Performance results of the improved method of photometric stereo using local shape from shading on variable albedo samples

This work presents the performance results of the improved photometric stereo (PS) method (Sakarya et al. (2003)), which integrates PS and local shape from shading (SFS) algorithms, on variable albedo samples. The PS problem can be solved with the linear equation system by using at least three input images illuminated in different directions. SFS recovers the shape of an object from a single image and it does not work on the variable albedo samples. The main idea of the integration of PS and SFS can be explained briefly as follows: PS produces the initial estimated depth for overcoming the global accuracy and recovering the albedo map; SFS supplies the more detailed information within each homogeneous area.