High Dynamic Range Imaging: Improvements and Limits after more than 20 Years of Research
Instructors: Alessandro Rizzi, Università Degli Studi di Milano and John McCann, McCann Imaging
Level: Intermediate
Duration: 2 hours plus 15 minute break. After the class, adjourn to Zoom to join the instructor and other students in a discussion of the class.
Course Time:
    New York: Thursday 12 November, 12:45-15:00
    Paris: Thursday 12 November, 18:45-21:00
    Tokyo: Friday 13 November, 02:45-05:00

Benefits: Attendees will be able to:
There are many different approaches to HDR, in many cases they overlap.
The course goes through all of them, underlining characteristics, advantages and limits. After the course, attendees will have a clear idea of the many aspect undergoing the HDR applications, from the creation of the content to the visualization at the end of the pipeline. In particular:

• Measure the optical limits in acquisition and display.
• Discuss and compare the 3 possible goals of HDR imaging
• Evaluate the accuracy of scene capture.
• Evaluate the effects of HDR on the vision system
• Discuss the current HDR TV systems and standards

Intended Audience: any student or scholar that has to deal with HDR in its many fields of application in computer vision, like e.g. medical imaging, advanced learning, technology of displays, video, etc.

Course Description:
HDR imaging is a continuously evolving field of research, started more than twenty years ago. Today, the evolution continues in the production of HDR televisions and standards for HDR video media formats.

This course reviews the three possible goals of HDR imaging: reproducing light field, reproducing appearance, improving image aesthetic and visibility. For each goal, a careful analysis of characteristics, limits, and ground truth are presented. The course aims at replacing myths with measurements about the limits of accurate camera acquisition (range and color) and the usable range of light for displays presented to human vision. It discusses the principles of tone rendering and the role of vision in the process.

John McCann worked in, and managed, Polaroid’s Vision Research Laboratory (1961-1996). He studied Retinex theory, color constancy, color from rod/cone interactions at low light levels, image reproduction, appearance with scattered light, cataracts, and HDR imaging. He is a Fellow of IS&T and the Optical Society of America (OSA); a past president of IS&T and the Artists Foundation, Boston; IS&T/OSA 2002 Edwin Land Medalist and IS&T 2005 Honorary Member.

Alessandro Rizzi is full professor and head of MIPSLab, at the department of computer science, University of Milan. He researches on color, HDR, and related perceptual issues. He is one of the founders of the Italian Color Group, Secretary of CIE Division 8, and IS&T Fellow and vice president, topical editor of Journal of Optical Society of America, associate editor of Journal of Electronic Imaging. In 2015 received the Davies Medal from the Royal Photographic Society. On this topic he has published several papers and two books:HDR Scene Capture and Appearance (SPIE Spotlight Series) and The Art and Science of HDR Imaging (John Wiley).

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