A tone mapping algorithm for high contrast images

ABSTRACT

A new method is presented that takes as an input a high dynamic range image and maps it into a limited range of luminance values reproducible by a display device. There is significant evidence that a similar operation is performed by early stages of human visual system (HVS). Our approach follows functionality of HVS without attempting to construct its sophisticated model. The operation is performed in three steps. First, we estimate local adaptation luminance at each point in the image. Then, a simple function is applied to these values to compress them into the required display range. Since important image details can be lost during this process, we then re-introduce details in the final pass over the image.

References

1. Frans J. J. Blommaert and Jean-Bernard Martens. An object-oriented model for brightness perception. Spatial Vision, 5(1):15--41, 1990.
2. K. Chiu, M. Herf, P. Shirley, S. Swamy, C. Wang, and K. Zimmerman. Spatially nonuniform scaling functions for high contrast images. In Proceedings of Graphics Interface '93, pages 245--253, 1993.
3. B. Cleland and A. Freeman. Visual adaptation is highly localized in the cat's retina. J. Physiology, 404:591--611, 1988.
4. Paul E. Debevec and Jitendra Malik. Recovering high dynamic range radiance maps from photographs. Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 97, pages 369--378, 1997.
5. Fredo Durand and Julie Dorsey. Interactive tone mapping. 11th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, pages 219--230, 2000.
6. James Ferwerda. Elements of early vision for computer graphics. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 21(5):22--33, 2001.
7. James A. Ferwerda, Sumant N. Pattanaik, Peter Shirley, and Donald P. Greenberg. An adaptation model for realistic image sysnthesis. In SIGGRAPH '96 Proceedings, pages 249--258.
8. Rafael C. Gonzalez and Richard E. Woods. Digital Image Processing. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2002.
9. D. J. Jobson, Z. Rahman, and G. A. Woodell. A multi-scale retinex for bridging the gap between color images and the human observation of scenes. IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 6:965--976, 1997.
10. Edwin H. Land. The retinex theory of color vision. The Scientific American, (12):108--128, December 1977.
11. Gregory Ward Larson, Holly Rushmeier, and Christine Piatko. A visibility matching tone reproduction operator for high dynamic range scenes. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 3(4):291--306, 1997.
12. P. Moon and D. Spencer. The visual effect of non-uniform surrounds. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 35:233--248, 1945.
13. E. Reinhard M. Stark, P. Shirley, and J. Ferwerda. Photographic tone reproduction for digital images. Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, 2002.
14. Stephen E. Palmer. Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999.
15. Sumant N. Pattanaik, James A. Ferwerda, Mark Fairchild, and Donald P. Greenberg. A multiscale model of adaptation and spatial vision for realistic image display. In SIGGRAPH '98 Proceedings, pages 287--298.
16. Sumanta N. Pattanaik, Jack E. Tumblin, Hector Yee, and Donald P. Greenberg. Time-dependent visual adaptation for realistic image display. Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, pages 47--54, 2000.
17. E. Peli. An object-oriented model for brightness perception. Journal of the Optical Society of America, A, 7:2032--2040, 1990.
18. A. Scheel, M. Stamminger, and Hans-Peter Seidel. Tone reproduction for interactive walkthroughs. Proceedings of Eurographics Conference, pages 301--312, August 2000.
19. C. Schlick. Quantization techniques for visualization of high dynamic range pictures. 5th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, pages 7--20, 1995.
20. R. Shapley and C. Enroth-Cugell. Visual adaptation and retinal gain-controls. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, 3:263--346, 1984.
21. Greg Spencer, Peter S. Shirley, Kurt Zimmerman, and Donald P. Greenberg. Physically-based glare effects for digital images. Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, pages 325--334, 1995.
22. T. Tanaka and N. Ohnishi. Painting-like image emphasis based on human vision svstems. Proceedings of Eurographics Conference, pages 253--260, 1997.
23. Jack Tumblin, Jessica K. Hodgins, and Brian K. Guenter. Two methods for display of high contrast images. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 18(1):56--94, 1999.
24. Jack Tumblin and Holly E. Rushmeier. Tone reproduction for realistic images. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 13(6):42--48, November 1993.
25. Jack Tumblin and Greg Turk. Lcis: A boundary hierarchy for detail-preserving contrast reduction. Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 99, pages 83--90.
26. H. Wallah. Brightness constancy and the nature of achromatic colors. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38:310--324, 1948.
27. Greg Ward. A contrast-based scalefactor for luminance display. In Paul Heckbert, editor, Graphics Gems IV, pages 415--421. Academic Press, Boston, 1994.
28. Gregory J. Ward. The RADIANCE lighting simulation and rendering system. Computer Graphics, 28(2):459--472, July 1994. ACM Siggraph '94 Conference Proceedings.
29. Lance Willams. Pyramidal parametrics. Computer Graphics, 17(3), July 1983. ACM Siggraph '83 Conference Proceedings.

Index Terms

• Computing methodologies

  • Computer graphics

    • Image manipulation

    • Rendering