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Simple multiscale image enhancement for natural images

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Abstract

In a digital still camera (DSC) system, the dynamic range is usually compressed linearly in logarithmic space. Hence, an image taken by a DSC tends to be low contrast, and gives a flat impression without liveliness in comparison with conventional silver halide photographs. In this paper, a new digital image enhancement method based on multiscale smoothing is proposed. In the proposed method, first, the difference between an input image and a smoothed one is obtained in various scales. Then, brightness conversion in the n-th scale is carried out by adding the differential image of n-th scale to an input image. Finally, by synthesizing each conversion result, high-contrast and sharpened image with liveliness is obtained. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by applying it to some natural images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, 753-8512, Japan

    Go Tanaka, Noriaki Suetake & Eiji Uchino

Authors
  1. Go Tanaka
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  2. Noriaki Suetake
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  3. Eiji Uchino
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Correspondence to Noriaki Suetake.

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Tanaka, G., Suetake, N. & Uchino, E. Simple multiscale image enhancement for natural images. OPT REV 17, 130–138 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10043-010-0023-6

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