To express the 2D data as an image, you need a color table.
The color tables should be compatible to color perception deficiencies.
Additionally, figures with greyscale-printing friendly color tables are useful for many occasion.
The choice of a color table is not only the matter of aesthetic sense, but some scientific knowledge is required.
There are some references.
1. M. Geissbuehler and T. Lasser
“How to display data by color schemes compatible with red-green color perception deficiencies”
Opt. Express 21, 9862-9874 (2013)
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/185950
2. Peter Kovesi
"Good Colour Maps: How to Design Them"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03700
The following sites list downloadable color tables.
1. Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology (LBEN) At EPFL:
"Colormaps compatible with red-green color perception deficiencies"
https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lben/lob/page-155720-en-html/page-155723-en-html/
2. Peter Kovesi, Centre for Exploration Targeting, School of Earth Sciences,The University of Western Australia:
"CET Perceptually Uniform Colour Maps:Download Page"
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/185950
3. SciVisColor: Color Tools and Strategies for Scientific Visualization at Data Science at Scale
Los Alamos National Laboratory:
"SciVisColor is a hub for research and resources related to color in scientific visualization"
https://sciviscolor.org/home/colormaps/
Other information:
1. CET perceptually Uniform Color Maps
https://www.wavemetrics.com/code-snippet/cet-perceptually-uniform-color-maps
2. Viridis in Igor (and other custom color maps)
https://www.wavemetrics.com/forum/general/viridis-igor-and-other-custom-color-maps
3. Get to Know a Feature: Color Table Wave Creation
https://www.wavemetrics.com/news/get-know-feature-color-table-wave-creation
Using the method described in this page, you can extract the color table from available color maps in documents.
Several useful links are listed here.
4. Color Map Advice for Scientific Visualization
http://www.kennethmoreland.com/color-advice/