Since
it's inception, one of the major goals of computer graphics has
been
the quest for photorealism in the synthesis of computer generated
imagery. In pursuit of this goal, the field has relied on a
photographic metaphor whereby the transport of light is traced
from a
scene, through a camera and onto an image plane. In the final
stage of
the synthesis process, the tone reproduction stage, simulated
illuminance values are converted to appropriate pixel values for
eventual display.
Most work in tone reproduction for computer graphics has focused on modeling of the human visual system. In this work, an alternate means of tone reproduction based on photography is described. In this work, we specifie a system that models individual components of a photographic system (including the camera, enlarger and photographic materials) and simulates the mechanisms by which photographic prints are created.
The system enables tone reproduction to be applied to computer generated imagery using the same parameter space available to photographers. As such, the system can be used to experiment with different photographic parameters, immediately illustrating the results of a set of photographic choices.