Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE Mot. Imag. J
Volume: 128, No. 10, pp. 40–50
Abstract: Brightness is an attribute of visual perception used to describe the intensity of the light entering the eye. Since human perception is not linearly related to light intensity, characterizing brightness is a challenging task. In standard dynamic range (SDR) imagery, brightness is often quantified using the average picture level (APL), which is the average of all pixels’ code values normalized by the maximum allowed signal code value. APL provides a simple and commonly used brightness metric for SDR; however, its validity for high dynamic range (HDR) content has never been assessed. Due to the higher luminance range that HDR supports, HDR content is encoded using a different transfer function than SDR. Thus, a different distribution of pixel code values is to be expected between HDR and SDR content. In this work, we evaluate the efficiency of the APL metric to quantify the brightness of HDR content. We describe, using patches and professionally graded images, pixel distributions where the APL fails to distinguish relative brightness between pairs of images. To overcome APL shortcomings, we propose a brightness metric based on the geometric mean (GM) and variance of an image’s luma code values. We then conduct two subjective experiments to compare the efficiency of APL and our metric. Results show that the proposed metric predicts more accurately the relative brightness between two frames. However, our results also suggest that a simple statistical model, although useful as a general guideline, cannot be considered accurate enough for HDR content. Therefore, we hypothesize that work on a spatial model might provide a still better fit in characterizing brightness in HDR.
Publication Date: 2019-11-01
DOI: 10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860
ISSN: Print: 1545-0279 | Electronic: 2160-2492
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860
Author(s): Stelios Ploumis
bio
Stelios Ploumis received a BSc degree in computer science from the University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece, in 2013, and a master’s in electrical and computer engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 2017. He is currently a graduate student at UBC pursuing a PhD degree and an intern at Barco/MTT Innovation, Vancouver. His research interests include HDR technology, adaptation of HDR content to legacy standard dynamic range displays, perceptual studies, and video and image processing. He has been an active member of the Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) and SMPTE.
Ronan Boitard
bio
Ronan Boitard received an MEng degree in electrical engineering from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA), Villeurbanne, France, in 2009 and a PhD degree from the University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France, in 2014, while working for Technicolor and the Institut de recherche en informatique et systèmes aléatoires (IRISA) on HDR technology, more specifically, on video tone mapping and temporal coherency. He is presently an HDR imaging scientist at Barco/MTT Innovation, Vancouver, BC, Canada. He has been an active member of MPEG and SMPTE.
Jean-Philippe Jacquemin
bio
Jean-Philippe Jacquemin is the product manager of digital cinema at Barco, where he specializes in laser projection and HDR technology with a passion for image quality and cinema post-production. Over the past three years, he has worked to develop laser projection in China in a fast-growing environment where the theatrical release is constantly increasing in quality and the presentation models are constantly being challenged. He is now focusing on bringing high-brightness HDR technology to cinema presentation. Jacquemin received an MSc degree in electrical engineering from Institut Supérieur de l’Electronique et du Numérique (ISEN), Lille, France, and an MSc degree in ocean engineering from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL. He is a member of SMPTE and an independent filmmaker.
Gerwin Damberg
bio
Gerwin Damberg is Barco’s chief technology officer. He joined Barco in 2016 via the acquisition of MTT’s Light Steering technology where he was co-founder and served as chief technology officer (CEO). Damberg is an entrepreneur at heart and has advanced image technologies over the past decade, both in start-up and established technology companies in research and development (R&D), business development, and management roles. Damberg received a mechatronics engineering degree from the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany, and a PhD degree in computer science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Anders Ballestad
bio
Anders Ballestad is the CEO and co-founder of MTT Innovation Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada, a Barco company that studies and develops HDR solutions for digital cinema and home theater entertainment markets. Ballestad has 20 years of experience in R&D focused on physical simulation and imaging and optics applications, color management, and tone-mapping solutions for HDR and standard dynamic range (SDR) interoperability. As CEO of MTT, he is taking the dream of bringing HDR to the big screen with a team of committed engineers and scientists. Anders received a PhD degree in physics from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Panos Nasiopoulos
bio
Panos Nasiopoulos received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, and bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering from UBC, Vancouver, Canada. He is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the former director of the Institute for Computing, Information, and Cognitive Systems and the Master of Software Systems at UBC. Before joining UBC, he was the president of Daikin Comtec US (co-founder of DVD) and executive vice president of Sonic Solutions. His research interests are primarily in the area of digital video processing and coding. He is the author or coauthor of more than 250 research publications and holds several patents. Nasiopoulos is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC), Canada. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and has been an active member of the Standards Council of Canada, MPEG, JPEG, SMPTE, and IEEE.
Keyword(s): Brightness, HDR, Image Attribute
Copyright: © 2019 SMPTE

Bibliographic Reference(s)

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E. Reinhard et al., “Photographic Tone Reproduction for Digital Images,” ACM Trans. Graph., 21(3):267–276, Jul. 2002. EXTERNAL
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J. A. Ferwerda et al., “A Model of Visual Adaptation for Realistic Image Synthesis,” Proc. SIGGRAPH’96, 1996, pp. 249–258. EXTERNAL
R. Boitard et al., “Demystifying High Dynamic Range Technology: A New Evolution in Digital Media,” IEEE Cons. Electron. Mag., 4(4):72–86, Oct. 2015. EXTERNAL
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Stelios Ploumis, Ronan Boitard, Jean-Philippe Jacquemin, Gerwin Damberg, Anders Ballestad, and Panos Nasiopoulos; Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860

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Stelios Ploumis, Ronan Boitard, Jean-Philippe Jacquemin, Gerwin Damberg, Anders Ballestad, and Panos Nasiopoulos; Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860

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<span class="citation">Stelios Ploumis, Ronan Boitard, Jean-Philippe Jacquemin, Gerwin Damberg, Anders Ballestad, and Panos Nasiopoulos; <cite>Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860</a></span>

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Stelios Ploumis, Ronan Boitard, Jean-Philippe Jacquemin, Gerwin Damberg, Anders Ballestad, and Panos Nasiopoulos; Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019
doi: 10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860
url: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860

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Stelios Ploumis, Ronan Boitard, Jean-Philippe Jacquemin, Gerwin Damberg, Anders Ballestad, and Panos Nasiopoulos; <cite id="bib-10-5594-jmi-2019-2940860">Quantitative Evaluation and Attribute of Overall Brightness in a High Dynamic Range World</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019
<span class="doi">10.5594/JMI.2019.2940860</span>
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Brightness in Cinema: When is it too bright? [Active]