Chrominance and Luminance
The image u capture, it has two basic components chrominance (color) and luminance( brightness).
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If we extract luminance component( Brightness) from an image. The image will look like below,very dull. Which is not at all visually pleasant. And we will not able to distinguish everything in the photo.
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Chrominance
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But if we extract color component from an image, it will still attract us. We can still distinguish everything in the photo without colors. See the image below.
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Luminance
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The scientific reason is that, the human eye is more sensitive to luminance (Brightness) than Chrominance (Color),which is why it is acceptable to use black and white photography in place of color and why people can still distinguish everything in the photo without colors.
Though, this process is much more complex than it is stated above. But I am not digging anyone into too much of technical details, as this is not a technical forum. Here my idea is to deliver a complex topic in a simpler manner so that everyone can understand.
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Please note that , I have used Luminance and Brightness synonymously to make the topic simple . But technically they are not exactly the same thing. Luminance is a measure of the intensity of light that reaches the eye. And Brightness is the perception of an object’s luminance. It’s how our eyes see the intensity of light. Brightness is perceived luminance.
Article By : Arindam Dhar
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