ENG4BF3

Medical Image Processing

Image Enhancement in
Frequency Domain
 Image Enhancement

Original image Enhanced image

Enhancement: to process an image for more

suitable output for a specific application.

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 Image Enhancement

• Image enhancement techniques:

 Spatial domain methods
 Frequency domain methods

• Spatial (time) domain techniques are techniques that

operate directly on pixels.

• Frequency domain techniques are based on modifying

the Fourier transform of an image.

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 Fourier Transform: a review

• Basic ideas:
 A periodic function can be
represented by the sum of
sines/cosines functions of
different frequencies,
multiplied by a different
coefficient.
 Non-periodic functions can
also be represented as the
integral of sines/cosines
multiplied by weighing
function.

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Joseph Fourier
(1768-1830)

Fourier was obsessed

with the physics of
heat and developed
the Fourier transform
theory to model heat-
flow problems.

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 Fourier transform
basis functions

Approximating a
square wave as the
sum of sine waves.

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 Any function can be written as the
sum of an even and an odd function

E ( x)  [ f ( x)  f ( x)] / 2

E(-x) = E(x)

O( x)  [ f ( x)  f ( x)] / 2

O(-x) = -O(x)


f ( x)  E ( x)  O( x)

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 Fourier Cosine Series
Because cos(mt) is an even function, we can write an
even function, f(t), as:



1
f(t)  F m cos(mt)

m 0
where series Fm is computed as


Fm 


f (t ) cos(mt ) dt

Here we suppose f(t) is over the interval (–π,π).

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 Fourier Sine Series

Because sin(mt) is an odd function, we can write any

odd function, f(t), as:



1
f (t)  Fmsin( mt)

m 0

where the series F’m is computed as



Fm 


f (t ) sin(mt ) dt

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 Fourier Series

So if f(t) is a general function, neither even nor

odd, it can be written:
 
1 1
f (t ) 

 m 0
Fm cos(mt ) 

 m 0
Fm sin(mt )

Even component Odd component

where the Fourier series is

Fm 
 f (t) cos(mt) dt Fm 
 f (t) sin( mt) dt

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 The Fourier Transform
Let F(m) incorporates both cosine and sine series coefficients,
with the sine series distinguished by making it the imaginary
component:
F (m)  Fm  jFm'   f (t ) cos( mt )dt  j   f (t ) sin( mt )dt

Let’s now allow f(t) range from – to , we rewrite:


 f (t )  F (u )   f (t ) exp(  j 2ut )dt


F(u) is called the Fourier Transform of f(t). We say that f(t)

lives in the “time domain,” and F(u) lives in the “frequency
domain.” u is called the frequency variable.
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 The Inverse Fourier Transform

We go from f(t) to F(u) by


Fourier
 f (t )  F (u )   f (t ) exp(  j 2ut )dt

Transform

Given F(u), f(t) can be obtained by the inverse Fourier

transform
 Inverse
1F (u )  f (t )   F (u ) exp( j 2ut )du Fourier
 Transform

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 2-D Fourier Transform

Fourier transform for f(x,y) with two variables

 
{ f ( x, y)}  F (u, v)    f ( x, y) exp(  j 2 (ux  vy))dxdy
 

and the inverse Fourier transform

 
 {F (u, v)}  f ( x, y)  
1
 F (u, v) exp( j 2 (ux  vy))dudv
  

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 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)
• A continuous function f(x) is discretized as:
{ f ( x0 ), f ( x0  x), f ( x0  2x),..., f ( x0  (M  1)x)}

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 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)

Let x denote the discrete values (x=0,1,2,…,M-1),

i.e.
f ( x)  f ( x0  xx)
then
{ f ( x0 ), f ( x0  x), f ( x0  2x),..., f ( x0  (M  1)x)}

{ f (0), f (1), f (2),..., f ( M  1)}

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 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)
• The discrete Fourier transform pair that applies to
sampled functions is given by:

M 1
1
F (u ) 
M
 f ( x) exp(  j 2ux / M )
x 0
u=0,1,2,…,M-1

and
M 1
f ( x)   F (u ) exp( j 2ux / M ) x=0,1,2,…,M-1
u 0

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 2-D Discrete Fourier Transform

• In 2-D case, the DFT pair is:

M 1 N 1
1
F (u, v) 
MN
 f ( x, y) exp(  j 2 (ux / M  vy / N ))
x 0 y 0

u=0,1,2,…,M-1 and v=0,1,2,…,N-1

and:
M 1 N 1
f ( x, y )   F (u, v) exp( j 2 (ux / M  vy / N ))
u 0 v 0

x=0,1,2,…,M-1 and y=0,1,2,…,N-1

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 Polar Coordinate Representation of FT

• The Fourier transform of a real function is generally

complex and we use polar coordinates:

F (u, v)  R(u, v)  j  I (u , v)
Polar coordinate
F (u, v)  F (u, v) exp( j (u , v))
Magnitude: F (u, v)  [ R (u, v)  I (u , v)]
2 2 1/ 2

 I (u, v) 
Phase:  (u, v)  tan 
1

 R(u, v) 
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 Fourier Transform: shift
• It is common to multiply input image by (-1)x+y prior to
computing the FT. This shift the center of the FT to (M/2,N/2).

 f ( x, y)  F (u, v)
 f ( x, y )(1) x  y   F (u  M / 2, v  N / 2)

Shift

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 Symmetry of FT

• For real image f(x,y), FT is conjugate symmetric:

F (u, v)  F (u, v)

*

• The magnitude of FT is symmetric:

F (u, v)  F (u, v)

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FT

IFT

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IFT

IFT

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The central part of FT, i.e.
the low frequency
components are responsible
for the general gray-level
appearance of an image.

The high frequency

components of FT are
responsible for the detail
information of an image.

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Image Frequency Domain
(log magnitude)
v Detail

General
appearance

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5% 10 % 20 % 50 %

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Frequency Domain Filtering

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 Frequency Domain Filtering

• Edges and sharp transitions (e.g., noise) in an

image contribute significantly to high-frequency
content of FT.
• Low frequency contents in the FT are responsible
to the general appearance of the image over
smooth areas.
• Blurring (smoothing) is achieved by attenuating
range of high frequency components of FT.

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 Convolution Theorem
Multiplication in
G(u,v)=F(u,v)●H(u,v) Frequency Domain

g(x,y)=h(x,y)*f(x,y) Convolution in
Time Domain
– f(x,y) is the input image
– g(x,y) is the filtered
– h(x,y): impulse response
• Filtering in Frequency Domain with H(u,v) is
equivalent to filtering in Spatial Domain with f(x,y).

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 Examples of Filters

Frequency
domain

Gaussian lowpass filter Gaussian highpass filter

Spatial
domain

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 Ideal low-pass filter (ILPF)

1 D(u, v)  D0
H (u, v)  
0 D(u, v)  D0
D(u, v)  [(u  M / 2)  (v  N / 2) ]
2 2 1/ 2

(M/2,N/2): center in frequency domain

D0 is called the cutoff frequency.

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 Shape of ILPF

Frequency domain

Spatial domain

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 FT

ringing
and
Ideal in frequency blurring
domain means
non-ideal in
spatial domain,
vice versa.

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 Butterworth Lowpass Filters (BLPF)
• Smooth transfer function, 1
no sharp discontinuity, H (u, v)  2n
 D(u, v) 
no clear cutoff 1  
frequency.  D 0 

1
2

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 Butterworth Lowpass Filters (BLPF)

n=1 n=2 n=5 n=20

1
H (u, v)  2n
 D(u, v) 
1  
 D0 
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No serious
ringing
artifacts

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 Gaussian Lowpass Filters (GLPF)
• Smooth transfer function,
2
smooth impulse D ( u ,v )

response, no ringing H (u, v)  e 2 D 20

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 GLPF

Frequency
domain

Gaussian lowpass filter

Spatial
domain

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No ringing
artifacts

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Examples of Lowpass Filtering

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 Examples of Lowpass Filtering

Low-pass filter H(u,v)

Original image and its FT Filtered image and its FT

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 Sharpening High-pass Filters
• Hhp(u,v)=1-Hlp(u,v)
1 D(u, v)  D0
• Ideal: H (u, v)  
0 D(u, v)  D0

1
• Butterworth: | H (u, v) | 
2
2n
 D0 
1  
 D (u , v ) 

 D 2 ( u ,v ) / 2 D02
• Gaussian: H (u, v)  1  e

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42
High-pass Filters

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 Ideal High-pass Filtering

ringing artifacts

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Butterworth High-pass Filtering

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Gaussian High-pass Filtering

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 Gaussian High-pass Filtering

Gaussian filter H(u,v)

Original image

Filtered image and its FT

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 Laplacian in Frequency Domain

 2 f ( x , y )  2 f ( x, y )
[  ]   2
 2
(u v ) F (u, v)
x 2
y 2

H1 (u, v)  (u 2  v 2 )
Frequency
Spatial domain
 f 2
 f domain
2
 f  2  2
2
Laplacian operator
x y

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49
 Subtract Laplacian from the Original
Image to Enhance It

enhanced Original Laplacian

image image output

Spatial 
g ( x, y ) f ( x, y )   2
f ( x, y )
domain

Frequency
G (u, v)  F (u, v)  (u 2  v 2 ) F (u, v)
domain
new operator H 2 (u , v)  1  (u 2  v 2 )  1  H 1 (u , v)

Laplacian

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f 2 f

f  f
2

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 Unsharp Masking, High-boost Filtering

• Unsharp masking: fhp(x,y)=f(x,y)-flp(x,y)

• Hhp(u,v)=1-Hlp(u,v)
One more
• High-boost filtering: parameter to
adjust the
fhb(x,y)=Af(x,y)-flp(x,y) enhancement

• fhb(x,y)=(A-1)f(x,y)+fhp(x,y)
• Hhb(u,v)=(A-1)+Hhp(u,v)

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53
 An image formation model
• We can view an image f(x,y) as a product of two
components:
f  x, y   i  x, y   r  x, y 
0  i ( x, y )  
0  r ( x, y )  1
• i(x,y): illumination. It is determined by the
illumination source.
• r(x,y): reflectance (or transmissivity). It is
determined by the characteristics of imaged objects.

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 Homomorphic Filtering

• In some images, the quality of the image has reduced

because of non-uniform illumination.
• Homomorphic filtering can be used to perform
illumination correction.

f x, y   ix, y   r x, y 

• The above equation cannot be used directly in order
to operate separately on the frequency components of
illumination and reflectance.

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 Homomorphic Filtering
ln : zx, y  ln f x, y  ln ix, y  ln r x, y
DFT : Z u, v   Fi u, v   Fr u, v 
H(u,v) : S (u, v)  H (u, v) Z u, v 
(DFT)-1 : s ( x, y )  i ( x , y )  r ( x , y )
' '

exp : g ( x, y )  e s ( x, y )
 i0 ( x, y )r0 ( x, y )

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 Homomorphic Filtering

• By separating the illumination and reflectance

components, homomorphic filter can then
operate on them separately.
• Illumination component of an image generally
has slow variations, while the reflectance
component vary abruptly.
• By removing the low frequencies (highpass
filtering) the effects of illumination can be
removed .

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Homomorphic Filtering

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Homomorphic Filtering: Example 1

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 Homomorphic Filtering: Example 2

Original image Filtered image

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End of Lecture

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