Spectral estimation of artist oil paints using multi-filter trichromatic imaging

Abstract

A practical and easy way to capture images of oil-paintings and estimate their spectral reflectance as a function of position was tested. For the image acquisition, a trichromatic digital camera was used in conjunction with an absorption filter producing six channels. From an a priori statistical analysis of common artist oil paints, spectral reflectance was estimated. These experiments showed that it is possible to estimate the spectral reflectance with an accuracy of average ΔE*₉₄ of 1.7 and spectral reflectance rms error of 2.2%. Of particular interest is guidance towards the design of a universal calibration target for imaging paintings.