Brightness, Gamma, and Contrast in Graphics

If brightness is changing colours to black and white, contrast is making dark colours darker and light colours lighter; what is gamma about?

Copilot:

Gamma, in the context of image processing and display, refers to the non-linear relationship between the intensity of the input signal and the displayed intensity. It essentially controls the brightness of the mid-tones while keeping the white and black points fixed.

To put it simply:

• Brightness affects the overall lightness or darkness of an image.
• Contrast adjusts the difference between the light and dark areas.
• Gamma affects the mid-tone greys, making them lighter or darker without significantly altering the shadows and highlights.

The gamma correction process helps to map the intensity values to a display device in a way that compensates for the device's non-linear response, ensuring the image looks natural and visually pleasing to the human eye.

Actual meanings:

• Brightness: All colours are adjusted to white colour (including black and all shades of grey)
• Gamma: The more-light colours are adjusted to white colour (so black is still black, and grey shades are less affected)
• Contrast: Dark colours are darker, light colours are lighter

Conclusion:

• Contrast can make things more vivid
• Gamma is better than brightness to keep contrast

Ref: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nxm1g/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_the_brightness/