METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BACKGROUND REPLACEMENT IN STILL PHOTOGRAPHS

摘要

A first digital image is acquired of a framed area while illuminating the background and foreground object under a first lighting condition. A second digital image is then acquired of the same framed area while illuminating t he background and foreground object under a second lighting condition. Prefe rably, the first lighting condition illuminates the background without illum inating the foreground object so that a silhouette of the foreground object is acquired in the first image. The second lighting condition illuminates th e foreground object (e.g., with frontal lights). Due to the difference in th e illumination between the background and silhouette in the first image, an alpha mask can be created from the first acquired image. Using the mask, the background from the second image can be removed and replaced by virtually a ny other desired background image.