Motion blur is the consequence of relative motion between the camera and the scene within the camera's exposure (shutter) time. While a sharp photo might be restored computationally using deblurring algorithms, can we assist motion deblurring by modifying the imaging process itself? Motion deblurring systems modify the traditional image capture to simplify or help the subsequent deblurring process. Such systems include but are not limited to (a) coded exposure cameras which modulate the light integration pattern so as to make the resulting point spread function (PSF) invertible; (b) auxiliary low spatial resolution high frame-rate cameras to help in PSF estimation; and (c) auxiliary sensors such as gyroscopes/inertial measurement units (IMUs) to assist in PSF estimation. Current digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras and lenses also incorporate image stabilization for handling limited motion blur, which will detect user hand-shake and shift the image parallel to the image plane appropriately. In this chapter, we describe coded exposure photography for motion deblurring.

Related work

Capture time solutions

Using a fast shutter speed (short exposure time) can reduce motion blur, but increases noise and penalizes static parts of the scene. High-speed cameras capture fast motion but require expensive sensing, bandwidth and storage, along with brilliant scene lighting. A high-speed camera also fails to exploit the inter-frame coherence. Edgerton (1951–63) has shown visually stunning results for high-speed objects using a modest exposure time but an extremely narrow-duration flash. Flash, however, is impractical in outdoor or distant scenes. In addition, it captures an instant of the action and fails to indicate the general movement in the scene.