SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring and modeling display observer metamerism

  • Original article
  • Published:
The Visual Computer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 29 July 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Observer metamerism refers to a situation in which some observers with normal color vision will see two colors as identical while others will see them mismatch. In recent years, some issues with metameric failure have been exacerbated by displays with more saturated primaries and narrower emission spectra. Classic trichromatic colorimetry is incapable of predicting this effect because of the typical reliance on a single standard observer—a single color matching function (CMF) averaged across the population. In this paper, we present a new experiment aimed at measuring the amount of metameric failure of a single display for real observers without comparisons to other reference displays. We also propose a recommended metric of observer metamerism failure potential that uses simulated observers, represented as individual CMFs that match the distribution of color sensitivities in the general population, and compare with several other procedures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

References

  1. CIE: Fundamental Chromaticity Diagram with Physiological Axes-Part 1. CIE Pub. 170-1:2006. CIE, Vienna (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Asano, Y., Fairchild, M.D., Blondé, L.: Individual colorimetric observer model. PloS one 11(2), e0145671 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. CIE: Special Metamerism Index: Change in Observer, vol. 80. CIE Pub., Vienna (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nayatani, Y., Hashimoto, K., Takahama, K., Sobagaki, H.: Comparison of methods for assessing observer metamerism. Color Res. Appl. 10(3), 147–155 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Takahama, K., Sobagaki, H., Nayatani, Y.: Prediction of observer variation in estimating colorimetric values. Color Res. Appl. 10(2), 106–117 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Berns, R.S.: Billmeyer and Saltzman’s Principles of Color Technology. Wiley, New York (2019)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Fairchild, M.D., Wyble, D.R.: Mean observer metamerism and the selection of display primaries. In: Color and Imaging Conference, vol. 2007, no. 1. Society for Imaging Science and Technology, pp. 151–156 (2007)

  8. Long, D.L., Fairchild, M.D.: Modeling observer variability and metamerism failure in electronic color displays. In: Color and Imaging Conference, vol. 2014, no. 2014). Society for Imaging Science and Technology, pp. 14–27 (2014)

  9. Fedutina, M., Sarkar, A., Urban, P., Morvan, P.: (How) Do observer categories based on color matching functions affect the perception of small color differences?. In: Color and Imaging Conference, vol. 2011, no. 1. Society for Imaging Science and Technology, pp. 2–7 (2011)

  10. **e, H., Farnand, S.P., Murdoch, M.J.: Observer metamerism in commercial displays. JOSA A 37(4), A61–A69 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Von Helmholtz, H.: Treatise on Physiological Optics, vol. 3. Courier Corporation, Chelmsford (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Fairchild, M.D.: Unique hues and principal hues. Color Res. Appl. 43(6), 804–809 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hering, E.: Outlines of a Theory of the Light Sense. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wuerger, S.M., Atkinson, P., Cropper, S.: The cone inputs to the unique-hue mechanisms. Vis. Res. 45(25–26), 3210–3223 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Webster, M.A., Miyahara, E., Malkoc, G., Raker, V.E.: Variations in normal color vision. II. Unique hues. JOSA A 17(9), 1545–1555 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Day, E.A., Taplin, L., Berns, R.S.: Colorimetric characterization of a computer-controlled liquid crystal display. Color Res. Appl. 29(5), 365–373 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Park, Y., Murdoch, M.J.: Efficiently evaluating the effect of color gamut and spectral bandwidth on observer metamerism in high dynamic range displays. J. Soc. Inform. Disp. 29(9), 704–722 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. David, A., Fini, P.T., Houser, K.W., Ohno, Y., Royer, M.P., Smet, K.A., Whitehead, L.: Development of the IES method for evaluating the color rendition of light sources. Opt. Express 23(12), 15888–15906 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, USA

    Che Shen & Mark D. Fairchild

  2. LGE Zenith, Glenview. Illinois, USA

    Robert Wanat

  3. LG Display Co., Ltd, Seoul, Korea

    Jang ** Yoo & Junwoo Jang

Authors
  1. Che Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert Wanat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jang ** Yoo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Junwoo Jang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Mark D. Fairchild
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Che Shen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The original online version of this article was revised: assignment of author portraits to author names was not correct.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shen, C., Wanat, R., Yoo, J.J. et al. Measuring and modeling display observer metamerism. Vis Comput 38, 3301–3310 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-022-02546-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-022-02546-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation