Model-based reconstruction for illumination variation in face images

We propose a novel method to correct for arbitrary illumination variation in the face images. The main purpose is to improve recognition results of face images taken under uncontrolled illumination conditions. We correct the illumination variation in the face images using a face shape model, which allows us to estimate the face shape in the face image. Using this face shape, we can reconstruct a face image under frontal illumination. These reconstructed images improve the results in face identification. We experimented both with face images acquired under different controlled illumination conditions in a laboratory and under uncontrolled illumination conditions.