Digital Image Processing
Ch2. Digital Image Fundamentals
Dr. Sondos Fadl
Contents
This lecture will cover:
– Light and the electromagnetic spectrum
– Image representation
– Image sensing and acquisition
– Sampling, quantization and resolution
Light And The Electromagnetic
Spectrum
Light is just a particular part of the
electromagnetic spectrum that can be
sensed by the human eye
The electromagnetic spectrum is split up
according to the wavelengths of different
forms of energy
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 Colours
wavelengths are Absorbed
absorbed, while green
light is reflected from
the object
Sampling, Quantization And Resolution
In the following slides we will consider what
is involved in capturing a digital image of a
real-world scene
– Image sensing and representation
– Sampling and quantization
– Resolution
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 col
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 f (row, col)
matrices row
Colour images
Colour images
Image Acquisition
Images are typically generated by
illuminating a scene and absorbing the
energy reflected by the objects in that scene
– Typical notions of
illumination and
scene can be way off:
• X-rays of a skeleton
• Ultrasound of an
unborn baby
• Electro-microscopic
images of molecules
Image Sensing
Incoming energy lands on a sensor material
responsive to that type of energy and this
generates a voltage
Collections of sensors are arranged to
capture images
Imaging Sensor
Line of Image Sensors Array of Image Sensors
Image Sampling And Quantization
A digital sensor can only measure a limited
number of samples at a discrete set of
energy levels
Quantization is the process of converting a
continuous analogue signal into a digital
representation of this signal
Image Sampling And Quantisation
Image Sampling And Quantisation
Image Sampling And Quantization
(cont…)
Remember that a digital image is always
only an approximation of a real world
scene
Image as Discrete Function
After spatial sampling and quantization, an
image is a discrete function. The image
domain Ω is now discrete:
2
Ω⊂ℕ
and so is the image range:
𝐼𝐼: Ω → {1, … , 𝐾𝐾},
where 𝐾𝐾 ∈ ℕ.
Image as Discrete Function
M column
𝐼𝐼(𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦)
N rows
Image Representation
Image Representation
Image Representation
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
inch (DPI)
Spatial Resolution (cont…)
Spatial Resolution (cont…)
1024 * 1024 512 * 512 256 * 256
128 * 128 64 * 64 32 * 32
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 discernable in an image
– Intensity level resolution is usually given in terms of
the number of bits used to store each intensity level
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
Intensity Level Resolution (cont…)
256 grey levels (8 bits per pixel) 128 grey levels (7 bpp) 64 grey levels (6 bpp) 32 grey levels (5 bpp)
16 grey levels (4 bpp) 8 grey levels (3 bpp) 4 grey levels (2 bpp) 2 grey levels (1 bpp)
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?
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
Intensity Level Resolution (cont…)
Low Detail Medium Detail High Detail
Summary
We have looked at:
– Light and the electromagnetic spectrum
– Image representation
– Image sensing and acquisition
– Sampling, quantisation and resolution
Next time we start to look at techniques for
image enhancement
