Light field variational estimation using a light field formation model

Abstract

Many light field acquisition methods have been developed thanks to special optical devices, such as microlens array and coded aperture. However, these methods produce light fields with resolutions limited by the employed optical device. In this paper, we propose an alternative method to acquire light fields with resolutions that users can select. This method relies on the variational estimation of a light field from a single image and a depth map taken with a digital still camera. The light field is obtained by solving an inverse problem built from a light field formation model, based on optical geometry and light ray radiometry. The effectiveness of this estimation method is demonstrated on synthetic and real data. The experimental results show that it is possible to estimate a light field without using special optical devices. In addition, realistic images can be recreated by the exploitation of estimated light fields in image formation.