Computational color constancy using chromagenic filters in color filter arrays

Abstract

We have proposed, in this paper, a new color constancy technique, an extension to the chromagenic color constancy. Chromagenic based illuminant estimation methods take two shots of a scene, one without and one with a specially chosen color filter in front of the camera lens. Here, we introduce chromagenic filters into the color filter array itself by placing them on top of R, G or B filters and replacing one of the two green filters in the Bayer’s pattern with them. This allows obtaining two images of the same scene via demosaicking: a normal RGB image, and a chromagenic image, equivalent of RGB image with a chromagenic filter. The illuminant can then be estimated using chromagenic based illumination estimation algorithms. The method, we named as CFA based chromagenic color constancy (or 4C in short), therefore, does not require two shots and no registration issues involved unlike as in the other chromagenic based color constancy algorithms, making it more practical and useful computational color constancy method in many applications. Experiments show that the proposed color filter array based chromagenic color constancy method produces comparable results with the chromagenic color constancy without interpolation.