JP2634511B2 - Red-eye correction method for photo prints and pictorial hard copy device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for correcting red-eye in printed photographs and a pictorial hardcopy apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, zoom compact cameras capable of telephoto photography have been remarkably popularized. When telephoto flash photography is performed with this zoom compact camera, the probability of occurrence of red-eye increases rapidly, and this red-eye phenomenon is becoming a serious problem in the photographic industry. In order to eliminate such red eyes, some cameras have conventionally been provided with a function of performing preliminary light emission by a xenon flash, a tungsten lamp, or the like before flash light emission. As a result, the occurrence of red eyes is reduced by reducing the degree of opening of the pupil of a person as a subject. This utilizes the fact that the occurrence of red eyes is small when the pupil opening is small.

However, the above-mentioned conventional method cannot completely prevent the occurrence of red-eye, makes the expression of a person unnatural due to the preliminary light emission, and requires a special mechanism for performing the preliminary light emission. Has significant disadvantages. In addition, when red-eye occurs, correction (spotting) is performed on the color photograph to correct the red-eye. However, since this method relies on the manual operation of a skilled worker, there is a problem that the price of a color photograph is extremely high.

[0004] Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-64532 discloses that
A camera having photographing information detecting means for occurrence of red-eye and recording means for such information, and an information output device for visualizing such information are disclosed. The information recorded by the camera is automatically detected by the information output device, and based on this information, information on the occurrence of red eyes is output. As described above, although the occurrence of red-eye can be automatically detected, the correction has a similar problem because it depends on spotting as in the related art.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-114253 discloses a printer capable of burning and dodging. The printer adjusts the burn position on the diffuser, thereby correcting red eye. However, in the above-described printer, a dedicated complicated device is required for burning or dodging only the red-eye region, and there is a problem that the device configuration becomes large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and has a simple structure and can easily correct the red-eye without requiring skill. It is an object to provide a correction method and a pictorial hardcopy device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method of photometrically measuring each point of an original image to obtain image data, a step of specifying a red-eye area, and a step of converting the red-eye area into a desired pupil color. And printing an original image on color paper based on the converted data.

Another aspect of the present invention is a means for reading photographing information recorded at the time of photographing, a means for judging whether or not red-eye has occurred from the read photographing information, and a means for metering each point of an original image. Means for obtaining image data, means for extracting a red-eye area when it is determined that red-eye has occurred, means for converting the extracted red-eye area to a preset pupil color, and And a means for printing an original image based on the image data.

[0009]

The photo frame to be printed on the developed negative film is subjected to three-color separation photometry. It is determined whether or not red-eye has occurred based on the photometric value and the photographing information recorded as necessary. In addition to the automatic determination, a manual determination is made as to whether or not red-eye has occurred during a negative test for inputting an exposure correction amount by observing a print target frame of a negative film. If red-eye occurs, the red-eye is corrected by a printer having a digital image processing function. This correction is performed by performing color correction on the photometry data in the red-eye region so that the red-eye is eliminated and the pupil becomes a normal pupil color. Then, the image of the print target frame is printed on color paper based on the corrected color information.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a pictorial hard copy apparatus embodying the present invention. The developed negative film 10 is set on a film carrier 11. As is well known, the film carrier 11 controls the film feed roller pair 12 to set the frame to be printed at the print position. This setting may be performed not only by detecting the edge of the frame to be printed but also by detecting a notch previously attached to the frame to be printed on the negative film. The frame set at the print position is illuminated by the light source unit 13. Also, film carrier 1
A magnetic read head 28 is disposed on the entrance side of the film 1, and reads image information such as position information of a main subject recorded on the magnetic recording layer of the negative film 10. The magnetic reading unit 29 converts a signal from the magnetic reading head 28 into various kinds of photographing information, and sends this to the image processing unit 20. The image processing unit 20 uses the photographing information for determining the amount of exposure and determining red-eye.

The light source unit 13 includes a light source 14, a filter 15, and a mixing box 16, as is well known. The image of the frame to be printed is formed by the lens 17 on the imaging unit 18 composed of a CCD. Imaging unit 18
Sends a three-color image signal to the image processing unit 20. As will be described later in detail, the image processing unit 20 decomposes the frame to be printed into minute points, and displays a simulated image on the color CRT 22 of the monitor based on the image data of each point.

The image processing unit 20 includes a red-eye correction unit 23.
Is connected. The red-eye correction unit 23 includes a light pen control unit 24, and changes the red-eye area designated by the light pen 25 to an eye color such as black, brown, or blue. The color palette 26 of the eye color to be changed is displayed on the screen, and by specifying this with the light pen 25, the red-eye area can be changed so as to have the specified eye color.

The red eye area data specified by the light pen 25 and the color change data of this area are sent to the image processing section 20. The image processing unit 20 sends the converted data to the printer 27. The printer 27 performs printing on color paper based on data from the image processing unit 20.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image processing section 20. The image data from the imaging unit 18 is digitized via an A / D converter 30, which enters a multiplier 31. The multiplier 31 multiplies the image data by a coefficient (1-K) to remove noise. This image data enters the adder 33 via the selector 32 and is added to the data from the multiplier 34 to add
It is input to the video memory 35 of the port. The video memory 35 outputs image data having different transfer speeds. By having two outputs in this manner, image data can be output to peripheral devices having different transfer speeds (for example, those having extremely different transfer speeds such as a CRT display and a photographic printer) almost simultaneously. Can be. Here, the output with the lower transfer speed is referred to as output 1, and the output with the higher transfer speed is referred to as output 2. Output 1 has two speeds, the same speed as the camera input and the transfer speed for outputting to the printer, and output 2 has the transfer speed for display on the CRT.

The image data output from the output 1 enters a multiplier 34, is multiplied by a coefficient (K) for noise removal, and enters an adder 33. It goes without saying that the image data read out here is an image one frame before. Thus, the noise component of the image data is removed. Further, the coefficient (K) of the multiplier 34 is set to “1”, the data on the input side is forcibly set to “0” by an arbitrary data selector 32, and the output 1 is turned ON only in the area of the selector 36.
Further, if the transfer speed is doubled and the read data is thinned out one pixel at a time and input to the adder, an image obtained by reducing the image of one frame before by half is fitted into the current frame (this is -Called in-picture).
If only the writing position is controlled without thinning, the same image can be displayed side by side by half.

The image data from the output 2 is subjected to gamma correction and the like through look-up table memories 40 and 41 (hereinafter referred to as LUT), and enters a D / A converter 43 via a selector 42 to be converted into an analog signal. Monitor CRT22
Output to Here, the LUT 40 is for a red-eye area, and the LUT 41 is for an area excluding the red-eye area. The LUTs 40 and 41 are composed of high-speed memories. The red-eye area LUT 40 is for converting red eye into a normal pupil color, and data according to race is stored in advance in a ROM or the like as necessary, and a desired color such as black is used. By specifying, the corresponding data is R
Read from the OM, which is
Written to UT40. In addition, the normal area LUT 41
The conversion data necessary for displaying the image of the negative film on the color CRT 22 is written therein.

The selector 42 sends the output from the LUT 40 to the D / A converter 43 for the data in the red-eye area, and sends the output from the LUT 41 to the D / A converter 43 for the area other than the red-eye area. This allows
The red-eye area is displayed on the CRT 22 as, for example, black-eye as in a normal print. By writing data corresponding to each address into the LUTs 40 and 41 from the microprocessor 45 in advance, the color tone conversion between the red-eye region and the other region can be performed. The microprocessor 45 is an LU
In addition to rewriting the data of T, the coefficient of the color correction matrix, the coefficient of the multiplier, and the like can be freely rewritten.

When transferring the frozen image data to the printer, the image data is read from the output 1 of the video memory 35. This image data is stored in a correction LUT 5
As in the case of the LUT 40, the red-eye region is converted to a normal pupil color, and the LUT 51 performs the necessary color conversion for printing the negative film image on color paper, in the other regions. The color-converted image data is adjusted to the color characteristics of color paper or the like by a color correction matrix circuit 51 and sent to a printer 53 via a printer interface 52. As the printer 53, a thermal color printer or an ink jet color printer can be used in addition to the optical color printer. As is well known, an optical printer uses a CRT or a liquid crystal display panel, a light beam such as a laser beam as a recording stylus, and uses a photosensitive material as a recording medium.

In the above embodiment, a pictorial hard copy was obtained by printing on a color paper using the negative film 10. In addition, a pictorial hard copy was similarly obtained from an original image such as a color positive film. You can make a copy. Further, a pictorial hard copy may be created from digitized image data of an electronic still camera or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the image processing unit 20 is configured by hardware. Alternatively, the red-eye correction may be performed by manual operation using image processing software by a personal computer. As the personal computer, for example, Macintosh (product name) is used, and as the software, for example, color image processing software Adobe Photoshop (product name) is used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the determination of the red eye and the correction thereof are performed manually, but this may be performed automatically. When performing automatic red-eye determination, photographing information recorded on a magnetic recording layer or the like of the film at the time of photographing is used. After specifying the frame in which red-eye occurs, manual correction or automatic correction may be performed on the frame. As the photographing information, the camera may determine from the photographing conditions whether or not red-eye occurs, record this, and use this red-eye occurrence information during printing.

Further, instead of determining the occurrence of red-eye on the camera side, the printer may determine whether or not red-eye has occurred based on the photographing information. In this case,
It is determined whether or not red-eye has occurred using photographing information such as the type of camera, whether or not strobe light is emitted, an LV value, a lens focal length (F), and a photographing distance (D). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the camera type is a compact camera, particularly a zoom compact camera, and has an LV value of 8 or less, F of 50 mm or more, particularly 70 mm or more, and D of 2 m or more, especially 3 m.
At this time, it is determined that red-eye has occurred. And
If red-eye has occurred, this is notified to the operator by an alarm or the like, and thereafter, as in the above-described embodiment, the red-eye is corrected by manual operation.

Further, instead of manual operation, red-eye correction may be automatically performed as shown in FIG. In this case, each color of red eye color (R, G, B)
Is determined in advance based on past statistical data. At this time, by determining the range of each color according to the type of the film and the exposure conditions, the red-eye range can be determined with higher accuracy. In determining the red-eye area, it is preferable to narrow down the area for determining red-eye in advance based on main part position information or the like. In this case, the area of the face of the subject is first extracted from the main part position information, and the area where the eyes are located is specified from the area of the face, so that the area for determining red eyes can be narrowed down considerably.

The position of the face area on the screen is specified as follows. The subject distance data is recorded on the film recording medium at the time of photographing, is read out at the time of printing, and the face size is estimated from this and the image data of the frame to be printed, thereby determining the face area of the original image. JP-A-2-287531). At the time of photographing, subject distance data is recorded on a film recording medium. On the printer side, a pattern indicating a main part is determined in advance for each subject distance data, and a face area which is a main part is specified by a pattern selected according to the subject distance data at the time of printing (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-176416). ). Among the plurality of ranging areas, information on the ranging area where the main subject is present is recorded on a film, and a face area is determined using this information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-223487). The measured luminance of the main subject and the position of the main subject on the screen are recorded on a recording medium at the time of shooting. At the time of printing, the face area is specified by using the recorded information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-269957).
issue). The intention of drawing and the main subject position information are manually recorded on the film at the time of shooting, and the main image portion is determined using this information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-186827, 1).
-186828). The image signals of the main part at the time of distance measurement and the main part at the time of shooting are compared to detect the recording position of the main part in the screen, and this is recorded on a film. At the time of printing, a main image portion is determined using the main portion position information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-208834). A main subject position on the screen is specified using means for designating the detection range of the subject and means for detecting the distance of the subject present in the detection range and the position on the screen, and this is recorded on a film ( Japanese Patent Application No. 1-301776). As described above, as a method of specifying the position of the main part from the image data without recording information for specifying the main subject at the time of shooting, a method of specifying the main part based on skin color data in the image data (JP-A-52-156624)
Also, there is a method in which a main part is specified by removing a background part (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-65835).

The determination as to whether or not the eye is a red eye is made based on whether or not the image data of each point in the narrowed area is within a range indicating that the eye is a red eye. First, as shown in FIG. 5, the CRi calculating unit 61 of the red-related circuit 60 calculates CRi, which indicates the amount of deviation from the average density of red, from the image data Ri of each point using Equation 1.

[0026]

## EQU1 ## CRi = Ri- (Ri + Gi + Bi) / 3

The comparator 63 of the color range detecting section 62
According to 64, it is determined whether or not CRi satisfies the inequality of Equation 2.

[0028]

KRmin <CRi <KRmax

The comparators 63 and 64 are connected to reference value input sections 65 and 66 for designating a color range, to which reference values KRmin and KRmax are input from a microprocessor. The determination signal of the color range detection unit 62 is input to the red-eye detection unit 70. Similarly, the other green and blue circuits 71 and 72 calculate CGi, C
Bi is determined, and it is detected based on Equations 5 and 6 whether or not it belongs to a predetermined color range. These detection signals are also input to the red-eye detection unit 70.

[0030]

CGi = Gi− (Ri + Gi + Bi) / 3

[0031]

CBi = Bi- (Ri + Gi + Bi) / 3

[0032]

KGmin <CGi <KGmax

[0033]

## EQU6 ## KBmin <CBi <KBmax

The red-eye detecting section 70 is composed of an AND circuit 75, and determines whether or not red-eye has occurred based on the logical product of three determination signals of R, G, and B. That is, CRi, C
If Gi and CBi satisfy each inequality, it is determined that red-eye has occurred. Note that the reference value KR in these inequalities is
min, KRmax, KGmin, KGmax, KBmin, KB
max is determined in advance by a statistical method.

Next, when it is determined that the eye is a red eye, the area corresponding to the red eye is changed to another color (for example,
Black). That is, if the determination signal is on, the color is switched to the designated color Rr. If the discrimination signal is off,
The input Ri is directly used as the output Ro. In this embodiment, each color is handled as 8-bit data, and the AND circuit 81 of the color switching unit 80 includes AND circuits 82A to 82H as shown in FIG.

If the eyes do not come to life simply by replacing the colors, instead of the simple replacement of the colors, the LUT 85 is used as shown in FIG. Transform the data. As a result, the original information comes to life, and the appearance of unnatural feeling is reduced.

Next, the results of the implementation will be described. Color negative film SHG for general zoom compact camera
With the -400 loaded, you can shoot a 70mm telephoto flash,
The test was performed separately with and without preliminary light emission. Then, the photographed negative film was developed in the same manner as usual, and a print was formed by a conventional process. With the preliminary light emission, the red-eye was mild but at a level requiring correction.
In addition, the facial expression was unnatural due to preliminary light emission. In the case where there was no preliminary light emission, red eyes were remarkable. However, the facial expression was natural. These two image data were read from the negative film using a scanner, and then the red-eye was corrected using a Macintosh personal computer and color image processing software (Adobe Photoshop).
In addition, a leather printer (Proceeding
of Image Analysis TechniquesAnd Applications
(SPSE) Tucson Az (1981) P30-P37) to make a color print. As a result, the red-eye was corrected in both the presence and absence of the preliminary light emission, and the photograph without natural preliminary light emission with a natural expression was more preferable.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Each point of the original image is measured to obtain image data, and when it is determined that red-eye has occurred, a red-eye region is extracted from the image data, and the extracted red-eye region is converted into a preset pupil color. Thus, the correction of red-eye can be performed easily and with good finish without requiring skill such as spotting. In addition, it is determined whether or not red-eye has occurred based on the photographing information. When it is determined that red-eye has occurred, the extracted red-eye region is converted into a preset pupil color, and the original image is printed on color paper. You can also automatically correct red-eye by printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a photographic printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image processing unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for automatically determining red-eye from photographing information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for automatically correcting red eyes.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram for automatically correcting red eyes.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing details of an AND circuit of a color switching unit.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram for correcting red-eye using an LUT.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Negative film 18 Image pick-up part 20 Image processing part 22 Monitor CRT 25 Light pen 60 Red system circuit 62 Color range detection part 70 Red eye detection part 71 Green system circuit 72 Blue system circuit 80 Color switching part

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for producing a photographic print from a photographic original image in which red-eye has occurred during stroboscopic photographing, comprising the steps of: metering each point of the original image to obtain image data; specifying a red-eye region; A step of converting the pupil color into a pupil color and a step of printing an original image on color paper based on the converted data. 2. An apparatus for producing a pictorial real hard copy from a pictorial original image in which red eyes have been generated by flash photography, means for reading photography information recorded at the time of photography, and red eye occurring from the read photography information. Means for determining whether or not there is, a means for photometrically measuring each point of the original image to obtain image data, and when it is determined that red-eye has occurred,
A pictorial hard copy apparatus comprising: means for extracting a red-eye area; means for converting the extracted red-eye area into a predetermined pupil color; and means for printing an original image based on the converted data.