Shadow-aware object-based video processing

A. Cavallaro, E. Salvador, T. Ebrahimi
2005 IEE Proceedings - Vision Image and Signal Processing  
Local illumination changes due to shadows often reduce the quality of object-based video composition and mislead object recognition. This problem makes shadow detection a desirable tool for a wide range of applications, such as video production and visual surveillance. In this paper, we present an algorithm for the isolation of video objects from the local illumination changes they generate in real world sequences when camera, illumination and scene's characteristics are not known. The
more » ... combines a change detector and a shadow detector with a spatio-temporal verification stage. Colour information and spatio-temporal constraints are embedded to define the overall algorithm. Colour information is exploited in a selective way. First, relevant areas to analyse are identified in each image. Then, the colour components that carry most of the needed information are selected. Finally, spatial and temporal constraints are used to verify the results of the colour analysis. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated on indoor as well as outdoor video sequences. Moreover, performance comparisons show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods. SHADOW DETECTION Shadows are difficult phenomena to model. A shadow does not have its own appearance, but that
doi:10.1049/ip-vis:20045108 fatcat:oyrpcjzftncjbb2whdvqs6bcxy