GammaFAQ -GammaFAQ -In video, computer graphics, and image processing, image data is ordinarily encoded nonlinearly with respect to light power. The usual encoding incolves a power function; luminance or tristimulus value produced at the display is approximately equal to code value raised to a powergamma. (Luminance is proportional to light power, and proportional to intensity.) Having a good understanding of the theory and practice of gamma will enable you to get good results when you create, process and display pictures.
The Gamma FAQ is distributed in several formats, listed in the tablebelow. If you would like to view this document in typographic quality, orif you would like to print it, I recommend that you obtain the Acrobat PDFversion. You can findinformation about document formats.
| AcrobatPDF format | GammaFAQ.pdf (246889 bytes) |
| PostScript (job file), GnuZip compressed | GammaFAQ.ps.gz(161682 bytes) |
| PostScript (job file), uncompressed | GammaFAQ.ps(295882 bytes) |
| Hypertext (.html) format, with poor typesetting and low-resolutionGIF graphics | GammaFAQ.html(26 KB + 15 KB inline 72dpi GIF images) |
| ASCII text-only format, devoid of all graphics | GammaFAQ.txt(26926 bytes) |
You may be interested in the companionFrequently-questionedanswers about gamma, the GammaFQA.
If you think gamma has a bad reputation, read aboutThe rehabilitation of gamma.
If you're interested in color, consult theColorFAQ.
You might be interested in my noteGammaCorrection on the Apple Macintosh.
See also Robert Berger's note aboutMonitorGamma.
Charles -Color technology
1998-08-04(d)