The USGS EROS Data Center has the task of taking multi-spectral satellite data and converting it into useful images that are easily interpreted and unambiguous. Information from several spectral bands are combined into red, green, and blue channels to create a pseudo-colored image which often takes on the realistic look of a very high quality photograph. We describe the design of and preliminary results with a software system that will assist in the coloring and upon completion, produce color hard copy that preserves fine detail, hues, and color texture so that the information content of the original image is conserved in the hard copy. The system uses conventional color look up table methodology to match the CRT and film recorder color gamuts. It differs from existing approaches in that it will use a variety of gamut stretching methods for maximizing the use of the film recorder and CRT gamuts. The selection of the gamut stretching method will be controlled by minimizing the amount of change in an image-content measure that is based on the human visual system.
Robert Amantea, Jane Asmuth, David P. Bortfeld, Martin H. Czigler, Gerald E. Nostrand, Richard M. Peterson, Eugenio Martinez-Uriegas, David Zokaities, "A Content-Driven Color Adjustment System" in Proc. IS&T 1st Color and Imaging Conf., 1993, pp 228 - 232, https://doi.org/10.2352/CIC.1993.1.1.art00055