Compensation of ambient illumination

A tangible computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors perform a method for compensation of ambient illumination, said method comprising:

• capturing a visible image of an object with ambient illumination;
• sampling image brightness of at least a portion of said object of said visible image;
• determining a difference between sampled image brightness of at least said portion of said object and a target brightness profile;
• compensating for said difference by virtually simulating adjusted illumination on said object;
• projecting at least one infrared light onto said object;
• capturing a plurality of infrared images of said object;
• calculating a plurality of surface normal vectors for a plurality of points of said visible image using said plurality of infrared images of said object;
• and
• modifying said visible image of said object by using said plurality of surface normal vectors to virtually simulate adjusted illumination.

An electronic device comprising:

• at least one camera configured to capture images of an object with at least ambient illumination;
• an electronic display;
• a plurality of individually controllable light sources adjacent to said display for projecting illumination onto said object, wherein said individually controllable light sources comprise infrared light sources for projecting infrared light onto said object, and wherein said electronic device comprises a plurality of cameras configured to capture a plurality of infrared images;
• a processor;
• and
• a tangible computer-readable memory having stored therein instructions that when executed by said processor compensate for insufficient ambient illumination on at least a portion of said object by providing additional illumination using at least said individually controllable light sources, and wherein said tangible computer-readable memory also has stored therein instructions that when executed by said processor calculate a plurality of surface normal vectors for a plurality of points of a visible image using said plurality of infrared images of said object.