System, apparatus, method, and computer readable media for on-the-fly captured image data enhancement. An image or video stream is enhanced with a filter in concurrence with generation of the stream by a camera module. In one exemplary embodiment, HD image frames are filtered at a rate of 30 fps, or more, to enhance human skin tones with an edge-preserving smoothing filter. In embodiments, the smoothing filter is applied to an image representation of reduced resolution, reducing computational overhead of the filter. The filtered image is then upsampled and blended with a map that identifies edges to maintain an edge quality comparable to a smoothing filter applied at full resolution. A device platform including a camera module and comporting with the exemplary architecture may provide enhanced video camera functionality even at low image processing bandwidth.