DIGITAL IMAGE FUNDAMENTALS:

The field of digital image processing refers to processing digital images by

means of digital computer. Digital image is composed of a finite number of elements,
each of which has a particular location and value. These elements are called picture
elements, image elements, pels and pixels. Pixel is the term used most widely to denote
the elements of digital image.
An image is a two-dimensional function that represents a measure of some
characteristic such as brightness or color of a viewed scene. An image is a projection of
a 3-D scene into a 2D projection plane.
A
n image may be defined as a two-dimensional function f(x,y), where x and y are spatial
(plane) coordinates, and the amplitude of f at any pair of coordinates (x,y) is called the
intensity of the image at that point.
The term gray level is used often to refer to the intensity of monochrome
images. Color images are formed by a combination of individual 2-D images.
For example: The RGB color system, a color image consists of three (red, green
and blue) individual component images. For this reason many of the techniques
developed for
Monochrome images can be extended to color images by processing the three
component images individually.
 An image may be continuous with respect to the x- and y- coordinates and also
in amplitude. Converting such an image to digital form requires that the coordinates, as
well as the amplitude, be digitized.
APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

Since digital image processing has very wide applications and almost all of the
technical fields are impacted by DIP, we will just discuss some of the major
applications of DIP.
Digital image processing has a broad spectrum of applications, such as
Remote sensing via satellites and other spacecrafts
Image transmission and storage for business applications
Medical processing,
RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging)
SONAR(Sound Navigation and Ranging)

Acoustic image processing (The study of underwater sound is known as

underwater acoustics or hydro acoustics.)
Robotics and automated inspection of industrial parts.
Images acquired by satellites are useful in tracking of
Earth resources;
Geographical mapping;
Prediction of agricultural crops,
Urban growth and weather monitoring
Flood and fire control and many other environmental applications. Space
image applications include:
Recognition and analysis of objects contained in images obtained
from deep space-probe missions.
Image transmission and storage applications occur in broad cast television
Teleconferencing
Transmission of facsimile images(Printed documents and
graphics) for office automation
Communication over computer networks
Closed-circuit television based security monitoring systems and
In military communications.
Medical applications:
Processing of chest X-rays
Cine angiograms
Projection images of transaxial tomography and
Medical images that occur in radiology nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
Ultrasonic scanning

IMAGE PROCESSING TOOLBOX (IPT) is a collection of functions that extend

the capability of the MATLAB numeric computing environment. These functions, and
the expressiveness of the MATLAB language, make many image-processing operations
easy to write in a compact, clear manner, thus providing a ideal software prototyping
environment for the solution of image processing problem.
Components of Image processing System:
Figure: Components of Image processing System

Image Sensors: With reference to sensing, two elements are required to acquire digital image. The
first is a physical device that is sensitive to the energy radiated by the object we wish to image and
second is specialized image processing hardware.
Specialize image processing hardware: It consists of the digitizer just mentioned, plus
hardware that performs other primitive operations such as an arithmetic logic unit, which
performs arithmetic such addition and subtraction and logical operations in parallel on
images.
Computer: It is a general purpose computer and can range from a PC to a supercomputer
depending on the application. In dedicated applications, sometimes specially designed
computer are used to achieve a required level of performance
Software: It consists of specialized modules that perform specific tasks a well designed
package also includes capability for the user to write code, as a minimum, utilizes the
specialized module. More sophisticated software packages allow the integration of these
modules.
Mass storage: This capability is a must in image processing applications. An image of size
1024 x1024 pixels, in which the intensity of each pixel is an 8- bit quantity requires one
Megabytes of storage space if the image is not compressed .Image processing applications
falls into three principal categories of storage
i) Short term storage for use during processing
ii) On line storage for relatively fast retrieval
iii) Archival storage such as magnetic tapes and disks

Image display: Image displays in use today are mainly color TV monitors. These monitors
are driven by the outputs of image and graphics displays cards that are an integral part of
computer system.
Hardcopy devices: The devices for recording image includes laser printers, film cameras,
heat sensitive devices inkjet units and digital units such as optical and CD ROM disk. Films
provide the highest possible resolution, but paper is the obvious medium of choice for
written applications.
Networking: It is almost a default function in any computer system in use today because of
the large amount of data inherent in image processing applications. The key consideration
in image is transmission bandwidth.
Fundamental Steps in Digital Image Processing:
There are two categories of the steps involved in the image processing:
1. Methods whose outputs are input are images.
2. Methods whose outputs are attributes extracted from those images.
 Fig: Fundamental Steps in Digital Image Processing

Image acquisition: It could be as simple as being given an image that is already in

digital form. Generally the image acquisition stage involves processing such scaling.
Image Enhancement: It is among the simplest and most appealing areas of digital
image processing. The idea behind this is to bring out details that are obscured or
simply to highlight certain features of interest in image. Image enhancement is a very
subjective area of image processing.

Image Restoration: It deals with improving the appearance of an image. It is an

objective approach, in the sense that restoration techniques tend to be based on
mathematical or probabilistic models of image processing. Enhancement, on the other
hand is based on human subjective preferences regarding what constitutes a “good”
enhancement result.
Color image processing: It is an area that is been gaining importance because of the
use of digital images over the internet. Color image processing deals with basically
color models and their implementation in image processing applications.
Wavelets and Multi resolution Processing: These are the foundation for representing
image in various degrees of resolution.
Compression: It deals with techniques reducing the storage required to save an
image, or the bandwidth required to transmit it over the network. It has to major
approaches a) Lossless Compression b) Lossy Compression
Morphological processing: It deals with tools for extracting image components that
are useful in the representation and description of shape and boundary of objects. It is
majorly used in automated inspection applications.
Representation and Description: It always follows the output of segmentation step
that is, raw pixel data, constituting either the boundary of an image or points in the
region itself. In either case converting the data to a form suitable for computer
processing is necessary.
Recognition: It is the process that assigns label to an object based on its descriptors. It
is the last step of image processing which use artificial intelligence of software.
Knowledge base:
Knowledge about a problem domain is coded into an image processing system in the
form of a knowledge base. This knowledge may be as simple as detailing regions of an
image where the information of the interest in known to be located. Thus limiting search
that has to be conducted is in seeking the information. The knowledge base also can be
quite complex such interrelated list of all major possible defects in a materials
inspection problems or an image database containing high resolution satellite images of
a region in connection with change detection application.
A Simple Image Model:

An image is denoted by a two dimensional function of the form f{x, y}. The value or
amplitude of f at spatial coordinates {x,y} is a positive scalar quantity whose physical
meaning is determined
 by the source of the image. When an image is generated by a physical process, its
values are proportional to energy radiated by a physical source. As a consequence,
f(x,y) must be nonzero and finite; that is o<f(x,y) <co The function f(x,y) may be
characterized by two components- The amount of the source illumination incident on
the scene being viewed.
(a) The amount of the source illumination reflected back by the objects in the scene
These are called illumination and reflectance components and are denoted by i(x,y) an r
(x,y) respectively.
The functions combine as a product to form f(x,y). We call the intensity of a
monochrome image at any coordinates (x,y) the gray level (l) of the image at that point
l= f (x, y.)
L min l
Lmax Lmin is to be positive and Lmax must be
finite
Lmin = iminrmin
Lmax = imaxrmax

The interval [Lmin, Lmax] is called gray scale. Common practice is to shift this interval
numerically to the interval [0, L-l] where l=0 is considered black and l= L-1 is considered
white on the gray scale. All intermediate values are shades of gray of gray varying from
black to white.
SAMPLING AND QUANTIZATION:

To create a digital image, we need to convert the continuous sensed data into digital
from. This involves two processes – sampling and quantization. An image may be
continuous with respect to the x and y coordinates and also in amplitude. To convert it
into digital form we have to sample the function in both coordinates and in amplitudes.
Digitalizing the coordinate values is called sampling. Digitalizing the amplitude values is
called quantization. There is a continuous the image along the line segment AB. To
simple this function, we take equally spaced samples along line AB. The location of
each samples is given by a vertical tick back (mark) in the bottom part. The samples are
shown as block squares superimposed on function the set of these discrete locations
gives the sampled function.
In order to form a digital, the gray level values must also be converted (quantized) into
discrete quantities. So we divide the gray level scale into eight discrete levels ranging
from eight level values. The continuous gray levels are quantized simply by assigning
one of the eight discrete gray levels to each sample. The assignment it made
depending on the vertical proximity of a simple to a vertical tick mark.
 Starting at the top of the image and covering out this procedure line
by line produces a two dimensional digital image.
Digital Image definition:

A digital image f(m,n) described in a 2D discrete space is derived from an analog

image f(x,y) in a 2D continuous space through a sampling process that is frequently
referred to as digitization. The mathematics of that sampling process will be described
in subsequent Chapters. For now we will look at some basic definitions associated with
the digital image. The effect of digitization is shown in figure.
The 2D continuous image f(x,y) is divided into N rows and M columns. The
intersection of a row and a column is termed a pixel. The value assigned to the integer
coordinates (m,n) with m=0,1,2..N-1 and n=0,1,2…N-1 is f(m,n). In fact, in most cases,
is actually a function of many variables including depth, color and time (t).

There are three types of computerized processes in the processing of image

1) Low level process -these involve primitive operations such as image processing to
reduce noise, contrast enhancement and image sharpening. These kind of processes
are characterized by fact the both inputs and output are images.
2) Mid level image processing - it involves tasks like segmentation, description of those
objects to reduce them to a form suitable for computer processing, and classification of
individual objects. The inputs to the process are generally images but outputs are
attributes extracted from images.
3) High level processing – It involves “making sense” of an ensemble of recognized
objects, as in image analysis, and performing the cognitive functions normally
associated with vision. Representing Digital Images:
The result of sampling and quantization is matrix of real numbers. Assume that
an image f(x,y) is sampled so that the resulting digital image has M rows and N
Columns. The values of the coordinates (x,y) now become discrete quantities thus the
value of the coordinates at orgin become (X,y) =(0,0) The next Coordinates value along
the first signify the image along the first
 row. It does not mean that these are the actual values of physical coordinates when
the image was sampled.

Thus the right side of the matrix represents a digital element, pixel or pel. The matrix
can be represented in the following form as well. The sampling process may be viewed
as partitioning the xy plane into a grid with the coordinates of the center of each grid
being a pair of elements from the Cartesian products Z2 which is the set of all ordered
pair of elements (Zi, Zj) with Zi and Zj being integers from Z. Hence f(x,y) is a digital
image if gray level (that is, a real number from the set of real number R) to each distinct
pair of coordinates (x,y). This functional assignment is the quantization process. If the
gray levels are also integers, Z replaces R, the and a digital image become a 2D
function whose coordinates and she amplitude value are integers. Due to processing
storage and hardware consideration, the number gray levels typically is an integer
power of2.
L=2k

Then, the number, b, of bites required to store a digital image is b=M *N* k When M=N,
the equation become b=N2*k
When an image can have 2k gray levels, it is referred to as “k- bit”. An image with 256
possible gray levels is called an “8- bit image” (256=28).
Spatial and Gray level resolution:

Spatial resolution is the smallest discernible details are an image. Suppose a chart can
be constructed with vertical lines of width w with the space between the also having
width W, so a line pair consists of one such line and its adjacent space thus. The width
of the line pair is 2w and there is 1/2w line pair per unit distance resolution is simply the
smallest number of discernible line pair unit distance.
Gray levels resolution refers to smallest discernible change in gray levels. Measuring
discernible change in gray levels is a highly subjective process reducing the number of bits R
while repairing the spatial resolution constant creates the problem of false contouring.
 It is caused by the use of an insufficient number of gray levels on the smooth
areas of the digital image. It is called so because the rides resemble top graphics
contours in a map. It is generally quite visible in image displayed using 16 or less
uniformly spaced gray levels.
Image sensing and Acquisition:

The types of images in which we are interested are generated by the combination of an
“illumination” source and the reflection or absorption of energy from that source by the
elements of the “scene” being imaged. We enclose illumination and scene in quotes to
emphasize the fact that they are considerably more general than the familiar situation in
which a visible light source illuminates a common everyday 3-D (three-dimensional)
scene. For example, the illumination may originate from a source of electromagnetic
energy such as radar, infrared, or X-ray energy. But, as noted earlier, it could originate
from less traditional sources, such as ultrasound or even a computer-generated
illumination pattern. Similarly, the scene elements could be familiar objects, but they
can just as easily be molecules, buried rock formations, or a human brain. We could
even image a source, such as acquiring images of the sun. Depending on the nature of
the source, illumination energy is reflected from, or transmitted through, objects. An
example in the first category is light reflected from a planar surface. An example in the
second category is when X- rays pass through a patient’s body for the purpose of
generating a diagnostic X-ray film. In some applications, the reflected or transmitted
energy is focused onto a photo converter (e.g., a phosphor screen), which converts the
energy into visible light. Electron microscopy and some applications of gamma imaging
use this approach. The idea is simple: Incoming energy is transformed into a voltage by
the combination of input electrical power and sensor material that is responsive to the
particular type of energy being detected. The output voltage waveform is the response
of the sensor(s), and a digital quantity is obtained from each sensor by digitizing its
response. In this section, we look at the principal modalities for image sensing and
generation.
 Fig: Single Image sensor
Fig: Line Sensor
Fig: Array
sensor Image Acquisition using a Single sensor:
The components of a single sensor. Perhaps the most familiar sensor of this type
is the photodiode, which is constructed of silicon materials and whose output voltage
waveform is proportional to light. The use of a filter in front of a sensor improves
selectivity. For example, a green (pass) filter in front of a light sensor favors light in the
green band of the color spectrum. As a consequence, the sensor output will be stronger
for green light than for other components in the visible spectrum.

In order to generate a 2-D image using a single sensor, there has to be relative
displacements in both the x- and y-directions between the sensor and the area to be
imaged. Figure shows an arrangement used in high-precision scanning, where a film
negative is mounted onto a drum whose mechanical rotation provides displacement in
one dimension. The single sensor is mounted on a lead screw that provides motion in
the perpendicular direction. Since mechanical motion can be controlled with high
precision, this method is an inexpensive (but slow) way to obtain high- resolution
images. Other similar mechanical arrangements use a flat bed, with the sensor moving
in two linear directions. These types of mechanical digitizers sometimes are referred to
as micro
densitometers.
Image Acquisition using a Sensor strips:

A geometry that is used much more frequently than single sensors consists of an in-line
arrangement of sensors in the form of a sensor strip, shows. The strip provides imaging
elements in one direction. Motion perpendicular to the strip provides imaging in the
other direction. This is the type of arrangement used in most flat bed scanners. Sensing
devices with 4000 or more in- line sensors are possible. In-line sensors are used
routinely in airborne imaging applications, in which the imaging system is mounted on
an aircraft that flies at a constant altitude and speed over the geographical area to be
imaged. One dimensional imaging sensor strips that respond to various bands of the
electromagnetic spectrum are mounted perpendicular to the direction of flight. The
imaging strip gives one line of an image at a time, and the motion of the strip completes
the other dimension of a two-dimensional image. Lenses or other focusing schemes are
used to project area to be scanned onto the sensors. Sensor strips mounted in a ring
configuration are used in medical and industrial imaging to obtain cross-sectional
(“slice”) images of 3-Dobjects.

Fig: Image Acquisition using linear strip and circular strips.

Image Acquisition using a Sensor Arrays:

The individual sensors arranged in the form of a 2-D array. Numerous electromagnetic
and some ultrasonic sensing devices frequently are arranged in an array format. This is
also the predominant
arrangement found in digital cameras. A typical sensor for these cameras is a CCD
array, which can be manufactured with a broad range of sensing properties and can be
packaged in rugged arrays of elements or more. CCD sensors are used widely in digital
cameras and other light sensing instruments. The response of each sensor is
proportional to the integral of the light energy projected onto the surface of the sensor, a
property that is used in astronomical and other applications requiring low noise images.
Noise reduction is achieved by letting the sensor integrate the input light signal over
minutes or even hours. The two dimensional, its key advantage is that a complete
image can be obtained by focusing the energy pattern onto the surface of the array.
Motion obviously is not necessary, as is the case with the sensor arrangements this
figure shows the energy from an illumination source being reflected from a scene
element, but, as mentioned at the beginning of this section, the energy also could be
transmitted through the scene elements. The first function performed by the imaging
system is to collect the incoming energy and focus it onto an image plane. If the
illumination is light, the front end of the imaging system is a lens, which projects the
viewed scene onto the lens focal plane. The sensor array, which is coincident with the
focal plane, produces outputs proportional to the integral of the light received at each
sensor. Digital and analog circuitry sweeps these outputs and converts them to a video
signal, which is then digitized by another section of the imaging system.

Image sampling and

Quantization:
To create a digital image, we need to convert the continuous sensed data into digital
form. This involves two processes: sampling and quantization. A continuous image, f(x,
y), that we want to convert to digital form. An image may be continuous with respect to
the x- and y-coordinates, and also in amplitude. To convert it to digital form, we have to
sample the function in both coordinates and in amplitude. Digitizing the coordinate
values is called sampling. Digitizing the amplitude values is called quantization.

Digital Image representation:

Digital image is a finite collection of discrete samples (pixels) of any observable object.
The pixels represent a two- or higher dimensional “view” of the object, each pixel having
its own discrete value in a finite range. The pixel values may represent the amount of
visible light, infra red light, absorption of x-rays, electrons, or any other measurable
value such as ultrasound wave impulses. The image does not need to have any visual
sense; it is sufficient that the samples form a two- dimensional spatial structure that may
be illustrated as an image. The images may be obtained by a digital camera, scanner,
electron microscope, ultrasound stethoscope, or any other optical or non- optical
sensor. Examples of digital image are:
Digital photographs
Satellite images
radiological images (x-rays, mammograms)
 binary images, fax images, engineering drawings

Computer graphics, CAD drawings, and vector graphics in general are not considered
in this course even though their reproduction is a possible source of an image. In fact,
one goal of intermediate level image processing may be to reconstruct a model (e.g.
vector representation) for a given digital image.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PIXELS:
We consider several important relationships between pixels in a digital image.
NEIGHBORS OF A PIXEL

• A pixel p at coordinates (x,y) has four horizontal and vertical neighbors

whose coordinates are given by: (x+1,y), (x-1, y), (x, y+1), (x,y-1)

This set of pixels, called the 4-neighbors or p, is denoted by N4(p). Each pixel is
one unit distance from (x,y) and some of the neighbors of p lie outside the digital image
if (x,y) is on the border of the image. The four diagonal neighbors of p have coordinates
and are denoted by ND (p).
(x+1, y+1), (x+1, y-1), (x-1, y+1), (x-1, y-1)

N8 (p).

These points, together with the 4-neighbors, are called the 8-neighbors of p, denoted by

As before, some of the points in ND (p) and N8 (p) fall outside the image if (x,y) is on the
border of the image.
ADJACENCY AND CONNECTIVITY

Let v be the set of gray –level values used to define adjacency, in a binary image,
v={1}. In a gray-scale image, the idea is the same, but V typically contains more
elements, for example, V
= {180, 181, 182… 200}.

If the possible intensity values 0 – 255, V set can be any subset of these
256 values. if we are reference to adjacency of pixel with value.
Three types of adjacency
4- Adjacency – two pixel P and Q with value from V are 4 –adjacency if A is in
the set N4(P)
8- Adjacency – two pixel P and Q with value from V are 8 –adjacency if A is in
the set N8(P)
M-adjacency –two pixel P and Q with value from V are m – adjacency if (i) Q is in
N4(p) or (ii) Q is in ND(q) and the set N4(p) N4(q) has no pixel whose values
are from V.
• Mixed adjacency is a modification of 8-adjacency. It is introduced to
eliminate the ambiguities that often arise when 8-adjacency issued.
• For example:
Fig:1.8(a) Arrangement of pixels; (b) pixels that are 8-adjacent (shown dashed) to
the center pixel; (c) m-adjacency.
Types of Adjacency:

• In this example, we can note that to connect between two pixels (finding a path
between two pixels):
– In 8-adjacency way, you can find multiple paths between two pixels
– While, in m-adjacency, you can find only one path between two pixels

• So, m-adjacency has eliminated the multiple path connection that has been
generated by the 8-adjacency.
• Two subsets S1 and S2 are adjacent, if some pixel in S1 is adjacent to some pixel in S2.
 Adjacent means, either 4-, 8- or m-adjacency.
A Digital Path:

• A digital path (or curve) from pixel p with coordinate (x,y) to pixel q with coordinate
(s,t) is a sequence of distinct pixels with coordinates (x0,y0), (x1,y1), …, (xn, yn)
where (x0,y0) = (x,y) and (xn, yn) = (s,t) and pixels (xi, yi) and (xi-1, yi-1) are
adjacent for 1 i n
• n is the length of the path
• If (x0,y0) = (xn, yn), the path is closed.
We can specify 4-, 8- or m-paths depending on the type of adjacency specified.
• Return to the previous example:

Fig:1.8 (a) Arrangement of pixels; (b) pixels that are 8-adjacent(shown

dashed) to the center pixel; (c) m-adjacency.
In figure (b) the paths between the top right and bottom right pixels are 8-paths.
And the path between the same 2 pixels in figure (c) is m-path
Connectivity:

• Let S represent a subset of pixels in an image, two pixels p and q are said to be
connected in S if there exists a path between them consisting entirely of pixels
inS.
• For any pixel p in S, the set of pixels that are connected to it in S is called a
connected component of S. If it only has one connected component, then set S is
called a connected set.
Region and Boundary:

• REGION: Let R be a subset of pixels in an image, we call R a region of the image if

R is a connected set.
• BOUNDARY: The boundary (also called border or contour) of a region R is the set of
pixels in the region that have one or more neighbors that are not in R.
If R happens to be an entire image, then its boundary is defined as the set of pixels in
the first and last rows and columns in the image. This extra definition is required
because an image has no neighbors beyond its borders. Normally, when we refer to a
region, we are referring to subset of
 an image, and any pixels in the boundary of the region that happen to coincide with the
border of the image are included implicitly as part of the region boundary.
DISTANCE MEASURES:

For pixel p, q and z with coordinate (x.y),(s,t) and (v,w) respectively D is a distance
function or metric if
D [p.q] O {D[p.q] = O iff p=q}
D [p.q] = D [p.q] and
D [p.q] O {D[p.q]+D(q,z)
• The Euclidean Distance between p and q is defined as:

De (p,q) = [(x – s)2 + (y - t)2]1/2

Pixels having a distance less than or equal to some value r from (x,y) are the points
contained in a disk of radius ‘ r ‘centered at (x,y)
• The D4 distance (also called city-block distance) between p and q is defined as:
D4 (p,q) = | x – s | + | y – t |

Pixels having a D4 distance from (x,y), less than or equal to some value
r form a Diamond centered at (x,y)
Example:

The pixels with distance D4 2 from (x,y) form the following contours of
constant distance.
The pixels with D4 = 1 are the 4-neighbors of (x,y)
• The D8 distance (also called chessboard distance) between p and q is defined as:
D8 (p,q) = max(| x – s |,| y – t |)

Pixels having a D8 distance from (x,y), less than or equal to some value r form
a square Centered at (x,y).

Example:
D8 distance 2 from (x,y) form the following contours of constant distance.
• Dmdistance:
It is defined as the shortest m-path between the points.

In this case, the distance between two pixels will depend on the values of
the pixels along the path, as well as the values of their neighbors.
• Example:

Consider the following arrangement of pixels and assume that p,

p2, and p4 have value 1 and that p1 and p3 can have can have a value of
0 or 1 Suppose that we
 consider the adjacency of pixels values 1 (i.e. V = {1})
Now, to compute the Dm between points p and p4
Here we have 4 cases:
Case1: If p1 =0 and p3 = 0
The length of the shortest m-path (the Dm distance) is 2 (p, p2, p4)

Case2: If p1 =1 and p3 = 0
Now, p1 and p will no longer be adjacent (see m-adjacency definition)

Then, the length of the

shortest path will be 3 (p,
p1, p2, p4)

Case3: If p1 =0 and p3 = 1
The same applies here, and the shortest –m-path will be 3 (p, p2, p3, p4)
Case4: If p1 =1 and p3 = 1
The length of the shortest m-path will be 4 (p, p1 ,p2, p3, p4)
Structure of an Eye
The human eye is a slightly asymmetrical sphere with an average diameter of the
length of 20mm to 25mm. It has a volume of about 6.5cc. The eye is just like a
camera. The external object is seen as the camera take the picture of any object.
Light enters the eye through a small hole called the pupil, a black looking aperture
having the quality of contraction of eye when exposed to bright light and is focused
on the retina which is like a camera film.
. The eye is enclosed with three membranes The cornea and sclera - it is a tough,
transparent tissue that covers the anterior surface of the eye. Rest of the optic globe
is covered by the sclera The choroid – It contains a network of blood vessels that
serve as the major source of nutrition to the eyes. It helps to reduce extraneous light
entering in the eye It has two parts (1) Iris Diaphragms- it contracts or expands to
control the amount of light that enters the eyes (2) Ciliary body Retina – it is
innermost membrane of the eye. When the eye is properly focused, light from an
object outside the eye is imaged on the retina. There are various light receptors over
the surface of the retina
The lens, iris, and cornea are nourished by clear fluid, know as anterior chamber.
The fluid flows from ciliary body to the pupil and is absorbed through the channels in
the angle of the anterior chamber. The delicate balance of aqueous production and
absorption controls pressure within the eye.
Cones in eye number between 6 to 7 million which are highly sensitive to colors.
Human visualizes the colored image in daylight due to these cones. The cone vision
is also called as photopic or bright-light vision.
Rods in the eye are much larger between 75 to 150 million and are distributed over
the retinal surface. Rods are not involved in the color vision and are sensitive to low
levels of illumination.

Image Formation in the Eye:

When the lens of the eye focus an image of the outside world onto a light-sensitive
membrane in the back of the eye, called retina the image is formed. The lens of the
eye focuses light on the photoreceptive cells of the retina which detects the photons
of light and responds by producing neural impulses.
The distance between the lens and the retina is about 17mm and the focal length is
approximately 14mm to 17mm.
Brightness Adaptation and Discrimination:
Digital images are displayed as a discrete set of intensities. The eyes ability to
discriminate black and white at different intensity levels is an important consideration
in presenting image processing result.
The range of light intensity levels to which the human visual system can adapt is of
the order of 1010 from the scotopic threshold to the glare limit. In a photopic vision,
the range is about 106.

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