Analysis of high dynamic range light field images in practical utilization contexts

Abstract

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging has proven its importance in numerous applications over the recent years. In the industry, there is an evident strive to further enhance the quality of the captured contents. Accordingly, legacy Low Dynamic Range (LDR) images are currently being reconstructed as HDR images due to their importance and usage in so many use case contexts. Analogous to conventional LDR and HDR images, the HDR reconstruction of light field images has also become relevant within the scientific community. Although the procedure of reconstruction is similar in several ways, the creation of HDR light field contents poses a significantly greater challenge and suffers from obstacles that are not present in case of the 2D counterpart. In this paper, we provide a context-dependent analysis of HDR light field imaging. The investigated use cases include, but are not limited to industrial prototyping, medical applications, control systems, digital signage, exhibitions of cultural heritage, education, cinematography and communication. The work takes into consideration global illumination and rendering challenges. The topics of real-time systems and services, cost-efficient practices, content availability, baseline-specific considerations, apparatus-specific optical limitations, user interaction and general plausibility are additionally emphasized in the analysis. The paper also provides a set of recommendations regarding the use-case-specific requirements of the investigated practical contexts.