Introduction: Digital Imaging

Nathaniel Bobbitt

Problem

Often digital imaging relies upon an editor's view window (what is seen in the digital imaging software). Generally "Digital Imaging" ignores how imaging can rely upon the printer,scanner, or color screen characteristics (RBG, CYMK).

All is not lost. We can discuss "Digital Imaging" based upon scanners, printers, and screen geometry. Each of which has much to offer on how to digitally compose and manipulate an image. This study discusses only abstract color. Further study of Ray Tracing would allow us to better consider other background descriptions and light activity in a scene.

Pixelation

The geometries of pixels remain invisible until they appear as blemishes on an image. The effect of pixelation, makes visible an otherwise invisible intricacy of squares. The intricacy of pixels can be illustrated according to "mosaics."

Mosaics allow us to consider how an image is built up from very tiny elements of light and color. A detailed discussion of pixelation is a problem based upon color theory and resolution. This tutorial will present a solution based upon: several art historical movements, geometric descriptions of screen-grids, color printing process/devices, and amplified images (zoom-in). The main sources for this tutorial include:

  • Late Mondrian
  • Joseph Alber's Interaction of Color
  • Byzantine & Roman Mosaics
  • Color Theories (Impressionistic, Pointillist)
  • 2,3,4 Color Separation
  • Aerial Photography
  • Ratios of Maps

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    Pixelation and resolution allow us to develop an approach to "Digital Imaging" based on physical frames and color analogies which include:
     

  • Truncation of Square Blocks:
  • Mondrian
  • Jagged-Pixel Edges

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  • Mixture of Color by the Adjacent Alignment of Colors:
  • Interaction of Colors
  • Impressionism
  • Pointillism
  • RGB/CMYK Color Screens: Color Separation


    • Digital imaging requires going back and forth between pixel grids and the fleshy, alluring, surface of an image. Pixelation shows the true physical gradation of color. Further training in pixelation allows one to observe patterns:
     

  • Geometries of Pixelation
  • Effect of Distribution of Dots and Clusters of Dots
  • Thresholds for Viewing an Image at a Distance


    • Without an ability to predict and account for pixelation the common "photorealistic or compositing" approach to digital imaging offers:

    "As little control over the image as an instamatic print."

    The conclusion of this approach will be useful in the development of digital images which use customized color palettes, color swapping, and batch files within a multimedia database.