IMAGE ENHANCEMENT Dr.

Nursuriati
Jamil
TOPICS

1. Histogram processing
2. Gray level transformations
3. Logical and arithmetic operations
4. Image smoothing
5. Image sharpening
HISTOGRAM PROCESSING Dr. Nursuriati
Jamil
LEARNING OUTCOME

1. Able to comprehend the theory and importance of

histogram in image processing
2. Able to perform histogram stretching and sliding.
3. Able to describe and calculate histogram equalization
4. Able to solve image enhancement problem by using
histogram
WHY HISTOGRAM IS IMPORTANT?
In most image analysis application, useful data often
populates only a small portion of the available range of
gray level values. Contrast enhancement involves changing
the original values so that more of the available range is
used, thereby increasing the contrast between objects and
their backgrounds This can be done by stretching the
gray levels distribution, and equalizing the distribution of
gray levels to utilize the full range of colours.
IMAGE HISTOGRAM
122 92 95 99 102 107 89 90 95 122
99 99 102 82 100 89 91 87 86 99
97 107 103 86 98 92 93 96 96 97
102 100 99 87 97 89 110 95 93 102
84 107 98 99 92 94 104 91 104 84
86 107 93 107 91 109 92 105 91 86
97 104 90 93 93 96 89 121 100 97
105 102 110 97 100 93 89 106 102 105
111 97 100 95 110 98 103 105 93 111
97 88 114 93 96 87 101 94 102 97

Grayscale image Intensity matrix

Image
histogram
10/10/2017 6
IMAGE TYPE AND HISTOGRAM

Dark image Low-contrast image

Bright image High-contrast image

10/10/2017 7
HOW IS IT CONSTRUCTED?
The histogram of a digital image with gray levels from 0 to L-1 is a
discrete function h(rk)=nk, where
 rk is the kth gray level
 nk is the # pixels in the image with that gray level
 n is the total number of pixels in the image
 k = 0, 1, 2, …, L-1

0 0 3 3 7 5
1 3 3 5 5 4
7 7 6 5 4 3
3 1 2 2 2 2
2 5 6 7 1 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Gray level
ANSWER THIS!
Do these images have the same histogram?

Yes, histogram contains only information about gray level

distribution. It doesn’t contain information about the
spatial distribution (i.e. location) of the gray level
HOW CAN A HISTOGRAM ENHANCE AN
IMAGE?
Histogram stretching - identifying minimum and maximum brightness
values from the histogram and applying a transformation to uniformly
stretch this range to fill the full range.
Histogram sliding - If an image needs to be brightened or
darkened without changing the relationship between the gray level
values, histogram sliding method can be used.
Histogram equalization - creates an image with equally distributed
brightness levels over the whole brightness scale in the histogram
HISTOGRAM STRETCHING
One way to increase the contrast of an image the pixel
values could be stretched using this equation:

I  I min
J  255 
I max  I min

Original image Stretched image

HISTOGRAM SLIDING
HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION
Four steps:
1. Build the image histogram.
2. Normalize the histogram to its size.
 Normalized histogram: , where nk is the number of
pixels in the image of size M x N with intensity rk.
3. Accumulate the histogram using cumulative function
T(rk), where: K
T (rk )   p(rk )
r 0

4. Assign the new equalized pixels to the original

image.
 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION –STEP 1
Build the image histogram.
0 6 2 7 2 3 7 1
2 2 3 1 1 5 5 1
7 7 6 3 3 6 6 3
0 0 4 4 4 1 3 1 Image
4 4 5 5 5 2 2 2
0 0 7 7 7 5 5 5
1 1 1 3 3 3 2 2
7 7 6 3 3 6 6 3

Graylevel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Histogram 5 9 9 12 5 8 7 9

Histogram
 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION –STEP 2
Normalize the histogram.

Graylevel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Histogram 5 9 9 12 5 8 7 9

Histogram

Graylevel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Histogram 5 9 9 12 5 8 7 9
Normalized 0.08 0.14 0.14 0.19 0.08 0.13 0.11 0.14

Normalized histogram
 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION –STEP 3
Built cumulative histogram.

Graylevel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Histogram 5 9 9 12 5 8 7 9
Normalized 0.08 0.14 0.14 0.19 0.08 0.13 0.11 0.14
Cumulative 0.08 0.22 0.36 0.55 0.63 0.76 0.87 1.0

Cumulative histogram
 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION –STEP 4
Calculate new gray levels
Graylevel 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Histogram 5 9 9 12 5 8 7 9
Normalized 0.08 0.14 0.14 0.19 0.08 0.13 0.11 0.14
Cumulative 0.08 0.22 0.36 0.55 0.63 0.76 0.87 1.0
New Gray level T(rk) * 20 56 92 140 161 194 222 255
255

Equalized gray levels

HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION –RESULT
0 6 2 7 2 3 7 1
2 2 3 1 1 5 5 1
7 7 6 3 3 6 6 3
0 0 4 4 4 1 3 1 Image
4 4 5 5 5 2 2 2
0 0 7 7 7 5 5 5
1 1 1 3 3 3 2 2
7 7 6 3 3 6 6 3

20 222 92 255 92 140 255 56

92 92 140 56 56 194 194 56
255 255 194 140 140 222 222 140
20 20 161 161 161 56 140 56
161 161 194 194 194 92 92 92
20 20 255 255 255 194 194 194
56 56 56 140 140 140 92 92
255 255 222 140 140 222 222 140

Equalized image
 GRAY LEVEL
TRANSFORMATIONS
LEARNING OUTCOME

1. Able to describe the process of each gray-level

transformation function: negative, log, thresholding,
contrast stretching, gray-level slicing and bit-plane
slicing.
2. Able to solve image enhancement problem by using the
correct gray-level transformation function.
WHY APPLY A TRANSFORMATION
FUNCTION ON AN IMAGE?
It is the simplest method of enhancing an image.
Other than that, you can also manipulate an
image and select certain region of interest in the
image. This method applies a transformation
function, T, on each pixels in the image.
POINTWISE TRANSFORMATION
Gray level transformation functions are pixel-based or
pointwise transformation functions.
Transformation function, T

Input image Output image

f(x,y) g(x,y)
IMAGE NEGATIVES
Obtained by using : g(x, y) = T( f(x,y) ),
where T = L - 1 – f(x,y) and L = maximum gray level
value.

If L = 256, what is the negative value of

pixel intensity 141?

256 – 1 – 141 = 114

141 149 114 149
123 127 123 127

10/10/2017 23
IMAGE NEGATIVE DEMO

Brain tissue
highlighted

Before After
LOG TRANSFORMATIONS
s = c log(1+ f(x,y)), c: constant
Compresses the dynamic range of images with large
variations in pixel values so that the image can be display.

-1555.3 273.6 8.34 6.61

158.11 -392.7 6.06 6.97
1631.3 -1160.5 8.39 8.05
1348.3 -706.7 8.20 7.56

Pixel
1 + log(1348.3) = 8.20 intensities are
compressed
LOG TRANSFORMATIONS DEMO Pixel
intensities are
compressed

Before After
GRAY LEVEL SLICING

To highlight a specific range of gray levels in an

image (e.g. to enhance certain features).

Highlight tumour
 More about this in
THRESHOLDING image segmentation
chapter

Thresholding is a process of converting an image

to black and white.

Grayscale image Binary image

CONTRAST STRETCHING
Works by expanding range of intensities, (r1, r2) in
the input image to the specified range, (s1, s2).
BIT-PLANE SLICING
Selects certain bits plane of an image. Higher order bit
planes contain visually significant data that describes the
general shape of the image. Meanwhile, the lower order
bit planes contributes the details of the image.

Bit plane 0 Bit plane 7

LOGICAL AND ARITHMETIC
FUNCTIONS
LEARNING OUTCOME

1. Able to describe the mathematical concept of each

image logical and arithmetic operations: NOT, AND ,
OR, addition, multiplication, subtraction, division.
2. Able to solve image enhancement problem and
manipulate images by using logical and arithmetic
operations.
HOW CAN ARITHMETIC ENHANCE AN
IMAGE?
An image may also be enhanced using the logical
operations NOT, AND and OR which operate on
strings of binary numbers. Arithmetic operations
such as addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication
(*) and division (/) are also commonly used for
enhancement and region selection purposes.
LOGICAL OPERATIONS
NOT is used to inverse and image, AND and OR operations
are commonly used for region of interest (ROI) processing
in an image.

OR
AND
NOT
IMAGE ADDITION

Both input
images must be
= the same size
and type.

10/10/2017 35
IMAGE MULTIPLICATION

By multiplying an image, you can change the

brightness of an image.

X 4 =

10/10/2017 36
IMAGE SUBTRACTION

Both input
images must be
= the same size
and type.

10/10/2017 37
IMAGE DIVISION

Both input
= images must be
the same size
and type.
IMAGE FILTERING
LEARNING OUTCOME

1. Able to calculate linear and order-statistic filtering.

2. Able to solve noise removal problem by choosing the
correct filter types and sizes.
3. Able to calculate sharpening filtering
4. Able to enhance image by choosing the correct filter
types and sizes.
WHY DO WE FILTER IMAGE?

Image filtering allows you to apply various

effects to an image such as removing noise, and
sharpening images. Common ways of filtering are
using linear and order-statistic filtering.

Linear filters : Average, Laplacian, Gaussian

Order-statistic filters: Min, max, median
HOW DO LINEAR FILTER WORKS?
Pointwise
transformation

Linear filter
works by using
neighbourhood
transformation
HOW DO LINEAR FILTER WORKS?
m1 m2 m3
Given a mask, m m4 m5 m6
m7 m8 m9

and an image, f(x, y)

f(1,1) … … … … … f(1,n)

: f(x-1, y-1) f(x-1, y) f(x-1, y+1) :

: f(x, y-1) f(x, y) f(x, y+1) :

: f(x+1, y-1) f(x+1, y) f(x+1, y+1) :

f(m,0) … … … … … f(m,n)
 HOW DO LINEAR FILTER WORKS?
Step 1. Position the mask, m centred at the current pixel to
be filtered, f(x,y).

f(1,1) … … … … … f(1,n)

m1 m2 m3 : f(x-1, y-1) f(x-1, y) f(x-1, y+1) :

m4 m5 m6 : f(x, y-1) f(x, y) f(x, y+1) :

m7 m8 m9 : f(x+1, y-1) f(x+1, y) f(x+1, y+1) :

f(m,0) … … … … … f(m,n)
HOW DO LINEAR FILTER WORKS?
Step 2. Form all products of the mask coefficients
with the corresponding neighbourhood pixels.

m1 * f(x-1, y-1) m2 * f(x-1, y) m3 * f(x-1, y+1)

m4 * f(x, y-1) m5 * f(x, y) m6 * f(x, y+1)

m7 * f(x+1, y-1) m8* f(x+1, y) m9 * f(x+1, y+1)

 HOW DO LINEAR FILTER WORKS?
Step 3. Add all the products
f(x, y) = m1.f(x-1,y-1) + m2.f(x-1,y) + m3.f(x-1,y+1) +
m4.f(x,y-1) + m5.f(x,y) + m6.f(x,y+1) + m7.f(x+1,y-1)
+ m8.f(x+1,y+1)

m1 * f(x-1, y-1) m2 * f(x-1, y) m3 * f(x-1, y+1)

m4 * f(x, y-1) m5 * f(x, y) m6 * f(x, y+1)

m7 * f(x+1, y-1) m8* f(x+1, y) m9 * f(x+1, y+1)

AVERAGE FILTERS
Used for blurring (removal of small details prior to
large object extraction, bridging small gaps in lines)
and noise reduction.

Box filter Weighted filter

 AVERAGE FILTERING How to filter
this pixel?
Step 1. Move the average filter to Image
the centre pixel
100 110 120 130
1/9 1/9 1/9 15 16 130 140
1/9 1/9 1/9 110 120 22 23
1/9 1/9 1/9 111 111 140 150
3 x 3 box filter
New pixel = (1/9*16) + (1/9*130) +
Step 2. Calculate average
filtering using neighbourhood
(1/9*140) + (1/9*120) + (1/9*22) +
transformation (1/9*23) + (1/9*111) + (1/9*140) +
(1/9*150) = 94.6
AVERAGE FILTERING DEMO
Average filter can be used to smooth out fine lines and details, thus
the name smoothing filter. Can be used to remove flaws in an image.

Bigger size filter

removes more noise
but produce more
blurred image
MEDIAN FILTER

An order-statistic filter whose result is based on

ranking the pixels in the filter and replacing the
center pixel with the ranking result. Min and max
are also order statistic filters which are also
known as nonlinear filters.
HOW DOES MEDIAN FILTER WORKS?
Given a 4x4 image:
100 110 120 130 Step 1. Rank the 9 neighbourhood pixels
15 16 130 140 16, 22, 23, 111, 120, 130, 140, 140, 150
110 120 22
120 23
111 111 140 150

Step 2. Replace the centre pixel with the median value

16, 22, 23, 111, 120
120, 130, 140, 140, 150
Lets filter the centre
pixel with a 3x3
median filter
AVERAGE OR MEDIAN FILTERING?
Median filter Average filter
 Best for salt & pepper  Best for white and
noise. Gaussian noise.
 Does not create new  Blurs edges
unrealistic pixel values at
edges. Thus, much better
at preserving sharp
edges.
 Easy computation.
 However, relatively
expensive and complex to
compute.
SHARPENING FILTERS

When do use sharpening filers?

 To highlight fine detail or to enhance blurred detail.
How does it work?
 It boosts areas where there is a repeated change and
deemphasize areas of slow change in intensity.
What are their characteristics?
 High positive value for the centre pixel and negative
values or 0 for the rest of the template cell
LAPLACIAN FILTERS
Particularly good at
finding the fine details in
an image.
Any feature with a sharp
discontinuity be
enhanced by a Laplacian
operator.
LAPLACIAN FILTERING DEMO
Convolve the 3 x 3 positive Laplacian filter with the grayscale image.

Grayscale image Convolved image

-1 -1 -1
-1 8 -1 Laplacian filter
-1 -1 -1
LAPLACIAN FILTERING
To obtain the sharpened image, the original grayscale image is
added to the Laplacian filtered image

+ =

Grayscale image Convolved image Sharpened image

UNSHARP MASKING
Un-sharpens an image and uses the difference
with the original image as a mask to increase the
contrast of the image.
Steps:
1. Blur the original image
2. Subtract the blurred image from the original
3. Add the mask to the original
UNSHARP MASKING DEMO
Step 1. Subtract the original image with its blurred version (can be
achieved by using average filtering) to create the mask.

Original Blurred version Mask

- = =

Step 2. Add the mask with the original image for the sharpened result

+ =
Original Mask Sharpened