Google And Massachusetts Institute of Technology Create Algorithm To Remove Unwanted Reflections And Objects From Photos

Google And MIT Have Made Bad Photos A Thing Of The Past
|

You're staring out of a plane, thinking of how best to caption that typical shot of the wing and the ocean of clouds on Instagram, when you realise that all your pictures have a reflection of the window that no filter will remove.

Well, it looks like our days of camera-grievances may soon be coming to an end.

Google And Massachusetts Institute of Technology have figured out a way to remove those annoying reflections and other image obstructions, including fences and rain drops, from photos.

Researchers created an algorithm that can take a few frames from a video and separate the foreground and background of a photo, resulting in an obstruction-free image.

Open Image Modal

Standard photo taken from a window, obstructed by the reflection of a bag

Open Image Modal

Image treated with Google and MIT's algorithm

The algorithm can also, rather freakishly, isolate and capture reflections that are caught on camera, in a similar manner to what those Hollywood "experts" do in the back of a black van, while chasing the bad guy in an action-packed thriller.

Open Image Modal

The algorithm isolates reflections caught on camera.

Researchers will be presenting their paper at Siggraph 2015, a conference about computer graphics and interactive techniques, later this month.

We wait with bated breath for this genius application to reach our smartphones.