Automatic Image De-Weathering Using Curvelet-Based Vanishing Point Detection

Under poor weather conditions (rain, fog, etc.), both the contrast and color of an image will be degraded. To reverse these effects, spatially adaptive algorithms have previously been developed to improve images under these conditions. Due to the scattering of light, the degradations of an image will be proportional to the distance from the point where the image was taken -this requires de-weathering algorithms to acquire depth information extracted from the image. Previously implemented methods [4] are limited, in that an interactive step requiring the user to select both the horizon color and the vanishing point of the image was needed. Using new techniques in geometric data representation (curvelets), an automatic de-weathering algorithm has been developed.