Example-based contrast enhancement for portrait photograph

• Main Authors: Chan, K. L., Zhang, Xiaoyan, Constable, Martin
• Other Authors: School of Art, Design and Media
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/99410; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/12889; http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6460290&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D6460290
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper proposes an approach whereby the regional contrasts in snap-shot style portrait photographs are enhanced using pre-modern portrait paintings as aesthetic exemplars. The reference portrait painting is selected based on a comparison of the existing contrast properties of the painting and the photograph. The contrast style in the selected reference painting is transferred to the photograph by mapping the inter-and intra-regional contrast of the regions, such as the face and skin area, reminder part of figure, and non-figure region. A novel two-part partial contrast stretching method is proposed to achieve the contrast mapping. Finally, the transition boundary between regions is smoothed and the non-figure region is blurred. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.