Photographic tone reproduction for digital images

TLDR

Mapping the high dynamic range of real‑world luminances to the low dynamic range of photographic prints or screens is a classic photographic and computer‑graphics challenge. The paper develops a new tone reproduction operator by leveraging time‑tested photographic techniques. It adapts and extends Ansel Adams’ techniques for digital images. The algorithm is simple and yields good results across a wide variety of images.

Abstract

A classic photographic task is the mapping of the potentially high dynamic range of real world luminances to the low dynamic range of the photographic print. This tone reproduction problem is also faced by computer graphics practitioners who map digital images to a low dynamic range print or screen. The work presented in this paper leverages the time-tested techniques of photographic practice to develop a new tone reproduction operator. In particular, we use and extend the techniques developed by Ansel Adams to deal with digital images. The resulting algorithm is simple and produces good results for a wide variety of images.