Department of Geospatial Sciences

and Technology

GS 122 Remote Sensing Principles

Practical 3

Image display and Spectral

Characteristics

Instructor:
Dr. Dorothea Deus
Mr. Michael M.
Mr. Rangi F.
Mr. Kasonogo J.

April 2024

1
Table of Contents
Section 1: Image Display - Using Band Combinations
Task 1: Defining band combination display.........................................................................................3
Section 2: Spectral Characteristics .......................................................................6
Task 1: Adjust Radiometry..........................................................................................................................7
Task 2: Viewing Pixel Values................................................................................................................... 11
Task 3: Spectral Profile.............................................................................................................................. 16
Task 4: Breakpoints .................................................................................................................................... 20
Task 5: Image Chain: Color Tables........................................................................................................ 23

2
 Displaying Images: Using Band
Combinations
Objective:To understand the advantages of displaying multiple bands.

Task 1: Defining band combination display

We will now open a multispectral dataset and access the results of different band
combinations.
1. Go to File > Open > Raster Layer > Navigate to the exercise folder
and openL8Carpentaria-msi.img

L8carpentaria-msi.img – Multispectral dataset

L8carpentaria-pan.img – Panchromatic dataset

Whilst IMAGINE can automatically

determine this is a Landsat data set we need to manually
select which Landsat satellite this data was derived from.

2. Go to the Multispectral Tab. From the Bands group click the Sensor drop-
down list and select Landsat 8 MS

3. Now select False Color IR from the second drop-down list

Assess several other preset combinations.

You can also manually select different bands for each channel using the
individual drop down lists.

3
4. Using the table below, manually input some of the different Landsat 8 band
combinations listed in the table below.

5. From the Home tab, Information Group. Select Inquire

4
6. Select Lat/Lon from the coordinate type drop-down list.
7. Input the following coordinates.
Lat: 13 05 03 S Lon: 141 44 01 E
8. Click Enter.
9. Zoom to the location of the crosshair.
Note you may need to zoom out to see the location of the crosshair.
The feature at this location is a bush-fire which was burning at the time of
capture.
10. From the preset band combination list choose the following combinations
and assess the visual differences of the bushfire.

5
 Section 2: Spectral
Characteristics

Section Objective
This section will introduce students to the wide range of tools available within
IMAGINE for viewing, analysis and interpreting Spectral Characteristics of Images

Tools Used

• Adjust Radiometry Adjust Image transform using common image

stretches

• Band Combinations Common RGB Band Combinations for display

• Band Group Predefined Sensor Models i.e., Landsat 8

• Color Tables Existing or custom Color Tables for Pseudocolor

display

• Image Chain New Dynamic Image view and editing tool

• Image Metadata General Information including Pixel Data and

Histogram

• Inquire Cursor Inquire individual pixel values and characteristics

• Preference Editor Define default band selection options for imagery

• Spectral Profile Line Profile of a pixel sample over a range of bands

6
 Spectral Characteristics
Objective:
Students will improve the appearance of an image by changing the band combinations and
adjusting image contrast.

Task 1: Adjust Radiometry

1. Go to File > Open > Raster Layer.
2. Click once on 26-jan-2014-msi.imgand click the Raster Options tab.
3. Check the No Stretch box. By default IMAGINE applies a contrast stretch to
all images. You can permanently disable this option in the
Preferences if you wish.
4. Click OK.
A Landsat 8 image will display using the default Band Selection of 6-or-greater band
images set in your preferences. By default this is; RGB 4, 3, 2 respectively

This will display an RGB image using the default band selections of 4, 3,
and 2. This is IMAGINE’s default band selection for images with 6-or more
bands.

You may notice the image appears quite dark

By default, IMAGINE applies a Left-Right Percentage contrast stretch to

an image when it is opened. As we checked the No Stretch box when
opening the image, there is no stretch applied.

7
 The Left-Right Percentage Stretch stretches the image to include the
lower 2.5% and the upper 1.0% of values. This stretch is only applied to
the look-up-table (LUT) and is therefore only for display purposes.

5. With 26-jan-2014-msi.img selected in the contents pane click the Metadata

icon in the home tab.
6. Click the Histogram tab.

The majority of values for band 1 in this image are skewed to the left of
the histogram indicating this band is quite dark.

7. The Metadata histogram tool allows us to view the histogram for every band
in an image. Using the Layer tab drop-down list, assess the other
bands to see if they are as dark as Layer_1/Band 1.
8. Close the Metadata tool.
9. From File Menu | Select Preferences
10. Keyword Search: Band
From the User Interface Folder | User Interface & Session Settings, you
can now see default channels for Imagery. These can be changed from
the default settings and also reset for easy use

8
11. Close the Preference Editor
12. From the Multispectral Tab | Bands Group | Select Bands Group: Landsat
8 MS

Note how IMAGINE can interpret the number of bands in your imagery
and display a shortened list of sensors likely applicable
13. From the Common Band Combinations, Select: False Natural Color

The image will display using the band combinations you have set. It is
important here to understand the fundamentals of the R-G-B display.
This is illustrative in the following diagram:

9
14. We are currently displaying a 654 band combination in the Red, Green and
Blue channels respectively.

We will now apply a number of preset contrast stretched to this image.

15. From the Multispectral tab click Adjust Radiometry.

16. Hover your mouse over the different tiles, each stretch will be dynamically
applied to the dataset currently selected in the viewer.
17. Select Equal Percentage Adjust Radiometry Options

Your image will display with an equal percentage clip of 2.5% of either
side. Otherwise also known as a 95% clip.
18. Select Left-Right Percentage from the list.

10
 This is the default stretch which IMAGINE usually applies upon opening
an image.
19. Now final, select Histogram Equalization from the Multispectral Tab |
Adjust Radiometry

Your image will now render with a Histogram Equalization stretch

20. Leave the image open with the Histogram Equalization stretch applied open in
the 2D View for the next task.

Task 2: Viewing Pixel Values

1. With the 26-jan-2014-msi.img still in the 2DView, Zoom In to the image so
you can distinguish between pixels

11
2. From the Home Tab | Information Group select Inquire Cursor

The Inquire Viewer will display showing the pixel values of the highlighted
point (the cross bars shown on screen)

3. Using the Select tool navigate around the image viewing the Spectral
Characteristics of the Pixels

12
 The Inquire Cursor will update the pixel referenced in the inquire display.
The Pixel Values of all the bands and also the LUT value of the current
bands displayed in RGB
This tool can be used to investigate pixel level detail for many Q+A tasks
4. Close the inquire box

5. Right click on theimage in Contents Panel and select Open Metadata

The Image Metadata will display with the information of the 26-jan-2014-
msi.img image. Another tool when analyzing Spectral Characteristics is to
view the Histogram and Pixel Data
6. In the Image Metadata window select the Histogram tab

13
 The histogram spread of the selected band will display
7. From the Layer Pull-down list, select various other bands to view the trend in
the pixel values of the image

Now with many datasets it may also be important to know and understand
if it has a NODATA value set, and if so what it is

8. In the Image Metadata window select the Pixel Data tab

14
 Note for this particular image, NODATA value is not set.
9. We will not set a NODATA Value for this image, but to Set/Clear this if it is
needed Select the Edit Pull-Down List and then Set/Clear NoData
Value

10. Close the Image Metadata window

15
Task 3: Spectral Profile
1. Ensure the26-jan-2014-msi.img Image is still in a 2DView
2. From the Multispectral Tab | Utilities Group select Spectral Profile

The Spectral Profile window will display

3. Select the “Create New Profile Point in Viewer Icon”
4. Click on an area of Water
5. Repeat to create a profile point for:
Dense Vegetation
Stressed Vegetation
Bare Ground
Urban Area

You can use the following example

6. Once all 5 Profiles are created select Use Sensor Attributes from the Edit
Menu

16
 Using Sensor Attributes will allow for a plot against actual Wavelength
(microns) instead of a vague band number. This is particularly useful when
using a range of sensor models. Spectral Characteristics will tend to
remain the same for a given spectral range, however may drastically
change between band references.
7. Define Sensor Type as Landsat8ms and click Apply and Close

8. You should now have a Spectral Profile with 5 Profiles and a Wavelength X-
Axis displayed

9. Now we will edit the Legend Display to names and colors more useful.
Select Edit >Chart Legend from the Menu
10. The Legend Editor will open. Rename and Change Color to the
associated classes you identified

17
11. Once complete select Apply and Close
12. To change the Chart Display options click Chart Options from the Edit
Menu
13. From the General Tab, Set the Plot Background to White

14. From the Y-Axis Tab, Set the Max Value to 40000
15. Click Apply and Close

18
 You have now created a basic Spectral Profile Graph of 5 Land Covers of
a Landsat 8 Scene. Similar plots can be used for future reference or to
help compare between different scenes. The Relative pattern of classes
should remain the same. Use this theory to also improve upon Supervised
Classification Techniques.

16. File – Save As – Annotation

17. Navigate to your TrainingData\Output Folder and Save As spectral-
profile.ovr
Note: An annotation layer can easily be incorporated in to a Map Design in
just a few clicks of the mouse. Refer to Training Documentation for Map
Design for further information
18. Close the Spectral Profile
19. From the Multispectral tab select Adjust Radiometry > Save
Breakpoints.
20. Name the datasets equalize.cbp. We will use this file for the next exercise.
21. Clear the 2D View.

19
Task 4: Breakpoints
1. Go to File >Open > Raster Layer and select 26-Jan-2014.img.
2. Click the Raster Options taband enable No Stretch.
3. Display the image as a 6, 5, 4 combination.
4. Click Multispectral tab Adjust Radiometry > Breakpoints.

The Breakpoints tool allows us to view, edit, and rescale the histograms
and lookup table graphs for the red, green, and blue lookup tables.
The Breakpoints tool is currently display the histograms for the red green
and blue channel.

5. Click the Histogram Edit Tools button to start editing a histogram .

6. From the Red channel click the red line and move it to the location below.

20
7. Ensure the Histogram Option is set to Whole Image
8. Ensure the Histogram Option is set to Lookup Table.
9. Click Apply All and assess the difference.
10. From the Green channel click green line and move it to the location below.

11. Click Apply All and assess the difference.

12. From the Blue channel click the blue line and move it to the location below.

Does the image look better?

13. Experiment by manually stretching the breakpoints to see their effects.

Is this an effective method of image stretching?

We can also load a pre-made set of breakpoints. Such as the

equalize.cbp file we saved in the previous exercise.
14. From the Breakpoint Editor tool click Load.
15. Navigate to the equalize.cbp file you saved previously. Click Ok.

The breakpoints will automatically overlay a line over your current

histograms.

21
16. Click Apply All.

The pre-saved equalize stretch has been applied to the Lookup table.
If we wanted to permanently save this stretch to the image, we could
enable the Image File Radial box and click Apply All.

17. Clear the 2D View.

22
Task 5: Image Chain: Color Tables
1. In a clear session of IMAGINE select File>Open >Raster as Image Chain

2. Load the dataset from TrainingData\26-jan-2014-msi.img

3. From the Multispectral tab >Image Chain Pull-down list select
Pseudocolor

IMAGINE has improved dynamic thumbnails. This means the thumbnail

(preview) you see is the center of the current view of your actual dataset.
Try to zoom into different areas in your image before reopening the Image
Chain Display in the following step.

23
4. From the Psuedocolor Tab | View Group select Band 6

5. Now select Yellow to Blue from the Color Table Pull-down list
This particular Color Table is under the ER Mapper Group

To better understand the spectral characteristics of the image you have

displayed. This display is of Band 6, Low values in Band 6 will display in
bright yellow and high values in Band 6 will display in dark blue.
For many reasons, a custom or standardized Color Table may be needed.
This next task will illustrate how you can create and save a customized
Color Table to the Gallery.

24
6. From the Color Table Pull-down list select Color Ramp Panel

7. From the Color Ramp dialog, select the Color Options Pull-down option in
the first color box and select Other..

25
 This will open the advanced color chooser

8. Define the first color of the color ramp as:

R: 0.240
G: 0.418
B: 0.760

Note you can dynamically scroll around the display to select another
custom color if you would like. The Set RGB values are given to illustrate
how you can replicate existing color Tables with a defined RGB Value

26
9. Click Apply and OK to close the Color Chooser
10. From the Color Ramp dialog, select the Color Options Pull-down option in
the second color box and select Other.
11. Define the second color of the color ramp as:
R: 0.740
G: 0.260
B: 0.282

12. Click Apply and OK to close the Color Chooser

13. To apply this new Color Ramp to your image on display click Create Ramp

27
 Now we will save your Color Ramp to the Gallery for easy access in the
future
14. From the Color Table Pull-down list select Add to Gallery

15. Define the follow settings:

Category: Basic
Display Name: My Custom Color Table
And click OK

This will be saved to your User Default Layout File so will be visible in
future sessions of IMAGINE

28