METHOD AND IMAGE CAPTURING DEVICE FOR GENERATING ARTIFICIALLY DEFOCUSED BLURRED IMAGE

Disclosed are a method and an image capturing device for generating a defocused image from a reference image and one or more focal bracketed images, to provide to a blurred image which is artificially defocused. The artificially defocused blurred image is a fusion image composed by processing the reference image and one or more focal bracketed image to provide a clear foreground with a gradually blurred background based on a created depth map. The method is time efficient because a captured and down-sampled reference image and one or more captured down-sampled aligned focal bracketed images are quickly processed. The depth map created using region-based segmentation reduces a misclassification when foregrounds and backgrounds of pixels are classified. As a result, fast, robust artificial blurring of the background of a captured reference image is provided. The method comprises the following steps of: correcting the zoom of one or more captured focal bracketed images based on at least one zoom correction parameter to align the focal bracketed image with a captured reference image; generating a depth map of at least one pixel within at least one segmented region by down-sampling the reference image; generating a blurred reference image by performing the defocus filtering of the down-sampled reference image using a lens blur filter: and synthesizing a fusion image using at least one among the captured reference image and an up-sampled blurred reference image based on the up-sampled depth map to generate an artificially defocused blurred image.