IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IN FREQUENCY DOMAIN

BLURRING/NOISE REDUCTION: Noise characterized by sharp transitions in image

intensity. Such transitions contribute significantly to high frequency components of Fourier
transform. Intuitively, attenuating certain high frequency components result in blurring and
reduction of image noise.
IDEAL LOW-PASS FILTER:
Cuts off all high-frequency components at a distance greater than a certain distance from
origin (cutoff frequency).
H (u,v) = 1, if D(u,v) ≤ D0
0, if D(u,v) ˃ D0
Where D0 is a positive constant and D(u,v) is the distance between a point (u,v) in the
frequency domain and the center of the frequency rectangle; that is
D(u,v) = [(u-P/2)2 + (v-Q/2)2] 1/2
Where as P and Q are the padded sizes from the basic equations
Wraparound error in their circular convolution can be avoided by padding these functions
with zeros,
VISUALIZATION: IDEAL LOW PASS FILTER:
As shown in fig.below

Fig: ideal low pass filter 3-D view and 2-D view and line graph.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT CUT OFF FREQUENCIES:
Fig. below(a) Test pattern of size 688x688 pixels, and (b) its Fourier spectrum. The spectrum is

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double the image size due to padding but is shown in half size so that it fits in the page. The
superimposed circles have radii equal to 10, 30, 60, 160 and 460 with respect to the full-size
spectrum image. These radii enclose 87.0, 93.1, 95.7, 97.8 and 99.2% of the padded image power
respectively.

Fig: (a) Test pattern of size 688x688 pixels (b) its Fourier spectrum

Fig: (a) original image, (b)-(f) Results of filtering using ILPFs with cutoff frequencies set
at radii values 10, 30, 60, 160 and 460, as shown in figure. The power removed by these filters
was 13, 6.9, 4.3, 2.2 and 0.8% of the total, respectively.
As the cutoff frequency decreases,

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 • image becomes more blurred
• Noise becomes increases
• Analogous to larger spatial filter sizes
The severe blurring in this image is a clear indication that most of the sharp detail information in
the picture is contained in the 13% power removed by the filter. As the filter radius is increases
less and less power is removed, resulting in less blurring. Fig. (c ) through (e) are characterized by
“ringing” , which becomes finer in texture as the amount of high frequency content removed
decreases.
WHY IS THERE RINGING?
Ideal low-pass filter function is a rectangular function
The inverse Fourier transform of a rectangular function is a sinc function.

Fig. Spatial representation of ILPFs of order 1 and 20 and corresponding intensity profiles
through the center of the filters( the size of all cases is 1000x1000 and the cutoff frequency is 5),
observe how ringing increases as a function of filter order.
BUTTERWORTH LOW-PASS FILTER:
Transfer function of a Butterworth low pass filter (BLPF) of order n, and with cutoff

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frequency at a distance D0 from the origin, is defined as

Transfer function does not have sharp discontinuity establishing cutoff between passed
and filtered frequencies.
Cut off frequency D0 defines point at which H(u,v) = 0.5

Fig. (a) Perspective plot of a Butterworth low pass-filter transfer function. (b) Filter
displayed as an image. (c)Filter radial cross sections of order 1 through 4.
Unlike the ILPF, the BLPF transfer function does not have a sharp discontinuity that
gives a clear cutoff between passed and filtered frequencies.
BUTTERWORTH LOW-PASS FILTERS OF DIFFEREN T FREQUENCIES:

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 Fig. (a) Original image.(b)-(f) Results of filtering using BLPFs of order 2, with cutoff
frequencies at the radii
Fig. shows the results of applying the BLPF of eq. to fig.(a), with n=2 and D0 equal to the
five radii in fig.(b) for the ILPF, we note here a smooth transition in blurring as a function of
increasing cutoff frequency. Moreover, no ringing is visible in any of the images processed with
this particular BLPF, a fact attributed to the filter’s smooth transition between low and high
frequencies.

A BLPF of order 1 has no ringing in the spatial domain. Ringing generally is imperceptible
in filters of order 2, but can become significant in filters of higher order.
Fig.shows a comparison between the spatial representation of BLPFs of various orders
(using a cutoff frequency of 5 in all cases). Shown also is the intensity profile along a horizontal
scan line through the center of each filter. The filter of order 2 does show mild ringing and small
negative values, but they certainly are less pronounced than in the ILPF. A butter worth filter of
order 20 exhibits characteristics similar to those of the ILPF (in the limit, both filters are identical).

Fig.2.2.7 (a)-(d) Spatial representation of BLPFs of order 1, 2, 5 and 20 and corresponding

intensity profiles through the center of the filters (the size in all cases is 1000 x 1000 and the cutoff
frequency is 5) Observe how ringing increases as a function of filter order.
GAUSSIAN LOWPASS FILTERS:
The form of these filters in two dimensions is given by

• This transfer function is smooth, like Butterworth filter.

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 • Gaussian in frequency domain remains a Gaussian in spatial domain
• Advantage: No ringing artifacts.
Where D0 is the cutoff frequency. When D(u,v) = D0, the GLPF is down to 0.607 of its maximum
value. This means that a spatial Gaussian filter, obtained by computing the IDFT of above
equation., will have no ringing. Fig..Shows a perspective plot, image display and radial cross
sections of a GLPF function.

Fig. (a) Perspective plot of a GLPF transfer function. (b) Filter displayed as an image.
(c). Filter radial cross sections for various values of D0

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 Fig.(a) Original image. (b)-(f) Results of filtering using GLPFs with cutoff frequencies at
the radii shown in figure.

Fig. (a) Original image (784x 732 pixels). (b) Result of filtering using a GLPF with D0 =
100. (c) Result of filtering using a GLPF with D0 = 80. Note the reduction in fine skin lines in the
magnified sections in (b) and(c).
Fig. shows an application of lowpass filtering for producing a smoother, softer-looking
result from a sharp original. For human faces, the typical objective is to reduce the sharpness of
fine skin lines and small blemished.
IMAGE SHARPENING USING FREQUENCY DOMAIN FILTERS:
An image can be smoothed by attenuating the high-frequency components of its Fourier
transform. Because edges and other abrupt changes in intensities are associated with high-
frequency components, image sharpening can be achieved in the frequency domain by high pass
filtering, which attenuates the low-frequency components without disturbing high-frequency
information in the Fourier transform.
The filter function H(u,v) are understood to be discrete functions of size PxQ; that is the
discrete frequency variables are in the range u = 0,1,2,…….P-1 and v = 0,1,2,…….Q-1.
The meaning of sharpening is
• Edges and fine detail characterized by sharp transitions in image intensity
• Such transitions contribute significantly to high frequency components of Fourier
transform
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 • Intuitively, attenuating certain low frequency components and preserving high
frequency components result in sharpening.
Intended goal is to do the reverse operation of low-pass filters
• When low-pass filter attenuated frequencies, high-pass filter passes them
• When high-pass filter attenuates frequencies, low-pass filter passes them. A high
pass filter is obtained from a given low pass filter using the equation.
H hp (u,v) = 1- Htp (u,v)
Where Hlp (u,v) is the transfer function of the low-pass filter. That is when the low-pass
filter attenuates frequencies; the high-pass filter passed them, and vice-versa.
We consider ideal, Butter-worth, and Gaussian high-pass filters. As in the previous section,
we illustrate the characteristics of these filters in both the frequency and spatial domains.
Fig..Shows typical 3-D plots, image representations and cross sections for these filters. As before,
we see that the Butter-worth filter represents a transition between the sharpness of the ideal filter
and the broad smoothness of the Gaussian filter. Fig. Discussed in the sections the follow,
illustrates what these filters look like in the spatial domain. The spatial filters were obtained and
displayed by using the procedure used.

Fig: Top row: Perspective plot, image representation, and cross section of a typical ideal high-pass
filter. Middle and bottom rows: The same sequence for typical butter-worth and Gaussian high-pass
filters.
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IDEAL HIGH-PASS FILTER:
A 2-D ideal high-pass filter (IHPF) is defined as
H (u,v) = 0, if D(u,v) ≤ D0
1, if D(u,v) ˃ D0
Where D0 is the cutoff frequency and D(u,v) is given by eq. As intended, the IHPF is the opposite
of the ILPF in the sense that it sets to zero all frequencies inside a circle of radius D 0 while passing,
without attenuation, all frequencies outside the circle. As in case of the ILPF, the IHPF is not
physically realizable.
SPATIAL REPRESENTATION OF HIGHPASS FILTERS:

Fig..Spatial representation of typical (a) ideal (b) Butter-worth and (c) Gaussian frequency
domain high-pass filters, and corresponding intensity profiles through their centers.
We can expect IHPFs to have the same ringing properties as ILPFs. This is demonstrated
clearly in Fig..which consists of various IHPF results using the original image in Fig.(a) with D 0
set to 30, 60,and 160 pixels, respectively. The ringing in Fig. (a) is so severe that it produced
distorted, thickened object boundaries (e.g.,look at the large letter “a” ). Edges of the top three
circles do not show well because they are not as strong as the other edges in the image (the intensity
of these three objects is much closer to the background intensity, giving discontinuities of smaller
magnitude).

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 Fig.. Results of high-pass filtering the image in Fig.(a) using an IHPF with D0 = 30, 60, and
160.
The situation improved somewhat with D0 = 60. Edge distortion is quite evident still, but
now we begin to see filtering on the smaller objects. Due to the now familiar inverse relationship
between the frequency and spatial domains, we know that the spot size of this filter is smaller than
the spot of the filter with D0 = 30. The result for D0 = 160 is closer to what a high-pass filtered
image should look like. Here, the edges are much cleaner and less distorted, and the smaller objects
have been filtered properly.
Of course, the constant background in all images is zero in these high-pass filtered images
because high pass filtering is analogous to differentiation in the spatial domain.
BUTTER-WORTH HIGH-PASS FILTERS:
A 2-D Butter-worth high-pass filter (BHPF) of order n and cutoff frequency D0 is defined as

Where D(u,v) is given by Eq.(3). This expression follows directly from Eqs.(3) and (6). The
middle row of Fig.2.2.11.shows an image and cross section of the BHPF function.
Butter-worth high-pass filters to behave smoother than IHPFs. Fig.2.2.14.shows the performance
of a BHPF of order 2 and with D0 set to the same values as in Fig.2.2.13. The boundaries are much
less distorted than in Fig.2.2.13. Even for the smallest value of cutoff frequency.
FILTERED RESULTS: BHPF:

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 Fig. Results of high-pass filtering the image in Fig.2.2.2(a) using a BHPF of order 2 with
D0 = 30, 60, and 160 corresponding to the circles in Fig.2.2.2(b). These results are much smoother
than those obtained with an IHPF.
GAUSSIAN HIGH-PASS FILTERS:
The transfer function of the Gaussian high-pass filter (GHPF) with cutoff frequency locus
at a distance D0 from the center of the frequency rectangle is given by

Where D(u,v) is given by Eq.(4). This expression follows directly from Eqs.(2) and (6).
The third row in Fig.2.2.11.shows a perspective plot, image and cross section of the GHPF
function. Following the same format as for the BHPF, we show in Fig.2.2.15. Comparable results
using GHPFs. As expected, the results obtained are more gradual than with the previous two filters.
FILTERED RESULTS: GHPF:

Fig. Results of high-pass filtering the image in fig.(a) using a GHPF with D0 = 30, 60
and 160, corresponding to the circles in Fig.(b).

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