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Colour fidelity: the camera never lies - or does it?

British Dental Journal volume 229, pages 547–550 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Digital dental photography has rapidly evolved into one of the most powerful tools in the dental world from documentation of dento-legal information to communication, portfolio creation, advertising and marketing. Human memory has been described as terribly short and decidedly fickle. Photography provides the solution to this, aiming to capture in an image the precise picture seen by the naked human eye. Accurate and true reproduction of colour in an image is one of the most important elements in dental photography. Dental photography can mistakenly be viewed as overly technical and unreasonably complex. We present a simple and innovative, yet incredibly inexpensive, way to faithfully reproduce colour in an image. The importance of file format is explored alongside the risks of image manipulation, teledentistry and the consequences of misleading advertising campaigns.

Key points

  • Introduces and emphasises the importance of colour fidelity in digital dental photography.

  • Presents a novel and affordable method of colour calibration that can be used anywhere in primary and secondary care.

  • Discusses the process of image manipulation, exploring the difference between ethical and unethical retouching of images.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to John Hess at Filmmaker IQ and X-Rite, Inc. for use of their illustrations. The clinical images are attributed, with thanks, to Dr Noren Hasmun, Dr Claire Elcock and Professor Helen Rodd, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dental Core Trainee 2, Newcastle Dental Hospital, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK

    Thomas M. Hodson

  2. Dental Core Trainee 3, Newcastle Dental Hospital, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK

    Christopher C.  Donnell

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  1. Thomas M. Hodson
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  2. Christopher C.  Donnell
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Correspondence to Thomas M. Hodson.

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Hodson, T., Donnell, C. Colour fidelity: the camera never lies - or does it?. Br Dent J 229, 547–550 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-020-2273-4

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