Luminance-Chrominance-Gradient Based Technique for High Dynamic Range Image Fusion

604-607The High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique involves capturing the same scene multiple times with different exposure values and produces an output image with more dynamic range. Instead of doing all processing in RGB color space, we proposed to do it in Luminance Chrominance Gradient colour space, which results the output images to be more natural and pleasant to perceive with less noise. This experiment was evaluated and analysed with BAR and AEE1 methods and the results are compared. We showed that, our LCGHDR method is computationally efficient and able to remove any colour distortions originated from the RGB color channel

The Spitzer Warm Mission Science Prospects

After exhaustion of its cryogen, the Spitzer Space telescope will still have a fully functioning two-channel mid-IR camera that will have sensitivities better than any other ground or space-based telescopes until the launch of JWST. This document provides a description of the expected capabilities of Spitzer during its warm mission phase, and provides brief descriptions of several possible very large science programs that could be conducted. This information is intended to serve as input to a wide ranging discussion of the warm mission science, leading up to the Warm Mission Workshop in June 2007

Which tone-mapping operator is the best? A comparative study of perceptual quality

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de CatalunyaPublicat sota la llicència Open Access Publishing Agreement, específica d'Optica Publishing Group https://opg.optica.org/submit/review/pdf/CopyrightTransferOpenAccessAgreement-2022-06-27.pdfTone-mapping operators (TMOs) are designed to generate perceptually similar low-dynamic-range images from high-dynamic-range ones. We studied the performance of 15 TMOs in two psychophysical experiments where observers compared the digitally generated tone-mapped images to their corresponding physical scenes. All experiments were performed in a controlled environment, and the setups were designed to emphasize different image properties: in the first experiment we evaluated the local relationships among intensity levels, and in the second one we evaluated global visual appearance among physical scenes and tone-mapped images, which were presented side by side. We ranked the TMOs according to how well they reproduced the results obtained in the physical scene. Our results show that ranking position clearly depends on the adopted evaluation criteria, which implies that, in general, these tone-mapping algorithms consider either local or global image attributes but rarely both. Regarding the question of which TMO is the best, KimKautz ["Consistent tone reproduction," in Proceedings of Computer Graphics and Imaging (2008)] and Krawczyk ["Lightness perception in tone reproduction for high dynamic range images," in Proceedings of Eurographics (2005), p. 3] obtained the better results across the different experiments. We conclude that more thorough and standardized evaluation criteria are needed to study all the characteristics of TMOs, as there is ample room for improvement in future developments

Exploring the visualisation of the cervicothoracic junction in lateral spine radiography using high dynamic range techniques

The C7/T1 junction is an important landmark for spinal injuries. It is traditionally difficult to visualise in a lateral X-ray image due to the rapid change in the bodys anatomy at the level of the junction, where the shoulders cause a large increase in attenuation. To explore methods of enhancing the appearance of this important area, lateral radiographs of a shoulder girdle phantom were subjected to high dynamic range (HDR) processing and tone mapping. A shoulder girdle phantom was constructed using Perspex, shoulder girdle and vertebral bones and water to reproduce the attenuation caused by soft tissue. The design allowed for the removal of the shoulder girdle in order for the cervical vertebrae to be imaged separately. HDR was explored for single and dual-energy X-ray images of the phantom. In the case of single-image HDR, the HDR image of the phantom without water was constructed by combining images created with varying contrast windows throughout the contrast range of an X-ray image. It was found that an overlap of larger contrast windows with a lower number of images performed better than smaller contrast windows and more images when creating an HDR to be tone mapped. Poor results on the phantom without water precluded further testing of single-image HDR on images of the phantom with water, which would have higher attenuation. Dual energy HDR image construction explored images of the phantom both with and without water. A set of images acquired at lower attenuation (phantom without water) was used to evaluate the performance of the various tone mapping algorithms. The tone mapping was then performed on the phantom images containing water. These results showed how each tone mapping algorithm differs and the effects of global vs. local processing. The results revealed that the built-in MatLab algorithm, based on an improved Ward histogram adjustment approach, produces the most desirable result. None of the HDR tone mapped images produced were diagnostically useful. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) analysis was performed on the cervical region of the HDR tone mapped image. It used the scan of the phantom without the shoulder girdle obstruction (imaged under the same conditions) as a reference image. The SNR results quantitatively show that the selection of exposure values affects the visualisation of the tone mapped image. The highest SNR was produced for the 100 - 120 kV dual energy X-ray image pair. The study was limited by the range of HDR image construction techniques employed and the tone mapping algorithms explored. Future studies could explore other HDR image construction techniques and the combination of global and local tone mapping algorithms. Furthermore, the phantom can be replaced by a cadaver for algorithm testing under more realistic conditions

Adaptive beam control and analysis in fluorescence microscopy

This thesis details three novel advances in instrumentation that are each related to performance improvement in wide-field visible-spectrum imaging systems. In each case our solution concerns the assessment and improvement of optical imaging quality. The three instruments are as follows: The first is a portable transmission microscope which is able to correct for artificially induced aberrations using adaptive optics (AO). The specimens and the method of introducing aberrations into the optical system can be altered to simulate the performance of AO-correction in both astronomical and biological imaging. We present the design and construction of the system alongside before-and-after AO-correction images for simulated astronomical and biological images. The second instrument is a miniature endoscope camera sensor we re-purposed for use as a quantitative beam analysis probe using a custom high dynamic range (HDR) imaging and reconstruction procedure. This allowed us to produce quantitative flux maps of the illumination beam intensity profile within several operational fluorescence microscope systems. The third and final project in this thesis was concerned with an adaptive modification to the light sheet illumination beam used in light sheet microscopy, specifically for a single plane illumination microscope (SPIM), embracing the trade-off between the thickness of the light sheet and its extent across the detection field-of-view. The focal region of the beam was made as small as possible and then matched to the shape of curved features within a biological specimen by using a spatial light modulator (SLM) to alter the light sheet focal length throughout the vertical span of the sheet. We used the HDR beam profiling camera probe mentioned earlier to assess the focal shape and quality of the beam. The resulting illumination beam may in the future be used in a modified SPIM system to produce fluorescence microscope images with enhanced optical sectioning of specific curved features

A robust patch-based synthesis framework for combining inconsistent images

Current methods for combining different images produce visible artifacts when the sources have very different textures and structures, come from far view points, or capture dynamic scenes with motions. In this thesis, we propose a patch-based synthesis algorithm to plausibly combine different images that have color, texture, structural, and geometric inconsistencies. For some applications such as cloning and stitching where a gradual blend is required, we present a new method for synthesizing a transition region between two source images, such that inconsistent properties change gradually from one source to the other. We call this process image melding. For gradual blending, we generalized patch-based optimization foundation with three key generalizations: First, we enrich the patch search space with additional geometric and photometric transformations. Second, we integrate image gradients into the patch representation and replace the usual color averaging with a screened Poisson equation solver. Third, we propose a new energy based on mixed L2/L0 norms for colors and gradients that produces a gradual transition between sources without sacrificing texture sharpness. Together, all three generalizations enable patch-based solutions to a broad class of image melding problems involving inconsistent sources: object cloning, stitching challenging panoramas, hole filling from multiple photos, and image harmonization. We also demonstrate another application which requires us to address inconsistencies across the images: high dynamic range (HDR) reconstruction using sequential exposures. In this application, the results will suffer from objectionable artifacts for dynamic scenes if the inconsistencies caused by significant scene motions are not handled properly. In this thesis, we propose a new approach to HDR reconstruction that uses information in all exposures while being more robust to motion than previous techniques. Our algorithm is based on a novel patch-based energy-minimization formulation that integrates alignment and reconstruction in a joint optimization through an equation we call the HDR image synthesis equation. This allows us to produce an HDR result that is aligned to one of the exposures yet contains information from all of them. These two applications (image melding and high dynamic range reconstruction) show that patch based methods like the one proposed in this dissertation can address inconsistent images and could open the door to many new image editing applications in the future