  This paper introduces a quantitative evaluation of filters that seek to
separate an image into its large-scale variations, the base layer, and its
fine-scale variations, the detail layer. Such methods have proliferated with
the development of HDR imaging and the proposition of many new tone-mapping
operators. We argue that an objective quality measurement for all methods can
be based on their artifacts. To this aim, the four main recurrent artifacts are
described and mathematically characterized. Among them two are classic, the
luminance halo and the staircase effect, but we show the relevance of two more,
the contrast halo and the compartmentalization effect. For each of these
artifacts we design a test-pattern and its attached measurement formula. Then
we fuse these measurements into a single quality mark, and obtain in that way a
ranking method valid for all filters performing a base+detail decomposition.
This synthetic ranking is applied to seven filters representative of the
literature and shown to agree with expert artifact rejection criteria.
