Subband encoding of high dynamic range imagery

Abstract

The transition from traditional 24-bit RGB to high dynamic range (HDR) images is hindered by excessively large file formats with no backwards compatibility. In this paper, we propose a simple approach to HDR encoding that parallels the evolution of color television from its grayscale beginnings. A tone-mapped version of each HDR original is accompanied by restorative information carried in a subband of a standard 24-bit RGB format. This subband contains a compressed ratio image, which when multiplied by the tone-mapped foreground, recovers the HDR original. The tone-mapped image data may be compressed, permitting the composite to be delivered in a standard JPEG wrapper. To naive software, the image looks like any other, and displays as a tone-mapped version of the original. To HDR-enabled software, the foreground image is merely a tone-mapping suggestion, as the original pixel data are available by decoding the information in the subband. We present specifics of the method and the results of encoding a series of synthetic and natural HDR images, using various published global and local tone-mapping operators to generate the foreground images. Errors are visible in only a very small percentage of the pixels after decoding, and the technique requires only a modest amount of additional space for the subband data, independent of image size.