Headlights are a painful problem for video surveillance. Figuring out how to overcome headlight's glare is both a fascinating and frustrating endeavor. Unfortunately, these challenges have not received enough attention and focus. If you want to capture license plates, regardless of how much resolution you have, you are going to have to deal with headlights.

Below are 2 image samples from a recent intersection test that show how bad surveillance quality can get when dealing with headlights:

That's pretty disastrous and maybe a worse case scenario because there are a lot of cars. However, even with a single car, the image below shows the problems you often face:

We have been doing numerous tests and conducting research into best practices and options. This report is a pre-requisite and companion to our License Plate Capture Shootout results. However, in performing these tests, we realized that the impact of headlights is so severe and so central that it demands a dedicated report explaining the issues involved and providing recommendations on how to overcome.

Inside the Pro report, we look at the following:

• Why Dealing with Headlights is So Hard
• Understanding Variations and Issues Amongst Headlamps
• Best Ways to Adjust Exposure
• Choosing Color vs Black & White
• The Limits of Megapixel
• The Limits of Using IR and White Light
• Using Filters and Understanding Tradeoffs