Image blurring effects due to depth discontinuities: blurring that creates emergent image details

A new model (called multi-component blurring- or MCB) to account for image blurring effects due to depth discontinuities is presented. We show that blurring processes operating in the vicinity of large depth discontinuties can give rise to emergent image details, quite distinguishable but nevertheless unexplained by previously available blurring models. In other words, the maximum principle for scale space¹ does not hold. It is argued that blurring in high-relief 3D scenes should be more accurately modelled as a multi-component process. We present results from extensive and carefully designed experiments, with many images of real scenes taken by a CCD camera with typical parameters. These results have consistently supported our new blurring model. Due care was taken to ensure that the image phenomena observed are mainly due to de-focussing and not due to mutual illuminations², specularity³, objects' 'finer' structures, coherent diffraction, or incidental image noises⁴. We also hypothesize on the role of blurring on human depth-from-blur perception, based on correlation with recent results from human blur perception⁵.