Photographic Reproduction and Enhancement Using HVS-Based Modified Histogram Equalization

Photographic reproduction and enhancement is challenging because it requires the preservation of all the visual information during the compression of the dynamic range of the input image. This paper presents a cascaded-architecture-type reproduction method that can simultaneously enhance local details and retain the naturalness of original global contrast. In the pre-processing stage, in addition to using a multiscale detail injection scheme to enhance the local details, the Stevens effect is considered for adapting different luminance levels and normally compressing the global feature. We propose a modified histogram equalization method in the reproduction stage, where individual histogram bin widths are first adjusted according to the property of overall image content. In addition, the human visual system (HVS) is considered so that a luminance-aware threshold can be used to control the maximum permissible width of each bin. Then, the global tone is modified by performing histogram equalization on the output modified histogram. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can outperform the five state-of-the-art methods in terms of visual comparisons and several objective image quality evaluations.