Removing Reflective Flare in Real-World Conditions

The increasing prevalence of mobile devices has led to significant advancements in mobile camera systems and improved image quality. Nonetheless, mobile photography still grapples with flare corruptions such as reflective flare. The absence of a comprehensive real image dataset tailored for mobile phones hinders the development of effective flare mitigation techniques. To address this issue, we present a novel real image dataset specifically designed for mobile camera systems, focusing on flare removal. Capitalizing on the distinct properties of real images, this dataset serves as a solid foundation for developing advanced flare removal algorithms. The dataset comprises over 1,100 pairs of high-quality, full-resolution images for reflective flare, which generate 2,200 paired patches, ensuring broad adaptability across various imaging conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that networks trained with synthesized data struggle to cope with the complex lighting settings present in this real image dataset. Our dataset is expected to enable an array of new research in flare removal and contribute to substantial improvements in mobile image quality, benefiting mobile photographers and end-users alike.