Computer Graphics: Color Depth

To date, technology and devices allow you to make a bright and rich image, that it will be even more beautiful than its real prototype. The quality of the transmitted image depends on several parameters: the number of megapixels, the resolution of the image, its format, and so on. These include another property - the depth of color. What is this, and how to define and calculate it?

General information

The color depth is the maximum number of shades of color that only an image can contain. This number is measured in bits (the number of binary bits that determine the color of each pixel and hue in a bitmap graphic ). For example, one pixel whose color depth is 1 bit can take two values: white and black. And the more important the depth of color will be, the more diverse will be the image, which includes many colors and shades. It is also responsible for the accuracy of image transmission. Here everything is the same: the higher, the better. Another example: a GIF image with a color depth of 8 bits will contain 256 colors, while a JPEG image with a depth of 24 bits will include 16 million colors.

A little bit about RGB and CMYK

As a rule, all images of these formats have a color depth equal to 8 bits per channel (color). But in fact there can be several color channels in the image. Then already the RGB drawing with three channels will have a depth of 24 bits (3x8). The color depth of CMYK images can reach 32 bits (4 × 8).

A few more bits

Color Depth is the number of shades of the same color that the device that is in contact with the images is able to reproduce or create. This parameter is responsible for the smooth transition of hues in the images. All digital images are encoded by units and zeros. Zero is black color, unit is white. They are stored and stored in memory, measured in bytes. One byte contains 8 bits, in which the depth of color is indicated. For cameras there is one more definition-the depth of color of the matrix. This is an indicator that determines how complete and deep the images in terms of shades and colors are able to produce a camera, or rather its matrix. Due to the high value of this parameter, the photos are voluminous and smooth.

Resolution

The link between the depth of color and image quality is its resolution. For example, a 32-bit image with a resolution of 800x600 will be significantly worse than a similar one with 1440x900. In the second case, a much larger number of pixels are involved. This is quite easy to see for yourself. All you need to do is go to the PC in the "image settings" and try to gradually reduce or increase the screen resolution. During this process, you will clearly see how much the resolution affects the quality of the transmitted picture. Regardless of how many colors this or that image includes, it will be limited to the maximum value that the monitor can support. As an example, you can take a monitor with a color depth of 16 bits and an image with 32 bits. This image on such a monitor will be displayed with a color depth of 16 bits.