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Image Enhancement

(Histogram Processing)
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Contents
We will look at image enhancement
techniques working in the spatial
domain:
– What is image enhancement?
– Different kinds of image enhancement
– Histogram processing
– Point processing
– Neighbourhood operations
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Spatial
domain Enhance
Poor image image E(r , c)
I(r , c)
Frequency
domain

applications

Block diagram of image enhancement

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10
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computed, one for each component (RGB, HSL).The
histogram gives us a convenient -easy -to -read
representation of the concentration of pixels versus
brightness of an image, using this graph we able to
see immediately:
1.Whether an image is basically dark or light and
high or low contrast.
2.Give us our first clues about what contrast
enhancement would be appropriately applied to
make the image more subjectively pleasing to an
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So the shape of histogram provide us with information

about nature of the image or sub image if we
considering an object within the image. For example:
1.Very narrow histogram implies a low-contrast image.
2.Histogram skewed to word the high end implies a
bright image.
3.Histogram with two major peaks , called bimodal,
implies an object that is in contrast with the
background.
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Gray levels
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Grey Levels
• So far when we have spoken about image
grey level values we have said they are in
the range [0, 255]
– Where 0 is black and 255 is white
• There is no reason why we have to use this
range
– The range [0,255] stems from display
technologies
• For many of the image processing
operations in this lecture grey levels are
assumed to be given in the range [0.0, 1.0]
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What Is Image Enhancement?
Image enhancement is the process of
making images more useful.
The reasons for doing this include:
– Highlighting interesting detail in images
– Removing noise from images
– Making images more visually appealing
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Image Enhancement Examples
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(cont…)
Image Enhancement Examples
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(cont…)
Image Enhancement Examples
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(cont…)
Image Enhancement Examples
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Spatial & Frequency Domains
 There are two broad categories of image
enhancement techniques
– Spatial domain techniques
• Direct manipulation of image pixels
– Frequency domain techniques
• Manipulation of Fourier transform or wavelet
transform of an image
 For the moment we will concentrate on
techniques that operate in the spatial
domain
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Image Histograms
The histogram of an image shows us the
distribution of grey levels in the image.
Massively useful in image processing,
especially in segmentation
Frequencies

Grey Levels
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Histogram Examples
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
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Histogram Examples (cont…)
A selection of images and
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

their histograms
Notice the relationships
between the images and
their histograms
Note that the high contrast
image has the most
evenly spaced histogram
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Contrast Stretching
We can fix images that have poor contrast
by applying a pretty simple contrast
specification
The interesting part is how do we decide on
this transformation function?
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Histogram Equalization
Spreading out the frequencies in an image
(or equalising the image) is a simple way to
improve dark or washed out images
The formula for histogram
equalization is given where sk T (rk )
k
– rk: input intensity
– sk: processed intensity 
 pr ( r j )
j 1
– k: the intensity range
k n
(e.g 0.0 – 1.0)
– nj : the frequency of intensity j 

j 1 n
j

– n: the sum of all frequencies

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Function
Equalization Transformation
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Equalization Examples
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Equalization Transformation
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The functions used to equalise the images in
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

the previous example

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Equalization Examples
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Equalization Transformation
32 Functions
The functions used to equalise the images in
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

the previous example

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Equalization Examples (cont…)
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Equalization Examples (cont…)
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Equalization Transformation
32 Functions
The functions used to equalise the images in
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

the previous examples

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Summary
We have looked at:
– Different kinds of image enhancement
– Histograms
– Histogram equalisation
In last lectures, we have discussed on point
processing and some neighbourhood
operations
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Question
Is histogram equalization always good?

No