HISTOGRAM-BASED TRANSFORMATION FUNCTION ESTIMATION FOR LOW-LIGHT IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

Abstract

We propose a learning-based low-light image enhancement algorithm, called the histogram-based transformation function estimation network (HTFNet), that estimates transformation functions using the histogram of an input image. First, we obtain an attention image that indicates the pixel-wise information on the level of enhancement. Then, the proposed HTFNet generates the transformation functions by exploiting both the spatial and statistical information of the input image by combining two feature maps extracted from the input image and its histogram. Finally, the enhanced images are obtained via channel-wise intensity transformation. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides higher image quality compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms. © 2022 IEEE.