Retinex-Based Relighting for Night Photography

The lighting up of buildings is one form of entertainment that makes a city more colorful, and photographers sometimes change this lighting using photo-editing applications. This paper proposes a method for automatically performing such changes that follows the Retinex theory. Retinex theory indicates that the complex scenes caught by the human visual system are affected by surrounding colors, and Retinex-based image processing uses these characteristics to generate images. Our proposed method follows this approach. First, we propose a method for extracting a relighting saliency map using Retinex with edge-preserving filtering. Second, we propose a sampling method to specify the lighting area. Finally, we composite the additional light to match the human visual perception. Experimental results show that the proposed sampling method is successful in keeping the illuminated points in bright locations and equally spaced apart. In addition, the proposed various diffusion methods can enhance nighttime skyline photographs with various expressions. Finally, we can add in a new light by considering Retinex theory to represent the perceptual color.

Automated summary

This paper proposes an automatic method for changing building lighting based on the Retinex theory. The method involves extracting a relighting saliency map using Retinex with edge-preserving filtering, specifying the lighting area through a sampling method, and compositing additional light to match human visual perception. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed sampling method in preserving illuminated points and enhancing nighttime skyline photographs with various expressions. Additionally, considering Retinex theory allows for the representation of perceptual color through the addition of new light.