Perceptually optimal color reproduction

What requirements do people place on optimal color reproduction of real-life scenes? We suggest that when people look at images containing familiar categories of objects, two primary factors shape their subjective impression of how optimal colors are reproduced: perceived naturalness and perceived colorfulness of the images. To test the model subjects were asked to evaluate the perceived `naturalness', `colorfulness' and `quality' of images of real-life scenes. The judgments were related to statistical parameters of the color point distribution over the images in CIE 1976 (L*u*v*) color space. It was found that the perceptually optimal color reproduction can be derived from this statistic within the framework of our model. We also specify the naturalness, colorfulness and quality indices, describing the observer's judgments.