Colorimetric calibration of images captured under unknown illuminants

Abstract

In this paper the problem of acquiring colorimetrically-calibrated images under multiple uncontrolled illuminants is studied. One of the main applications is diagnosis of different injuries by skin colour analysis, these images would be captured in hospitals where lighting conditions are uncontrolled. To gain some control over illumination, a xenon flash has been used in an attempt to dominate the ambient illumination. A Macbeth ColorChecker DC has been required as a test target to make measurements of observed colour using a digital camera under various illumination conditions. A colorimetric calibration algorithm that allows to convert RGB values under unknown illuminant to RGB values under D50 illuminant is also presented. The use of this algorithm avoids pixel values dependence on lighting conditions.