Digital Image Processing
Image Enhancement
(Point Processing)
Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee
2
of
42
Contents
In this lecture we will look at image
enhancement point processing techniques:
What is point processing?
Negative images
Thresholding
Logarithmic transformation
Power law transforms
Grey level slicing
Bit plane slicing
3
of
42
Basic Spatial Domain Image
Enhancement
Most spatial domain enhancement operations
can be reduced to the form
Origin
x
g (x, y) = T[ f (x, y)]
where f (x, y) is the
input image, g (x, y) is
the processed image
(x, y)
and T is some
operator defined over
some neighbourhood
y
Image f (x, y)
of (x, y)
4
of
42
Point Processing
The simplest spatial domain operations
occur when the neighbourhood is simply the
pixel itself
In this case T is referred to as a grey level
transformation function or a point processing
operation
Point processing operations take the form
s=T(r)
where s refers to the processed image pixel
value and r refers to the original image pixel
value
Point Processing Example:
Negative Images
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
5
of
42
Negative images are useful for enhancing
white or grey detail embedded in dark
regions of an image
Note how much clearer the tissue is in the
negative image of the mammogram below
Original
Image
s = 1.0 - r
Negative
Image
Point Processing Example:
Negative Images (cont)
6
of
42
Original Image
Enhanced Image
Image f (x, y)
s = intensitymax - r
Image f (x, y)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
7
of
42
Point Processing Example:
Thresholding
Thresholding transformations are
particularly useful for segmentation in which
we want to isolate an object of interest from
a background
s=
1.0 r > threshold
0.0 r <= threshold
Point Processing Example:
Thresholding (cont)
8
of
42
Original Image
Image f (x, y)
s=
Enhanced Image
1.0
0.0
Image f (x, y)
r > threshold
r <= threshold
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
9
of
42
Intensity Transformations
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
10
of
42
Basic Grey Level Transformations
There are many different kinds of grey level
transformations
Three of the most
common are shown
here
Linear
Negative/Identity
Logarithmic
Log/Inverse log
Power law
nth power/nth root
11
of
42
Logarithmic Transformations
The general form of the log transformation is
s = c * log(1 + r)
The log transformation maps a narrow range
of low input grey level values into a wider
range of output values
The inverse log transformation performs the
opposite transformation
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
12
of
42
Logarithmic Transformations (cont)
Log functions are particularly useful when
the input grey level values may have an
extremely large range of values
In the following example the Fourier
transform of an image is put through a log
transform to reveal more detail
s = log(1 + r)
13
of
42
Logarithmic Transformations (cont)
Original Image
Enhanced Image
Image f (x, y)
Image f (x, y)
s = log(1 + r)
We usually set c to 1
Grey levels must be in the range [0.0, 1.0]
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
14
of
42
Power Law Transformations
Power law transformations have the following
form
s=c*r
Map a narrow range
of dark input values
into a wider range of
output values or vice
versa
Varying gives a whole
family of curves
15
of
42
Power Law Transformations (cont)
Original Image
Enhanced Image
Image f (x, y)
Image f (x, y)
s=r
We usually set c to 1
Grey levels must be in the range [0.0, 1.0]
16
of
42
Power Law Example
17
of
42
Power Law Example (cont)
= 0.6
18
of
42
Power Law Example (cont)
= 0.4
19
of
42
Power Law Example (cont)
= 0.3
Power Law Example (cont)
The images to the
right show a
magnetic resonance
(MR) image of a
fractured human
spine
Different curves
highlight different
detail
s = r 0.6
s = r 0.4
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
20
of
42
s=
0 .3
21
of
42
Power Law Example
22
of
42
Power Law Example (cont)
= 5.0
Power Law Transformations (cont)
An aerial photo
of a runway is
shown
This time
power law
transforms are
used to darken
the image
Different curves
highlight
different detail
s = r 3.0
s = r 4.0
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
23
of
42
s=
5 .0
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
24
of
42
Gamma Correction
Many of you might be familiar with gamma
correction of computer monitors
Problem is that
display devices do
not respond linearly
to different
intensities
Can be corrected
using a log
transform
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
25
of
42
More Contrast Issues
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
26
of
42
Piecewise Linear Transformation
Functions
Rather than using a well defined mathematical
function we can use arbitrary user-defined
transforms
The images below show a contrast stretching
linear transform to add contrast to a poor
quality image
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
27
of
42
Gray Level Slicing
Highlights a specific range of grey levels
Similar to thresholding
Other levels can be
suppressed or maintained
Useful for highlighting features
in an image
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
28
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing
Often by isolating particular bits of the pixel
values in an image we can highlight
interesting aspects of that image
Higher-order bits usually contain most of the
significant visual information
Lower-order bits contain
subtle details
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
29
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
[10000000]
[01000000]
[00100000]
[00001000]
[00000100]
[00000001]
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
30
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
[10000000]
[01000000]
[00100000]
[00001000]
[00000100]
[00000001]
31
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
32
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
33
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
34
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
35
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
36
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
37
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
38
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
39
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
40
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
41
of
42
Bit Plane Slicing (cont)
Reconstructed image
using only bit planes 8
and 7
Reconstructed image
using only bit planes 8, 7
and 6
Reconstructed image
using only bit planes 7, 6
and 5
42
of
42
Summary
We have looked at different kinds of point
processing image enhancement
Next time we will start to look at
neighbourhood operations in particular
filtering and convolution
