Photographing and Compositing for Excluding Photographer in Omnidirectional Image

Abstract

When generating a virtual reality (VR) space using omnidirectional images, it is desirable to use images in which the camera photographer does not appear in the image. In this paper, we propose a method to exclude the photographer from an omnidirectional image by using multiple images taken by an omnidirectional camera. In the proposed method, the photographer first takes multiple omnidirectional images while rotating around the omnidirectional camera. Next, feature point matching is performed on the multiple omnidirectional images, and the appearances of all the omnidirectional images are unified using the amount of translation calculated from the feature point matching. Finally, the images are color-corrected and complemented to produce an omnidirectional image excluding the photographer.