A method of performing bilateral filtering and using the method for displaying high-dynamic-range images is presented. The method reduces the contrast of the image while preserving detail of the image. The presently disclosed method incorporates a two-scale decomposition of the image into a base layer encoding large-scale variations, and a detail layer. The base layer has its contrast reduced, thereby preserving detail. The base layer is obtained using an edge-preserving bilateral filter. The bilateral filter is a non-linear filter, where the weight of each pixel is computed using a Gaussian in the spatial domain multiplied by an influence function in the intensity domain that decreases the weight of pixels with large intensity differences. The bilateral filtering is accelerated by using a piecewise-linear approximation in the intensity domain and appropriate subsampling.