A novel multi-exposure image fusion method is proposed for solving the problems of color distortion and detail loss through adaptive image patch segmentation. First, we use the super-pixel segmentation approach to divide the input images into the non-overlapping image patches composed of pixels with similar visual properties. Then, the image patches are decomposed into three independent components: signal strength, image structure and intensity. The three components are fused separately based on characteristics of human vision system and exposure level of input image. While, guided filtering is used to remove the blocking artifacts caused by patch-wise processing. In contrast to the existing methods which use fixed-size patches, the proposed method avoids blocking effect and preserves the color attribute of the input images. The experimental results show that the proposed method has advantages both in subjective and objective evaluation over the state-of-the-art multi-exposure fusion methods. INDEX TERMS Multi-exposure image fusion, super-pixel segmentation, structural patch decomposition, guided filtering.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.