JP2682753B2 - Pictorial hard copy device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pictorial hard copy apparatus for making a hard copy from a pictorial original image such as a negative film or a reflection original.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In conventional photographic printing, printing is performed uniformly from the state of the image recorded on the photographic film regardless of the photographic situation or the intention of the photographer. For this reason,
When shooting in fine weather, the contrast is so strong that the shadow of the person's face is barely represented.
Similarly, when shooting in cloudy weather, there is no contrast, and the overall print is dark. Therefore,
The photographer may be dissatisfied with the print.

Therefore, the maximum and minimum densities are extracted from the entire original image, and when the difference between the maximum and minimum densities exceeds a certain value, the tone is softened or the difference between the maximum and minimum densities is constant. When the value is less than the value, it may be hardened. According to such a determination method, the difference between the maximum density and the minimum density is often a certain value or more, and in this case, the softening process is performed. However, when the main part has a density corresponding to the dark part, the main part has already become an image with no contrast, and further softening is not preferable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to solving the above problems and provides a pictorial hard copy apparatus for improving an image reproduction problem that occurs in copying between image systems having different image reproduction areas, that is, an image portion where an image is not reproduced. The purpose is to provide. It is another object of the present invention to provide a pictorial hard copy device that improves the image reproduction area of a copy material when it is not fully utilized (from highlight to shadow).

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a main image portion in original image data and a highlight image in an image area excluding the main image portion.
Section, a means for detecting the respective densities of the shadow image section, a means for calculating the difference in the densities between the image sections from the obtained densities of the respective image sections, and the density difference and a predetermined value. Compare the gradation reproduction conditions of pictorial hard copy by comparison
Means for determining, said original on the basis of the determined tone reproduction condition
Means for converting image data and the converted original image data
And means for creating a pictorial hard copy .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the means for calculating the density difference is the above-mentioned means.
The difference in density between the main image part and the highlight image part,
Calculate the difference in density between the main image area and the shadow image area
However, the means for obtaining the gradation reproduction condition is related to each density difference.
The highlight side including the highlight image part
Gradation reproduction conditions, shadow side gradation including shadow image part
The reproduction condition is obtained.

[0007]

The densities of the main image portion, the highlight portion and the shadow portion in the original image data are detected, and the density difference between the image portions is obtained from the obtained densities of the image portions. This density difference is compared with a constant value obtained in advance, and the gradation reproduction condition of pictorial hard copy is obtained by this comparison.
You. The original image data is converted based on this gradation reproduction condition.
It is. With this converted original image data, pictorial
A hard copy is created.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a pictorial hard copy apparatus embodying the present invention. The developed negative film 10 is set on a film carrier 11. As is well known, the film carrier 11 controls the film feed roller pair 12 to set the frame to be printed at the print position. This setting may be performed not only by detecting the edge of the frame to be printed but also by detecting a notch previously attached to the frame to be printed on the negative film. The frame set at the print position is illuminated by the light source unit 13. As is well known, the light source unit 13 includes a light source 14, a filter 15, and a mixing box 16.
It is composed of The image of the frame to be printed is formed by the lens 17 on the imaging unit 18 composed of a CCD. The imaging unit 18 sends the three-color image signal to the image processing unit 20. As will be described later in detail, the image processing unit 20 decomposes the print target frame into minute points, sends the image data of these points to the characteristic value calculation section 21, and displays a simulated image on the monitor CRT 22. . The gradation correction amount calculation unit 23 calculates the gradation correction amount based on the density data of each part from the characteristic value calculation unit 21. A magnetic read head 24 is arranged on the film entrance side of the film carrier 11, and reads the position information of the main subject recorded on the magnetic recording layer of the negative film 10. The magnetic reading unit 25 converts the signal from the magnetic reading head 24 into main part position data, and sends this to the characteristic value calculation unit 21. The characteristic value calculation unit 21 calculates the average density DF, the maximum density DFmax, and the minimum density DFmi of the main image portion based on the main portion position data.
Calculate n. The maximum density DFmax may be an average value of pixels having a value of 95% or more in the cumulative density histogram of the main image portion, and the minimum density DFmin may be an average value of pixels having a value of 5% or less.

The characteristic value calculation unit 21 calculates the average density DF of the main image portion in the frame to be printed from the image data of each point,
The maximum density DFmax, the minimum density DFmin, the density DH of the highlight part in the original image, and the density DS of the shadow part in the original image are extracted. Density DH in highlight area, density D in shadow area
As described above, S can be obtained from the cumulative density histogram or from the density histogram, and can be extracted by various methods. Each of these density signals is sent to the gradation correction amount calculation unit 23. The main image portion is determined as follows. First, the position of the main subject is detected at the time of shooting, and this is recorded on a recording medium such as the magnetic recording layer of the film. At the time of printing, this main subject position information is read by a magnetic reproducing head or the like, and the main image portion is specified based on this. The main subject position information may be electrically recorded in an IC memory or the like instead of being recorded in a recording medium such as a magnetic recording layer. Further, it may be optically recorded in the photosensitive emulsion layer of the film. The IC memory and the magnetic recording layer may be provided separately from the cartridge and the film, in addition to the IC memory and the magnetic recording layer.

The position of the main image portion on the screen is specified as follows. By recording the subject distance data in the film recording medium at the time of shooting, reading this at the time of printing, estimating the face size from this and the image data of the frame to be printed, and determining the face area of the original image by this. , The main image portion is determined (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-287531). At the time of photographing, subject distance data is recorded on a film recording medium. On the printer side, a pattern indicating the main part is determined in advance for each object distance data, and the main part is specified by the pattern selected according to the object distance data at the time of printing (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-176416). Information of a distance measuring area in which a main subject exists among a plurality of distance measuring areas is recorded on a film, and a main image portion is determined by using this information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-2232487). The measured luminance of the main subject and the position of the main subject on the screen are recorded on a recording medium at the time of shooting. At the time of printing, the recorded information is used to identify the main part (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-269957). The intention of drawing and the main subject position information are manually recorded on the film at the time of shooting, and the main image portion is determined by using this information (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-186827, 1-18).
6828). The image signals of the main part at the time of distance measurement and the main part at the time of shooting are compared to detect the recording position of the main part in the screen, and this is recorded on a film. At the time of printing, the main image position information is used to determine the main image portion (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-2088).
34). A main subject position on the screen is specified using means for designating the detection range of the subject and means for detecting the distance of the subject present in the detection range and the position on the screen, and this is recorded on a film ( Japanese Patent Application No. 1-301776). As described above, as a method for specifying the position of the main part from the image data without recording the information for specifying the main subject at the time of shooting, the main part is specified based on the skin color data in the image data. (JP-A-52-1
No. 56624), and a method of identifying the main part by removing the background part (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-65835).

The gradation correction amount calculator 23 calculates the gradation correction amount based on various density signals by the procedure shown in FIG. First, the difference DF between the maximum density DFmax of the main image part and the minimum density DFmin of the main image part in the frame to be printed.
Calculate max-DFmin. In addition to this, the difference DH-DF between the density DH of the highlight portion and the density DF of the main image portion, and the difference DF between the density DF of the main image portion and the density DS of the shadow portion.
-Calculate the DS. Then, these density differences are set to a constant value
1, K2, L1, L2, KL1, KL2 determine which part of the image to soften or harden.

First, it is determined to which range the density difference DFmax-DFmin belongs. (1) DFmax-DFmin> KL1 Soften the entire print target frame. (2) DFmax-DFmin <KL2 Harden the entire print target frame. (3) KL2 ≤ DFmax -DFmin ≤ KL1 In this case, as shown below, the density difference DH-DF, D
Comparing F-DS with constant values K1, K2, L1, L2,
Makes the highlights or shadows harder or softer. (4) DH-DF> K1 The highlight part of the frame to be printed is softened. (5) DF-DS> K2 Soften the shadow part of the frame to be printed. (6) DH-DF <L1 The highlight part of the frame to be printed is made to have a high contrast. (7) DF-DS <L2 The contrast of the shadow part of the frame to be printed is increased. The constant values KL1, KL2, K1, K2, L
1 and L2 are coefficients determined in advance by experiments or the like for each image creation system. Also, the maximum density DFmax and the minimum density D
In addition to the determinations (1), (2) , and (3) based on Fmin , determinations (4) to (7) may be independently determined, and different tone corrections may be performed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a frame to be printed which is a backlight scene. Such a frame is also photographed when a person stands indoors or in a vehicle and simultaneously captures outdoor scenery. In this frame, DH-DF> K1, and when the face density corresponding to DF is set to an appropriate density, DH
Has a high density, the conventional printing method has no density on the print. Further, the main part is in the shadow part in the entire image, and the image has no face contrast and has no stereoscopic effect (DF-DS <L2). Therefore, the gradation correction amount is determined using the above determination formula. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, DH becomes DH ', and the highlight portion of the frame to be printed is softened. Also, D
S becomes DS ', and the shadow portion becomes harder. The print obtained by this gradation correction shows a background image, and the image of a person also becomes an image having a proper density change and a three-dimensional effect. On the other hand, in the case of photographing with a strobe light, if the conventional method is used to print the main part of a person or the like so that the density is appropriate, the background part becomes dark and this part is crushed. On the other hand, in this embodiment, in such a case, the shadow part is softened without impairing the finish of the main part of the frame to be printed by the judgment formula (5), so that the background part is also an image with contrast. Can be Similarly, even in the case of oblique light on a winter day or spot light on the stage, it is possible to appropriately finish the background portion into an image with contrast without impairing the finish of the main portion.

Since the gradation is the density difference between two points,
It is relative. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
In addition to the tone correction that fixes DF and lowers other DH and DS, as shown in FIG. 5, DF and D are fixed by fixing DH and DS.
Gradation correction may be performed by raising to F '. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, between DF and DH, between DF and D
Besides linearly interpolating between S, nonlinearly, for example, DF
The larger the difference from, the larger the gradation correction may be. As the gradation correction amount, a plurality of correction amount patterns may be prepared in advance, and these may be selected, or the correction amount may be obtained so as to obtain a predetermined proper gradation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the image processing unit 20 having a gradation correction function. The image data from the imaging unit 18 is digitized via an A / D converter 30, which enters a multiplier 31. The multiplier 31 multiplies the image data by a coefficient (1-K) to remove noise. This image data is
It enters the adder 33 via the selector 32, is added with the data from the multiplier 34, and is input to the 3-port video memory 35. The video memory 35 outputs image data having different transfer speeds. By having two systems of output in this way, image data can be output to peripheral devices having different transfer rates (for example, those having extremely different transfer rates such as a CRT display and an optical printer) at substantially the same time. be able to. Here, the output with the lower transfer speed is referred to as output 1, and the output with the higher transfer speed is referred to as output 2. Output 1
Has two types of speed, the same speed as the camera input and the transfer speed for outputting to the printer, and the output 2 has the transfer speed for displaying on the CRT.

The image data output from the output 1 enters the multiplier 34, is multiplied by a coefficient (K) for noise removal, and enters the adder 33. It goes without saying that the image data read out here is an image one frame before. Thus, the noise component of the image data is removed. Further, the coefficient (K) of the multiplier 34 is set to "1", the data on the input side is forcibly set to "0" by the arbitrary area selector 32, and the selector 36 turns on the output 1 only in that area.
Further, if the transfer speed is doubled and the read data is thinned out one pixel at a time and input to the adder, an image obtained by reducing the image of one frame before by half is fitted into the current frame (this is -Called in-picture).
If only the writing position is controlled without thinning, the same image can be displayed side by side by half.

The image data from the output 2 is subjected to .gamma. Correction and the like through look-up table memories 40 and 41 (hereinafter referred to as LUT), and enters the D / A converter 43 through the selector 42 to be converted into an analog signal. Monitor CRT22
Output to Here, the LUT 40 and LUT 41 are LUTs for the current screen and the insertion screen in the picture-in-picture mode, and both LUTs are independently color-corrected and can be displayed on the monitor CRT 22. ing. By doing so, when adjusting the color tone,
The image before adjustment (the reduced image) and the image after adjustment can be compared in real time.

The LUTs 40 and 41 are composed of high-speed memories, and color tone conversion can be performed by previously writing data corresponding to each address from the microprocessor 45. For example, the gradation correction data shown by the solid line in FIGS. 4 and 5 is written by the microprocessor 45, and the γ correction of the monitor CRT 22 is performed by this.
The microprocessor 45 can freely rewrite the coefficient of the color correction matrix, the coefficient of the multiplier, etc. in addition to the rewriting of the LUT data.

When transferring the frozen image data to the printer, the image data is read from the output 1 of the video memory 35. This image data is stored in a correction LUT 5
By 0, the gradation characteristics are converted into those shown in FIG. 4 or 5. The data of the LUT 50 is rewritten to the data having the corresponding gradation characteristic according to the judgment result by the judgment formulas (1) to (7). The tone-converted image data is adjusted to the color characteristics of color paper or the like by the color correction matrix circuit 51 and sent to the printer 53 via the printer interface 52. Printer 53
In addition to the optical color printer, a heat-sensitive color printer or an inkjet color printer can be used. As is well known, an optical printer uses a CRT or a liquid crystal display panel, a light beam such as a laser beam as a recording stylus, and uses a photosensitive material as a recording medium.

In the above embodiment, a pictorial hard copy was obtained by printing on a color paper using the negative film 10, but in addition to this, the same applies to the original image such as a color positive film or a color reflection original. You can make a pictorial hard copy. Further, a pictorial hard copy may be created from digitized image data of an electronic still camera or the like.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Main image part in the original image data and images excluding this main image part
Highlight image part and shadow image part in the image area
Detecting a concentration of, respectively, Kakue from the density of each image portion obtained
The difference in density between the image areas is calculated, and the difference in density is compared with a predetermined value to reproduce the gradation of a pictorial hard copy.
The original image data is obtained based on the obtained gradation reproduction conditions.
Is converted and the converted original image data is used to create a pictorial
Since I made a hard copy, I can reproduce the gradation properly in other parts without spoiling the gradation of the main part,
The quality of printed photographs can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a photographic printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a gradation correction procedure.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a print target frame that is a backlight scene.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of gradation correction data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of gradation correction data.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an image processing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Negative Film 18 Imaging Section 20 Image Processing Section 22 Monitor CRT 23 Gradation Correction Amount Calculation Section 24 Magnetic Read Head

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pictorial hard copy apparatus for producing a pictorial hard copy from a pictorial original image, wherein a main image portion in the original image data and an image excluding the main image portion are included.
Highlight image part and shadow image part in the image area
Pictorial by comparing means for detecting the concentration of, respectively, means for calculating the difference in density between the image portion from the density of the obtained respective image portions, with a predetermined value and the density difference
Means for obtaining the tone reproduction condition of hard copy, and converting the original image data based on the obtained tone reproduction condition
Means for, pictorial hard copolymers by the converted original image data
Pictorial hardcopy device characterized in that it comprises a means for creating a copy. 2. The means for calculating the density difference is the main
The difference in density between the image part and the highlight image part, the main
The means for calculating the difference in density between the image portion and the shadow image portion and obtaining the gradation reproduction condition is a method for determining the density difference.
The gradation on the highlight side including the highlight image part according to the formula
Reproduction condition, gradation reproduction of shadow side including shadow image part
The pictorial hard copy device according to claim 1 , wherein a condition is obtained.