No abstract

Figure 1: Multi-scale tone manipulation. Left: input image (courtesy of Norman Koren, www.normankoren.com). Middle: results of (exaggerated) detail boosting at three different spatial scales. Right: final result, combining a somewhat milder detail enhancement at all three scales. Note: all of the images in this paper are much better appreciated when viewed full size on a computer monitor. AbstractMany recent computational photography techniques decompose an image into a piecewise smooth base layer, containing large scale variations in intensity, and a residual detail layer capturing the smaller scale details in the image. In many of these applications, it is important to control the spatial scale of the extracted details, and it is often desirable to manipulate details at multiple scales, while avoiding visual artifacts.In this paper we introduce a new way to construct edge-preserving multi-scale image decompositions. We show that current basedetail decomposition techniques, based on the bilateral filter, are limited in their ability to extract detail at arbitrary scales. Instead, we advocate the use of an alternative edge-preserving smoothing operator, based on the weighted least squares optimization framework, which is particularly well suited for progressive coarsening of images and for multi-scale detail extraction. After describing this operator, we show how to use it to construct edge-preserving multi-scale decompositions, and compare it to the bilateral filter, as well as to other schemes. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our edge-preserving decompositions in the context of LDR and HDR tone mapping, detail enhancement, and other applications.

We propose a new high-quality and efficient single-image upscaling technique that extends existing example-based super-resolution frameworks. In our approach we do not rely on an external example database or use the whole input image as a source for example patches. Instead, we follow a local self-similarity assumption on natural images and extract patches from extremely localized regions in the input image. This allows us to reduce considerably the nearest-patch search time without compromising quality in most images. Tests, that we perform and report, show that the local-self similarity assumption holds better for small scaling factors where there are more example patches of greater relevance. We implement these small scalings using dedicated novel non-dyadic filter banks, that we derive based on principles that model the upscaling process. Moreover, the new filters are nearly-biorthogonal and hence produce high-resolution images that are highly consistent with the input image without solving implicit back-projection equations. The local and explicit nature of our algorithm makes it simple, efficient and allows a trivial parallel implementation on a GPU. We demonstrate the new method ability to produce high-quality resolution enhancement, its application to video sequences with no algorithmic modification, and its efficiency to perform real-time enhancement of lowresolution video standard into recent high-definition formats.

Photographs of hazy scenes typically suffer having low contrast and offer a limited visibility of the scene. This article describes a new method for single-image dehazing that relies on a generic regularity in natural images where pixels of small image patches typically exhibit a 1D distribution in RGB color space, known as color-lines. We derive a local formation model that explains the color-lines in the context of hazy scenes and use it for recovering the scene transmission based on the lines' offset from the origin. The lack of a dominant color-line inside a patch or its lack of consistency with the formation model allows us to identify and avoid false predictions. Thus, unlike existing approaches that follow their assumptions across the entire image, our algorithm validates its hypotheses and obtains more reliable estimates where possible. In addition, we describe a Markov random field model dedicated to producing complete and regularized transmission maps given noisy and scattered estimates. Unlike traditional field models that consist of local coupling, the new model is augmented with long-range connections between pixels of similar attributes. These connections allow our algorithm to properly resolve the transmission in isolated regions where nearby pixels do not offer relevant information. An extensive evaluation of our method over different types of images and its comparison to state-of-the-art methods over established benchmark images show a consistent improvement in the accuracy of the estimated scene transmission and recovered haze-free radiances.

In this paper we present a new method for estimating the optical transmission in hazy scenes given a single input image. Based on this estimation, the scattered light is eliminated to increase scene visibility and recover haze-free scene contrasts. In this new approach we formulate a refined image formation model that accounts for surface shading in addition to the transmission function. This allows us to resolve ambiguities in the data by searching for a solution in which the resulting shading and transmission functions are locally statistically uncorrelated. A similar principle is used to estimate the color of the haze. Results demonstrate the new method abilities to remove the haze layer as well as provide a reliable transmission estimate which can be used for additional applications such as image refocusing and novel view synthesis.