About
(Profile photo by John Fujii.)
Starting next week, Tue Mar 10, I’ll present Math and Colour Science for Colourists, online. The first cohort is sold out. A second cohort, on Mondays at 20:00 Toronto time, is available; this is convenient for Calif. (17:00) and Asia/ANZ (Tue morning). I am considering adding a third cohort, starting Fri Mar 13, 12:00 Toronto; if you would like to join that, send me an email message.
Poynton’s Vector is available for subscription.
Upcoming masterclass, Colourspaces in D-cinema, ACES, VFX/CGI, and Streaming:
- proposed for Toronto, April, 2026
- proposed for Montréal, Wed Jun 17, 2026
Recent talks:
Oslo Digital Cinema Conference,
- Noise performance of modern cinema cameras 2025‑11‑22
- Gamma and log coding for D‑cinema 2025‑11‑23
I am an image and colour (color) scientist based in Toronto. I have experience in:
- image & colour science
- math, physics, algorithm development
for D‑cinema/video/HD/UHD/4K/8K, HDR/WCG, CGI/VFX - typesetting/illustration/book design
- preparation of expert witness reports, and expert testimony
I specialize in the physics, mathematics, engineering, and programming of digital colour (color) imaging systems, including digital still cameras, digital video, HD/UHD/4K/8K (HDTV/UHDTV), VFX/CGI, digital intermediate (DI) and digital cinema (D-cinema). I am involved in the engineering of high dynamic range (HDR) and wide colour gamut (WCG) systems.
I am knowledgeable and experienced in colorspaces such as BT.709/BT.1886, DCI P3 RGB, Adobe RGB 1998, ACES AP0/AP1, and BT.2020. I am very familiar with video compression technology and (ICC-class) color management systems. I have deep knowledge of colour appearance models (eg CAM16).
I do technology forecasting, systems modelling, algorithm development, video signal processing architecture, colour characterization and calibration, image quality assessment, patent analysis, and expert witness work. It was about 35 years ago that I decided that HD should have 1080 image rows and “square pixels,” leading to 1920×1080, today’s UHD 3940×2160, and 4K D‑cinema 4096×2160 standards.
In 2018, I earned a PhD at Simon Fraser University. My dissertation is available.
I’m a Fellow of SMPTE, Colorist Society (CSI), and IMIS (formerly, BKSTS).
My partner Barbara Morris is a psychotherapist. She has just published a new book, snomeD xeЅ & selaT nrоР: Eavesdropping on Therapy; see barbaramorris.ca.
Contact data is available.
“Minimalism is a wonderful thing, but you can have too much of it.”
– Tim Friese-Greene