Specular highlights detection and reduction with multi-flash photography

we present a novel method to reduce the effect of specularities in digital images. our approach relies on a simple modification of the capture setup: a multi-flash camera is used to take multiple pictures of the scene, each one with a differently positioned light source. we then formulate the problem of specular highlights reduction as solving a poisson equation on a gradient field obtained from the input images. the obtained specular reduced image is further refined in a matting process with the maximum composite of the input images. experimental results are demonstrated on real and synthetic images. the entire setup can be conceivably packaged into a self-contained device, no larger than existing digital cameras.