Viewing Low Contrast, High Dynamic Range Images with MUSCLE

This paper describes a novel method for enhancing an image for display when it has faint detail, high dynamic range or uneven illumination. The method processes grey-scale images by extracting local detail at several scales, equalising the contrast for each scale then averaging the results. It is extended to colour images through the use of an appropriate colour space. Problems caused by quantisation, noise, compression artefacts and coloured haze are considered and treated. The results are widely applicable to surveillance, medical and consumer digital camera imagery.