Digital Image Processing

Image Enhancement in Spatial Domain

Dr. Abdul Basit Siddiqui

 Image Sampling and
Quantization
• To create a digital image, we need to convert the continuous sensed
data into digital form --> this involves sampling and quantization
• Digitizing the coordinate values is called sampling
• Digitizing the amplitude values is called quantization
---> see Fig. 2.16 in the textbook
• In practice, the method of sampling is determined by the sensor
arrangement used to generate the image
• The quality of a digital image is determined by the number of
samples
and the number of gray levels

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Spatial resolution and intensity
resolution
• Sampling is the principal factor defining the spatial
resolution of an image, and quantization is the principal
factor defining the intensity resolution
• Spatial resolution - number of rows and columns for
example: 128 x128, 256 by 256, etc.; -->see Figs. 2.19 and
2.20
• Intensity resolution - number of gray levels for example: 8
bits, 16 bits, etc.; --->see Fig. 2.21

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 Image Enhancement

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 Image Enhancement
Process an image to make the result more suitable than the
original image for a specific application
–Image enhancement is subjective (problem /application
oriented)

Image enhancement methods:

Spatial domain: Direct manipulation of pixel in an image (on
the image plane)
Frequency domain: Processing the image based on modifying the
Fourier transform of an image

Many techniques are based on various combinations of methods

from these two categories

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 Image Enhancement

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 Basic Concepts

Spatial domain enhancement methods can be generalized as

g(x,y)=T[f(x,y)]
f(x,y): input image
g(x,y): processed (output) image
T[*]: an operator on f (or a set of input images),
defined over neighborhood of (x,y)

Neighborhood about (x,y): a square or rectangular

sub-image area centered at (x,y)

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 Point Processes
• Point processes are the simplest of basic image processing
operations.
• A point operation takes a single input image into a single
output image in such a way that each output pixel's gray
level depends only upon the gray level of the
corresponding input pixel.
• Thus, a point operation cannot modify the spatial
relationships within an image.
• Point operations transform the gray scale of an image.

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 Point Processes
• Linear and nonlinear point operations
• Examples:
– Contrast Stretching
– Image Negatives
– Intensity-level Slicing
– Bit-plane Slicing
– Other Intensity Transformations
– Histogram Equalization

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 Basic Concepts

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 Basic Concepts
g(x,y) = T [f(x,y)]
Pixel/point operation:
Neighborhood of size 1x1: g depends only on f at (x,y)
T: a gray-level/intensity transformation/mapping function
Let r = f(x,y) s = g(x,y)
r and s represent gray levels of f and g at (x,y)
Then s = T(r)
Local operations:
g depends on the predefined number of neighbors of f at (x,y)
Implemented by using mask processing or filtering
Masks (filters, windows, kernels, templates) :
a small (e.g. 3×3) 2-D array, in which the values of the
coefficients determine the nature of the process

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 Common Pixel Operations

 Image Negatives
 Log Transformations
 Power-Law
Transformations

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 Image Negatives
 Reverses the gray level order
 For L gray levels the transformation function is
s =T(r) = (L - 1) - r

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 Image Negatives

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 Image Scaling

s =T(r) = a.r (a is a constant)

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 Log Transformations
Function of s = cLog(1+r)

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 Log Transformations

Properties of log transformations

–For lower amplitudes of input image the range of gray
levels is expanded
–For higher amplitudes of input image the range of gray
levels is compressed
Application:
– This transformation is suitable for the case when the
dynamic range of a processed image far exceeds the
capability of the display device (e.g. display of the
Fourier spectrum of an image)
– Also called “dynamic-range compression / expansion”

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 Log Transformations

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 Power-Law Transformation

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 Power-Law Transformation
For γ < 1: Expands values of dark pixels,
compress values of brighter pixels
For γ > 1: Compresses values of dark pixels,
expand values of brighter pixels
If γ=1 & c=1: Identity transformation (s = r)

A variety of devices (image capture, printing, display) respond

according to power law and need to be corrected

Gamma (γ) correction

The process used to correct the power-law response
phenomena

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 Power-Law Transformation

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 Gamma Correction

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 Histogram
• Gray level histogram of an image - a function showing
for each gray level the number of
• pixels in the image that have that gray level; it is simply a
bar graph of the pixel intensities

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 Histogram
• Histogram gives us a convenient, easy-to-read representation
of concentration of pixels versus intensity in an image
• Dynamic range - an range of intensity values that occur in
an image
• Contrast stretching - if image has low-dynamic range; low-
dynamic range can result from poor illumination, lack of
dynamic range in imaging sensor, wrong setting of the sensor
parameters, etc.
• Compression of dynamic range - if the dynamic range of
the image far exceeds the capability of the display device

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 Histogram calculation

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 Examples of several types of
image histograms:

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 Histogram Equalization
• Images with poor intensity distributions can often be
enhanced with histogram equalization <-- point process
• The goal is to obtain a uniform histogram
• • Histogram equalization will not flatten a histogram; if a
histogram has peaks and valleys it will still have them after
equalization - they will be shifted and spread over the
entire range of image intensities
• Works best on images with fine details in darker regions
• Use it carefully - good images can be often degraded by
histogram equalization

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Histogram of the equalized image

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Histogram Equalization-Example

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