Emotion transfer for images based on color combinations

In this paper, an emotion transfer framework for color images based on color combinations is proposed. The purpose of emotion transfer is to change the "look and feel" of images. Colors are confirmed as the most important factor for "look and feel" of images. In addition, various studies in both art and science areas have concluded that other than single color, color combinations are necessary to delivery specific emotions. Therefore, we propose a novel framework to transfer emotion of images based on color combinations, using a predefined color emotion model. The contribution of this new framework is three-fold. First, users do not need to provide reference images as used in traditional color transfer algorithms. In most situations, users may not have enough aesthetic knowledge or path to choose desired reference images. Second, because of the usage of color combinations instead of single color for emotions, a new color transfer algorithm that does not require an image library is proposed based on color statistics. Third, again because of the usage of color combinations, artifacts that normally seen in traditional frameworks using single color are avoided. We present encouraging results generated from this new framework and its potential in several possible applications including emotion transfer of photos and paintings and colorization of gray-scale images.