1. A method, comprising: obtaining photoacoustic data; reconstructing a reconstructed image from the photoacoustic data using total-variation minimization based photoacoustic tomography reconstruction, where the total-variation minimization based photoacoustic tomography reconstruction is based at least in part upon a functional including observed acoustic field data and computed acoustic field data and a penalty term based upon variation of absorbed energy density (Φ); and providing the reconstructed image for rendering on a display device.