Characterizing Image Quality: Blind Estimation of the Point Spread Function from a Single Image

This paper describes a method for blind estimation of sharpness and resolving power from a single image. These measures can be used to characterize images in the context of the performance of image analysis procedures. The method assumes the point spread function (PSF) can be approximated by an anisotropic Gaussian. The width of the PSF is determined by the ratio of the standard deviations of the intensity and of its derivative at edges. The contrast sensitivity function (CSF) is based on an optimal model for detecting straight edges between homogeneous regions in noisy images. It depends on the signal to noise ratio and is linear in the frequency. The method is applied to artificial and real images proving that it gives valuable results.