Automatically Generating Best Shot Image using Blink Detection Method in Various Shooting Conditions

Abstract

Photographs often have some people with closed eyes. A method to automatically output a best shot image in which all photographed members have open eyes is proposed. First a series of photographs (here 6 frames) is taken by using the continuous release function in commercial digital cameras. Blinking by each person is checked in each frame, and a frame in which all members have open eyes is selected. Blinking detection is carried out by calculating the normalized correlation between a 30 × 7 pixels open eyes template and input frames of reduced size. For a case where no frame exists in which all members have open eyes, the closed eye image is replaced by an open eye image obtained in a different frame. Experimental results for 18 photographs taken under various shooting conditions show the usefulness of the proposed method for automatically outputting a best shot image.