An algorithm for the visualization of stereo images simultaneously captured with different exposures

The visualization of stereo images obtained from two eyepiece cameras of a stereo microscope with different exposures is studied. This problem is solved to improve the quality of resulting images in the case when one image is not sufficient for capturing an object with the desired color reproduction accuracy and high level of detail both in dark and light regions. An approach to solving this problem in which differently exposed images are split between two views is considered. This approach allows us to significantly reduce the capturing time and to enhance the quality of capturing moving objects. The algorithm described in [1] is used as the basic algorithm; the main steps of this algorithm are the stereo matching of two input images and the construction of high dynamic range images. Modifications of the basic algorithm that use different stereo matching techniques are proposed. The application of the algorithm described in [2] for the visualization of stereo images without constructing high dynamic range images is discussed. A database of images captured with different exposures by a stereo microscope is created. The quality of algorithms applied to the images from this database is evaluated in the HDR-VDP-2.2 metric [3].