Real-time synthetic out of focus highlight rendering

Abstract

This disclosure relates to techniques for synthesizing out of focus highlighting effects in images in real-time. Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras and other cameras having wide aperture lenses typically capture images with a shallow depth of field (SDOF). So-called SDOF photography may be particularly fit for portrait photography, since it nicely emphasizes the subject, while essentially deemphasizing the background via blurring. Simulating this kind of blurring, particularly around background light sources, using a comparatively larger depth of field (LDOF) camera, may require a high dynamic range (HDR) image capture system, to accurately determine the color of background light sources, which are prone to saturation. However, small form-factor cameras having smaller lens apertures may not have the bandwidth or processing power to process full HDR images in real time. Thus, described herein are techniques to synthesize color accurate, out-of-focus background highlight regions in real-time for images captured by LDOF cameras.