Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Light field constancy within natural scenes

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

The structure of light fields of natural scenes is highly complex due to high frequencies in the radiance distribution function. However it is the low-order properties of light that determine the appearance of common matte materials. We describe the local light field in terms of spherical harmonics and analyze the qualitative properties and physical meaning of the low-order components. We take a first step in the further development of Gershun's classical work on the light field by extending his description beyond the 3D vector field, toward a more complete description of the illumination using tensors. We show that the three first components, namely, the monopole (density of light), the dipole (light vector), and the quadrupole (squash tensor) suffice to describe a wide range of qualitatively different light fields.

In this paper we address a related issue, namely, the spatial properties of light fields within natural scenes. We want to find out to what extent local light fields change from point to point and how different orders behave. We found experimentally that the low-order components of the light field are rather constant over the scenes whereas high-order components are not. Using very simple models, we found a strong relationship between the low-order components and the geometrical layouts of the scenes.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Structure of light fields in natural scenes

Alexander A. Mury, Sylvia C. Pont, and Jan J. Koenderink
Appl. Opt. 48(28) 5386-5395 (2009)

Representing the light field in finite three-dimensional spaces from sparse discrete samples

Alexander A. Mury, Sylvia C. Pont, and Jan J. Koenderink
Appl. Opt. 48(3) 450-457 (2009)

Study of the photodetector characteristics of a camera for color constancy in natural scenes

Sivalogeswaran Ratnasingam and Steve Collins
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 27(2) 286-294 (2010)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (9)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (7)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved