Fully Proximal Splitting Algorithms In Image Recovery

Structured convex optimization problems in image recovery typically involve a mix of smooth and nonsmooth functions. The common practice is to activate the smooth functions via their gradient and the nonsmooth ones via their proximity operator. We show that, although intuitively natural, this approach is not necessarily the most efficient numerically and that, in particular, activating all the functions proximally may be advantageous. To make this viewpoint viable computationally, we derive a number of new examples of proximity operators of smooth convex functions arising in applications.