Effect of Polarization on RGB Imaging and Color Accuracy/Fidelity

The use of polarization while trying to keep the digital color reproduction accuracy at its finest is very challenging due to how polarization is interacting and affecting the light spectrum itself and due to the quality of the used polarization materials. Our study on RGB imaging and color reproduction’s fidelity with and without polarization shows that a cross circular polarization (on a camera lens and light source) will have a major impact on how a linear grayscale, whether it has a semi-glossy or matt finishing, would be reproduced in contrast to no polarization at all. A major loss in deep black shades in the case of a semi-glossy grayscale is unmistakable. In addition to a noticeable shift in both lightness and Chroma components regardless of the grayscale’s finishing but depending rather on the used color target for correction. DE00 could not paint the full picture about color fidelity despite its low conformant reported values. Whereas, a closer visual inspection of the color components separately (lightness and Chroma) reveals color reproduction problems caused by polarization.