Digital Image

Processing
Introduction

Instructor Name
Dr. Abida Sharif
 Material Reference

Images and Material

From
Rafael C. Gonzalez and Richard E. Wood,
Digital Image Processing, 2nd Edition.& Internet Resources
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 Introduction

“One picture is worth more than ten

thousand words”
Anonymous

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 Contents
This lecture will cover:
 What is a digital image?
 What is digital image processing?
 State of the art examples of digital image processing
 Key stages in digital image processing

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 What is a Digital Image?
 A digital image is a representation of a two-
dimensional image as a finite set of digital values,
called picture elements or pixels

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 What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
 Pixel values typically represent gray levels, colours,
heights, opacities etc
 Remember digitization implies that a digital image is an
approximation of a real scene

1 pixel

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 What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
Common image formats include:
 1 sample per point (B&W or Grayscale)
 3 samples per point (Red, Green, and Blue)
 4 samples per point (Red, Green, Blue, and “Alpha”, a.k.a.
Opacity)

 For most of this course we will focus on grey-scale images

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What is Digital Image Processing?
Digital image processing focuses on two major tasks
 Improvement of pictorial information for human
interpretation
 Processing of image data for storage, transmission and
representation for autonomous machine perception
 Some argument about where image processing ends and
fields such as image analysis and computer vision start

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 What is DIP? (cont…)
 The continuum from image processing to computer
vision can be broken up into low-, mid- and high-level
processes

Low Level Process Mid Level Process High Level

Input: Image Input: Image Process
Input: Attributes
Output: Image Output: Attributes Output:
Understanding
Examples: Noise Examples: Object
removal, image recognition, segmentation Examples: Scene
sharpening understanding,
autonomous
navigation

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 History of DIP (cont…)
 1980s - Today: The use of digital image processing
techniques has exploded, and they are now used for all
kinds of tasks in all kinds of areas
 Image enhancement/restoration
 Artistic effects
 Medical visualisation
 Industrial inspection
 Law enforcement
 Human computer interfaces

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 Examples: Image Enhancement
 One of the most common uses of DIP techniques:
improve quality, remove noise etc

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 Examples: The Hubble Telescope
 However, an incorrect mirror
made many of Hubble’s
images useless
 Image processing
techniques were
used to fix this
 Launched in 1990 the Hubble
telescope can take images of
very distant objects

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 Examples: Artistic Effects
 Artistic effects are used
to make images more
visually appealing, to add
special effects and to
make composite images

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 Examples: Medicine
 Take slice from MRI scan of canine heart, and find
boundaries between types of tissue
 Image with gray levels representing tissue density
 Use a suitable filter to highlight edges

Original MRI Image of a Dog Heart Edge Detection Image 14

 Examples: Industrial Inspection
Human operators are expensive,
slow and
unreliable
Make machines do the
job instead
Industrial vision systems
are used in all kinds of industries
Can we trust them?

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 Examples: PCB Inspection
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inspection
 Machine inspection is used to determine that all
components are present and that all solder joints are
acceptable
 Both conventional imaging and x-ray imaging are used

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 Examples: Law Enforcement
Image processing techniques are
used extensively by law enforcers
 Number plate recognition
for speed cameras/automated
toll systems
 Fingerprint recognition
 Enhancement of CCTV
images

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 Examples: HCI
Try to make human computer
interfaces more natural
 Face recognition
 Gesture recognition

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 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain Colour Image Image
& Description
Processing Compression
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 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Image Acquisition

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression
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 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Image Enhancement

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression
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 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Image Restoration

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain
Colour Image & Description
Image
Processing Compression 22
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Morphological Processing

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression
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 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Segmentation

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
Processing Compression 24
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Object Recognition

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain
Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression 25
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Representation & Description

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain
Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression 26
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Image Compression

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain
Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression 27
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Colour Image Processing

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem Domain Colour Image Image & Description
Processing Compression
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 Reflected Light
 The colours that we perceive are determined by
the nature of the light reflected from an object
 For example, if white
light is shone onto a
green object most
Wh
wavelengths are ite L
ight

absorbed, while green Colours

Absorbed
light is reflected from n Light
e
the object G re

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 Sampling, Quantisation And Resolution

In the following slides we will consider what

is involved in capturing a digital image of a
real-world scene
 Sampling and quantisation
 Resolution

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 Image Representation
Before we discuss image acquisition recall that a digital
image is composed of M rows and N columns of pixels
each storing a value
 Pixel values are most
often grey levels in the
range 0-255(black-white)
 We will see later on
that images can easily
be represented as
matrices

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 Image Sampling And Quantisation

 A digital sensor can only measure a limited

number of samples at a discrete set of energy
levels
 Quantisation is the process of converting a
continuous analogue signal into a digital
representation of this signal

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Image Sampling And
Quantisation

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Image Sampling And
Quantisation

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 Image Sampling And Quantisation (cont.…)
 Remember that a digital image is always only an
approximation of a real-world scene

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Image Representation

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Image Representation

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Image Representation

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Image Representation

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 Resolution
Image resolution is the level of detail an image holds.
 Spatial Resolution
The spatial resolution of an image is determined by how
sampling was carried out
 Spatial resolution simply refers to the smallest
discernible detail in an image
 Vision specialists will
often talk about pixel
size
 Graphic designers will
talk about dots per 5.1
i xels
ap
inch (DPI) Meg

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Spatial Resolution (cont.…)

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Spatial Resolution (cont.…)
1024 * 1024 512 * 512 256 * 256

128 * 128 64 * 64 32 * 32 45
 Intensity Level Resolution
Intensity level resolution refers to the number of
intensity levels used to represent the image
 The more intensity levels used, the finer the level
of detail discernible in an image
 Intensity level resolution is usually given in terms
of the number of bits used to store each intensity
level

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 Intensity Level Resolution:
Cont.

Number of Intensity
Number of Bits Examples
Levels
1 2 0, 1
2 4 00, 01, 10, 11
4 16 0000, 0101, 1111
8 256 00110011, 01010101
16 65,536 1010101010101010

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 Intensity Level Resolution
(cont.…)
256 grey levels (8 bits per 128 grey levels (7 bpp) 64 grey levels (6 bpp) 32 grey levels (5 bpp)
pixel)

16 grey levels (4 bpp) 8 grey levels (3 bpp) 4 grey levels (2 bpp) 2 grey levels (1 bpp) 48
 Resolution: How Much Is
Enough?
 The big question with resolution is always how
much is enough?
 This all depends on what is in the image and
what you would like to do with it
 Key questions include
 Does the image look aesthetically pleasing?
 Can you see what you need to see within the
image?

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 Resolution: How Much Is Enough? (cont.…)
 The picture on the right is fine for counting the
number of cars, but not for reading the number
plate

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 Intensity Level Resolution
(cont.…)

Low Detail Medium Detail High Detail

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Intensity Level Resolution
(cont.…)

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Intensity Level Resolution
(cont.…)

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Intensity Level Resolution
(cont.…)

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 Summary
We have looked at:
 Human visual system
 Light and the electromagnetic spectrum
 Image representation
 Sampling, quantisation and resolution
Next time we start to look at techniques for image
enhancement

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 Next Lecture
 What is image enhancement?
 Different kinds of image enhancement
 Histogram processing
 Point processing
 Neighbourhood operations

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THANK YOU

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