Tone mapping

This article is about the technique to improve the dynamic range of images. For the technique to map colors between images, see Color mapping.
Tone mapped high-dynamic-range (HDR) image of St. Kentigerns Roman Catholic Church in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Tone mapping is a technique used in image processing and computer graphics to map one set of colors to another to approximate the appearance of high-dynamic-range (HDR) images in a medium that has a more limited dynamic range. Print-outs, CRT or LCD monitors, and projectors all have a limited dynamic range that is inadequate to reproduce the full range of light intensities present in natural scenes. Tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reduction from the scene radiance to the displayable range while preserving the image details and color appearance important to appreciate the original scene content.

Inverse tone mapping is the inverse technique that allows to expand the luminance range, mapping a low dynamic range image into a higher dynamic range image.[1] It is notably used to upscale SDR videos to HDR videos.[2]

  1. ^ Banterle, Francesco; Ledda, Patrick; Debattista, Kurt; Chalmers, Alan (2006-11-29). "Inverse tone mapping". Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques in Australasia and Southeast Asia. GRAPHITE '06. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 349–356. doi:10.1145/1174429.1174489. ISBN 978-1-59593-564-9. S2CID 5417678.
  2. ^ "Inverse tone mapping - upscaling SDR content to HDR". Dolby. 2021-06-18. Retrieved 2022-04-06.