Saliency Based Image Cropping

Image cropping is a technique that is used to select the most relevant areas of an image and discarding the useless parts. Handmade selection, especially in case of large photo collections, is a time consuming task. Automatic image cropping techniques may help users, suggesting to them which part of the image is the most relevant, according to specific criteria. In this paper we suppose that the most visually salient areas of a photo are also the most relevant ones to the users. We compare three different saliency detection methods within an automatic image cropping system, to study the effectiveness of the related saliency maps for this task. We furthermore extended one of the three methods (our previous work), which is based on the extraction of keypoints from the image. Tests have been conducted onto an online available dataset, made of 5000 images which have been manually labeled by 9 users

Photojournalism: Historical Dimensions to Contemporary Debates

This chapter offers a brief discussion of the historical context surrounding recent discussions of photography and focuses on the role of photojournalism in contemporary society. As such, it addresses the introduction of photography and its perceived ability to provide authentic documentation of reality and details the development of photojournalism during the twentieth century. This chapter then focuses on challenges to the documentary role of photography since the introduction of digital technologies and notes the changing role of photojournalists showcasing their current emphasis on illustrating emotional aspects of experience

Radicalizing refamiliarization

In this short article, our aim is to consider contemporary American visual culture through a contribution to the question concerning Barack Obama. However, our article is not a work of academic philosophy, art theory, or even a description of the theoretical humanities. Rather, it is a postmodern meditation on the condition of American appropriation art

A novel method for subjective picture quality assessment and further studies of HDTV formats

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ IEEE 2008.This paper proposes a novel method for the assessment of picture quality, called triple stimulus continuous evaluation scale (TSCES), to allow the direct comparison of different HDTV formats. The method uses an upper picture quality anchor and a lower picture quality anchor with defined impairments. The HDTV format under test is evaluated in a subjective comparison with the upper and lower anchors. The method utilizes three displays in a particular vertical arrangement. In an initial series of tests with the novel method, the HDTV formats 1080p/50,1080i/25, and 720p/50 were compared at various bit-rates and with seven different content types on three identical 1920 times 1080 pixel displays. It was found that the new method provided stable and consistent results. The method was tested with 1080p/50,1080i/25, and 720p/50 HDTV images that had been coded with H.264/AVC High profile. The result of the assessment was that the progressive HDTV formats found higher appreciation by the assessors than the interlaced HDTV format. A system chain proposal is given for future media production and delivery to take advantage of this outcome. Recommendations for future research conclude the paper