Low-light image enhancement (LLIE) has benefited from frequency-domain techniques, which can adjust global illumination more directly than pixel-space methods. However, a new arXiv paper notes a common flaw: many existing approaches assume that the amplitude and phase components of an image can be restored separately. That assumption, the authors argue, can lead to suboptimal results because the two are physically coupled.
To address this, the paper proposes a unified framework that models amplitude and phase together, rather than in isolation. It also introduces the use of reliable endogenous priors—internal image statistics that guide the enhancement process without requiring external reference data. This combination is designed to preserve structural details and avoid color or brightness distortions typical of low-light processing.
The work is presented as a new method, though the abstract does not yet include quantitative comparisons or full implementation details. As a single-source announcement, it is best read as a research direction rather than a proven benchmark. Full results would be needed to assess how it compares against existing LLIE techniques.