipping is a result of capturing or processing an image where the intensity in a certain area falls outside the minimum and maximum intensity which can be represented. It is an instance of signal clipping in the image domain...
- Dodging and burning
- GamutGamutIn color reproduction, including computer graphics and photography, the gamut, or color gamut , is a certain complete subset of colors. The most common usage refers to the subset of colors which can be accurately represented in a given circumstance, such as within a given color space or by a...