US Patent 7593020 Image editing using image-wide matting

An image editing technique employing a layered representation of the image is presented. The image representation includes a main pixel color layer, a secondary pixel color layer, an alpha layer and a noise layer. Generally, the pixel values of one or more pixel locations of one or more of the layers of the image representation are manipulated to effect a change. Once changed, the layers are combined to produce a revised image.