“High-Dynamic-Range Imaging” by Debevec, Pattanaik, Reinhard and Ward
Conference:
Type:
Entry Number: 13
Title:
- High-Dynamic-Range Imaging
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
Prerequisites
Familiarity with basic techniques in digital photography, traditional eight-bit image editing, and basic computer graphics modeling and rendering. Also, familiarity with a specific image-editing package or 3D modeling and rendering package is helpful.
Intended Audience
Students, researchers, and industrial developers in digital photography, computer graphics rendering, real-time photoreal graphics, and visual effects production (especially rendering and compositing).
Description
Current display devices can display only a limited range of contrast and colors, which is one of the main reasons that most image acquisition, processing, and display techniques use no more than eight bits per color channel. This course outlines recent advances in high-dynamic-range imaging, from capture to display, that remove this restriction, thereby enabling images to represent the color gamut and dynamic range of the original scene rather than the limited subspace imposed by current monitor technology. This hands-on course teaches how high-dynamic-range images can be captured, the file formats available to store them, and the algorithms required to prepare them for display on low-dynamic-range display devices. The trade-offs at each stage, from capture to display, are assessed, allowing attendees to make informed choices about data-capture techniques, file formats, and tone-reproduction operators. The course also covers recent advances in image-based lighting, in which HDR images can be used to illuminate CG objects and realistically integrate them into real-world scenes. Through practical examples taken from photography and the film industry, it shows the vast improvements in image fidelity afforded by high-dynamic-range imaging.
