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Flash matting

Published:01 July 2006Publication History
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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to extract mattes using a pair of flash/no-flash images. Our approach, which we call flash matting, was inspired by the simple observation that the most noticeable difference between the flash and no-flash images is the foreground object if the background scene is sufficiently distant. We apply a new matting algorithm called joint Bayesian flash matting to robustly recover the matte from flash/no-flash images, even for scenes in which the foreground and the background are similar or the background is complex. Experimental results involving a variety of complex indoors and outdoors scenes show that it is easy to extract high-quality mattes using an off-the-shelf, flash-equipped camera. We also describe extensions to flash matting for handling more general scenes.

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          cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics
          ACM Transactions on Graphics  Volume 25, Issue 3
          July 2006
          742 pages
          ISSN:0730-0301
          EISSN:1557-7368
          DOI:10.1145/1141911
          Issue’s Table of Contents

          Copyright © 2006 ACM

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          Publication History

          • Published: 1 July 2006
          Published in tog Volume 25, Issue 3

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