Albedo reconstruction based on inverse shading prediction

Abstract

Various disclosed embodiments are directed to deriving an albedo output image from an input image based on deriving an inverse shading map. For example, an input image can be a photograph of a human face (i.e., the geometric features) with RGB values representing the color values of the face as well as pixels representing shadows (i.e., the shadow features) underneath the chin of the human face. The inverse shading map may be a black and white pixel value image that contains pixels representing the same human face without the RGB values and the shadows underneath the chin. The inverse shading map thus relies on the geometric space, rather than RGB space. Geometric space, for example, allows embodiments to capture the geometric features of a face, as opposed to those geometric features' RGB or shadow details.