An improved Gamma correction model for image dehazing in a multi-exposure fusion framework

A usual problem encountered during bad weather conditions is the degraded image quality due to haze/fog. In basic Gamma correction method there is always an uncertainty regarding the choice of a particular exponential factor, which improves the quality of the input image because of the nonlinearity involved in the process. This issue has been solved in this study by proposing a modified Gamma correction method, in which the exponential correction factor is varied incrementally to generate images. We also propose the implementation of an automatic image selection criterion for fusion which helps chose images with varied and distinct features. The implementation of the multi-exposure fusion framework is done in the hue-saturation-value color space which has close resemblance with the human vision. The intensity channel of the selected images is fused in the gradient domain which captures minute details and takes an edge as compared to other conventional fusion based methods. The fused saturation channel is obtained by averaging fusion followed by enhancement using a non-linear sigmoid function. The hue channel of the input hazy image is left unprocessed to avoid color distortion. The experimental analysis demonstrates that the proposed method outperforms most of the single image dehazing methods.