LIGHT SOURCE DETECTION FROM SYNTHESIZED OBJECTS

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining a location relative to an object and a type of a light source that illuminated the object when the image was captured, are described. A method performed by a process executing on a computer system includes identifying an object of interest in a digital image. The method further includes projecting at least a portion of the digital image corresponding to the object of interest onto a three dimensional (3D) model that includes a polygon-mesh corresponding to the object's shape. The method further includes determining one or more properties of a light source that illuminated the object in the digital image at an instant that the image was captured based at least in part on a characteristic of one or more polygons in the 3D model onto which the digital image portion was projected.