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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Predicting range of acceptable photographic tonal adjustments

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

There is often more than one way to select tonal adjustment for a photograph, and different individuals may prefer different adjustments. However, selecting good adjustments is challenging. This thesis describes a method to predict whether a given tonal rendition is acceptable for a photograph, which we use to characterize its range of acceptable adjustments. We gathered a dataset of image "acceptability" over brightness and contrast adjustments. We find that unacceptable renditions can be explained in terms of over-exposure, under-exposure, and low contrast. Based on this observation, we propose a machine-learning algorithm to assess whether an adjusted photograph looks acceptable. We show that our algorithm can differentiate unsightly renditions from reasonable ones. Finally, we describe proof-of-concept applications that use our algorithm to guide the exploration of the possible tonal renditions of a photograph.

Degree

thesis:*
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Jaroensri, Ronnachai
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Frédo Durand.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99862
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/99862

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Jaroensri, Ronnachai. Predicting range of acceptable photographic tonal adjustments. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99862