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Color constancy

About: Color constancy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2478 publications have been published within this topic receiving 76675 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The mathematics of a lightness scheme that generates lightness numbers, the biologic correlate of reflectance, independent of the flux from objects is described.
Abstract: Sensations of color show a strong correlation with reflectance, even though the amount of visible light reaching the eye depends on the product of reflectance and illumination. The visual system must achieve this remarkable result by a scheme that does not measure flux. Such a scheme is described as the basis of retinex theory. This theory assumes that there are three independent cone systems, each starting with a set of receptors peaking, respectively, in the long-, middle-, and short-wavelength regions of the visible spectrum. Each system forms a separate image of the world in terms of lightness that shows a strong correlation with reflectance within its particular band of wavelengths. These images are not mixed, but rather are compared to generate color sensations. The problem then becomes how the lightness of areas in these separate images can be independent of flux. This article describes the mathematics of a lightness scheme that generates lightness numbers, the biologic correlate of reflectance, independent of the flux from objects

3,480 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper extends a previously designed single-scale center/surround retinex to a multiscale version that achieves simultaneous dynamic range compression/color consistency/lightness rendition and defines a method of color restoration that corrects for this deficiency at the cost of a modest dilution in color consistency.
Abstract: Direct observation and recorded color images of the same scenes are often strikingly different because human visual perception computes the conscious representation with vivid color and detail in shadows, and with resistance to spectral shifts in the scene illuminant. A computation for color images that approaches fidelity to scene observation must combine dynamic range compression, color consistency-a computational analog for human vision color constancy-and color and lightness tonal rendition. In this paper, we extend a previously designed single-scale center/surround retinex to a multiscale version that achieves simultaneous dynamic range compression/color consistency/lightness rendition. This extension fails to produce good color rendition for a class of images that contain violations of the gray-world assumption implicit to the theoretical foundation of the retinex. Therefore, we define a method of color restoration that corrects for this deficiency at the cost of a modest dilution in color consistency. Extensive testing of the multiscale retinex with color restoration on several test scenes and over a hundred images did not reveal any pathological behaviour.

2,395 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

2,122 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A practical implementation of the retinex is defined without particular concern for its validity as a model for human lightness and color perception, and the trade-off between rendition and dynamic range compression that is governed by the surround space constant is described.
Abstract: The last version of Land's (1986) retinex model for human vision's lightness and color constancy has been implemented and tested in image processing experiments. Previous research has established the mathematical foundations of Land's retinex but has not subjected his lightness theory to extensive image processing experiments. We have sought to define a practical implementation of the retinex without particular concern for its validity as a model for human lightness and color perception. We describe the trade-off between rendition and dynamic range compression that is governed by the surround space constant. Further, unlike previous results, we find that the placement of the logarithmic function is important and produces best results when placed after the surround formation. Also unlike previous results, we find the best rendition for a "canonical" gain/offset applied after the retinex operation. Various functional forms for the retinex surround are evaluated, and a Gaussian form is found to perform better than the inverse square suggested by Land. Images that violate the gray world assumptions (implicit to this retinex) are investigated to provide insight into cases where this retinex fails to produce a good rendition.

1,674 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive mathematical model to account for colour constancy is formulated, where the visual system is able to measure true object colour in complex scenes under a broad range of spectral compositions, for the illumination; it is assumed that the visual systems must implicitly estimate and illuminant.
Abstract: A comprehensive mathematical model to account for colour constancy is formulated. Since the visual system is able to measure true object colour in complex scenes under a broad range of spectral compositions, for the illumination; it is assumed that the visual system must implicitly estimate and illuminant. The basic hypothesis is that the estimate of the illuminant is made on the basis of spatial information from the entire visual field. This estimate is then used by the visual system to arrive at an estimate of the (object) reflectance of the various subfields in the complex visual scene. The estimates are made by matching the inputs to the system to linear combinations of fixed bases and standards in the colour space. The model provides a general unified mathematical framework for related psychophysical phenomenology.

1,519 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
202391
2022227
2021112
2020133
2019123