A Retinex Algorithm for Image Enhancement Based on Recursive Bilateral Filtering

Retinex is a widely used method in image enhancement, but it may cause halation in the high contrast area. Bilateral filter is an effective algorithm to eliminate this phenomenon, but its slow processing speed restricts its application. To solve this problem, a new Retinex algorithm based on recursive bilateral filter is proposed in this paper. Firstly, recursive bilateral filter is used to estimate the illumination image, and then we use a traditional Retinex module to get the reflectance image and perform a histogram equalization to improve its visual effect. At last, this algorithm is evaluated from both subject and objective aspects. The experiment result shows that the proposed algorithm achieves a satisfied image enhancement effect as well as eliminates the halation, and its processing speed is obviously faster than both the bilateral algorithm and the traditional Retinex algorithm.