civilized ku # 899 ~ the Spirit of Fact
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 09:32AM 
Coors Light, Budweiser Select, and dart game ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenRegarding the topic of "accurate" color, Markus Spring stated what should be the obvious:
... (color) accuracy is an ideal but in the real world not possible.
He goes on to state, as long as the raw material provides grounds to achieve the image impression that the photographer wants ... I do not care much about a camera's built-in color accuracy. Markus also mentioned that the late film maker Agfa basically suggested in its advertising that, with one of its films, the color in the photography and the color of the subject would be the same.
Basically, all of his statements are reasonably accurate, especially his belief that (color) accuracy is an ideal but in the real world not possible. In an absolute sense, neither film nor digital sensors have the ability to create truly accurate color. However, in the film world if not the digital world, several film makers - most notably KODAK - have offered color negative films labeled as "natural color" film.
Films labeled as NC film could not, in the absolute sense, reproduce totally accurate color. Try as the makers might, reproducing totally accurate color is well beyond the limitations of film making technology.
However, that said, it must be stated rather emphatically that the color reproduced by NC color negative films was remarkably true, color wise, to the "Spirit of Fact". NC films were mercifully free of the very visually obvious, deliberately introduced color distortions / exaggerations to be found (and cherished by many) in films such as Velvia or, for that matter, "the nice bright colors" of Kodachrome which make us "think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!". The prints made from NC films looked, to my eye and sensibilities and to those of the KODAK film technicians, well .... in a word, quite "natural".
Unfortunately, in the digital domain, picture making wise, no such devotion to the "Spirit of Fact", on the part of camera makers, seems to exist. As Markus rightfully points out, digital camera makers are pandering to "the largest number of ... buyers" who much "prefer 'vivid'" color as opposed to reasonably accurate color.
IMO, the "Spirit of Fact" is in very short supply. Not just in picture making but also in a vast segment of voting public here in the good 'ole US of A.
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks for getting the Paul Simon tune stuck in my head, It does not seem possible that Kodachrome is history. I can't imagine using it if it was still available, yet it was such an emblematic product.
Maybe "faithful" is a better term than "accurate". Accurate to me suggests correct to some standard. Like what color is 550 nanometers? Along the line of 'the camera produced a green target that was 550 nm +/- 25 nm. That's a level of accuracy. Very gearheaded (it's my Physics background leaking out). But if you look at a scene and the image of a scene and think yes, that's the green I saw or was going for then you have faithful color. This is all a long winded way of getting to the same place as "Spirit of Fact".