Facial enhancement and beautification for HD video cameras

Influenced by the widespread adoption of HDTV consumer imaging devices have begun to feature full HD (high density) video capture. With this high-resolution capability, small imperfections in human faces are captured with full HD video. When used for portrait imaging, the resulting video is frequently unsatisfactory to the user. Manufacturers of imaging devices require practical, real-time solutions which can mitigate facial details emphasized by the HD resolution, while preserving the overall quality of the portrait images. The high bandwidth and processing requirements of full HD video make this a challenging task. In this paper, a practical algorithm, now incorporated in a number of consumer devices is explained. Major challenges and their solutions are presented. Attention is given to real-time optimizations of the algorithm which is designed with a view to its suitability for partial or full hardware implementation.