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Evaluation of Preferred Brightness and Detail Levels in 3D and 2D Images Based on HDR Tone Mapping

Authors:
Zicong Mai
Colin Doutre
Panos Nasiopoulos
Rabab Ward

Keywords: 3D; high dynamic range; HDR; tone-mapping; quality of experience

Abstract:
High dynamic range (HDR) images provide superior picture quality by allowing a larger range of brightness levels to be captured and reproduced. Even with existing 8-bit displays, picture quality can be significantly improved if content is first captured in HDR format, and then tone-mapping is applied to convert from HDR to 8-bit, low dynamic range format. Tone mapping methods have been extensively studied for 2D images. By varying the tone mapping process, the brightness and level of details (i.e., sharpness) of the output image can be altered. In this paper, we present a study that compares: i) the preferred level of brightness, and ii) the preferred amount of details, of tone mapped images when they are displayed in 2D and 3D formats. Images at a large range of different brightness and detail levels were first generated by HDR capturing followed by tone mapping with different parameters. We performed an extensive subjective experiment that allowed participants to vary the brightness and amount of details in the output tone mapped images and select the level they thought gave the best visual quality. The results showed that there is no statistically significant difference between the preferred brightness level for 2D and 3D content. On the other hand, the subjects consistently chose a higher level of details (i.e. a sharper image) for 3D images compared to the level of details they thought was optimal in 2D mode. This result indicates that when processing 3D content, the image should be sharper than the same content viewed in 2D mode for optimal appearance.

Pages: 195 to 199

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: June 24, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4529

ISBN: 978-1-61208-202-8

Location: Venice, Italy

Dates: from June 24, 2012 to June 29, 2012