Color correction with zone system for color image

Color correction is a part of image processing to solve the problem of color cast which a particular and unwanted color dominates an image. The Zone system is a visual ruler that allows photographers to determine optimal film exposure and development. It is divided the full tonal levels into eleven zones ranging from zone 0 (pure black) to zone X (pure white), with zone V representing subjective middle gray which is corresponding to 18% reflectance. In this paper, we described a global color correction method with Zone system to remove the color cast from the color images. The proposed method included color cast detection and color correction two steps. In color cast detection step, we divided the histograms of chrominance components (Cb and Cr) in YCbCr color space into eleven zones. The probable adjusted pixels of color cast will be detected after the Cb and Cr values of each pixel compared with zone V. In color correction step, the adjusted image will be obtained when the RGB channel individually times gains that are derived from the mean values and minimal values of the adjusted pixels that are the top 90% of the probable adjusted pixels. Experimental results exhibited the proposed method can correct the color from the color cast. Finally, the proposed method was compared with other color correction methods in subjective and objective evaluations.