Lightness determination at curved surfaces with applications to dynamic range compression and model-based coding of facial images

Lightness algorithms, which have been proposed as a model for human vision, are aimed at recovering surface reflectance in a close approximation. They attempt to separate reflectance data from illumination data by thresholding a spatial derivative of the image intensity. This, however, works only re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on image processing Vol. 6; no. 8; pp. 1129 - 1138
Main Author: Blohm, W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.08.1997
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Approximation algorithms
Dynamic range
Exact sciences and technology
Filtering
Humans
Image coding
Image processing
Information, signal and communications theory
Land surface
Layout
Lighting
Optical reflection
Reflectivity
Signal processing
Telecommunications and information theory
Signal compression
Image processing
Brightness
Coding
Videocommunication
Video signal
Illumination
Curved surface
Algorithm
Visual perception
ISSN:1057-7149, 1941-0042
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Lightness algorithms, which have been proposed as a model for human vision, are aimed at recovering surface reflectance in a close approximation. They attempt to separate reflectance data from illumination data by thresholding a spatial derivative of the image intensity. This, however, works only reliable in a world of plane Mondrians. An extension of the classical lightness approach of Land and McCann (1971) to curved surfaces is presented. Assuming smooth surfaces with Lambertian reflection properties and leaving aside occlusions and cast shadows, the separation of those components of the intensity gradient due to reflectance from those due to irradiance is posed as a constraint minimization problem. To do so, two classification operators were introduced which identify potential reflectance and irradiance data using a scale-space filtering approach. Two exemplary applications of the proposed extended lightness algorithm in the field of visual telecommunications are presented: (i) the simulation of more uniformly illuminated videophone portrait scenes to give dynamic range compressed images with a most realistic appearance and (ii) the synthesis of videophone portrait images from model-based coded data with a correct illumination effect. In both applications, the extended lightness algorithm is employed for estimating the reflectance functions at facial surfaces. Results obtained by applying the extended lightness algorithm are compared with results obtained by conventional methods known from literature.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:1057-7149
1941-0042
DOI:10.1109/83.605410