In this paper

we propose a novel method to recover the 3D shape of objects from two image sequences. At first

for eliminating the limitations of the conventional shape from shading methods

we develop a spherical light source model. Based on this model

a fast genetic algorithm is then used for the shape and reflectance recovery from the diffuse reflection component extracted from a pair of image sequences. An image sequence is acquired with each image taken at a different light position. As a result

the normal of a surface patch which is not in the light source moving plane can also be estimated robustly. Our method is verified by both real and simulated experiments.