A single algorithm combining exposure and focus fusion

In scenes of significantly varying lighting conditions, under and over exposed regions can suffer from a loss of information. Similarly, the presence of spatial depth within a scene can cause some image regions to be out of focus. Several methods of addressing these issues exist, including tone mapping for true high dynamic range representation and exposure fusion for combining varied-exposure low dynamic range images, as solutions to the former, and image fusion and segmentation etc. to address the latter. This paper proposes an overhauled method of exposure fusion that solves the exposure and focus problems simultaneously, achieving a well-exposed, all-in-focus result. Smart, scene-based data acquisition techniques for reducing both required input data and computational resources are discussed. A platform for a realtime system implementation is also presented.