# Frequency-Aware Guidance for Blind Image Restoration via Diffusion Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.12450 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.12450/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Inverse problems and image restoration, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 4 of its 48 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Nov 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Inverse problems and image restoration](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/inverse-problems-and-image-restoration/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [ILVR: Conditioning Method for Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.02938/) (2021)
- [Zero-Shot Image Restoration Using Denoising Diffusion Null-Space Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00490/) (2022)
- [JPEG Artifact Correction using Denoising Diffusion Restoration Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11888/) (2022)
- [DiracDiffusion: Denoising and Incremental Reconstruction with Assured Data-Consistency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.14353/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Guidance in the Frequency Domain Enables High-Fidelity Sampling at Low CFG Scales](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.19713/) (2025)
- [MultLFG: Training-free Multi-LoRA composition using Frequency-domain Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.20525/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Blind image restoration remains a significant challenge in low-level vision tasks. Recently, denoising diffusion models have shown remarkable performance in image synthesis. Guided diffusion models, leveraging the potent generative priors of pre-trained models along with a differential guidance loss, have achieved promising results in blind image restoration. However, these models typically consider data consistency solely in the spatial domain, often resulting in distorted image content. In this paper, we propose a novel frequency-aware guidance loss that can be integrated into various diffusion models in a plug-and-play manner. Our proposed guidance loss, based on 2D discrete wavelet transform, simultaneously enforces content consistency in both the spatial and frequency domains. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in three blind restoration tasks: blind image deblurring, imaging through turbulence, and blind restoration for multiple degradations. Notably, our method achieves a significant improvement in PSNR score, with a remarkable enhancement of 3.72,dB in image deblurring. Moreover, our method exhibits superior capability in generating images with rich details and reduced distortion, leading to the best visual quality.