DIGITAL IMAGE
PROCESSING Image Enhancement in the
Spatial Domain
IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IS
PROBLEM ORIENTED
The principal objective of enhancement for example, a method that is quite useful
is to process an image so that the for enhancing X-ray images may not
result is more suitable than the necessarily be the best approach for
original image for a specific enhancing pictures of Mars transmitted
application. by a space probe.
The word specific is important, because
it establishes at the outset that the
techniques that might be used are very
much problem oriented.
IMAGE ENHANCEMENT
APPROACHES
There are two approaches to image What method of image enhancement
enhancement : spatial domain and works the best?
frequency domain methods.
When an image is processed for visual
the term spatial domain refers to the interpretation, the viewer is the ultimate
image plane itself, and approaches in judge of how well a particular method
this category are based on direct works.
manipulation of pixels in an image.
Visual evaluation of image quality is a
Frequency domain processing highly subjective process, thus making
techniques are based on modifying the the definition of a “good image” an
Fourier transform of an image. elusive standard by which to compare
algorithm performance.
SPATIAL DOMAIN
the term spatial domain refers to the
aggregate of pixels composing an In addition, T can operate on a set of
image. input images.
Spatial domain methods are procedures
that operate directly on these pixels.
Spatial domain processes will be
denoted by the expression:
where f(x, y) is the input image, g(x,
y)is the processed image, and T is an
operator on f, defined over some
neighborhood of (x,y).
CONT. SPATIAL DOMAIN
The principal approach in defining a
neighborhood about a point (x,y) is to
use a square or rectangular sub-image
area centered at (x, y).
Fig. 1 shows the center of the sub-image
is moved from pixel to pixel starting,
say, at the top left corner.
The operator T is applied at each
location (x,y) to yield the output ,g, at
that location.
WHEN THE PIXEL ITSELF IS
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The process utilizes only the pixels in In this case, g depends only on the value
the area of the image spanned by the of that (x, y), and T becomes a gray-
neighborhood. level(also called an intensity or
mapping) transformation function of the
the simplest form of T is when the form
neighborhood is of size 1*1 (that is, a
single pixel). s=T(r)
where, for simplicity in notation, r and s
are variables denoting, respectively, the
gray level of f(x,y)and g(x,y)at any
point (x,y).
CONTRAST STRETCHING AND
THRESHOLDING
For example, if T(r) has the form shown in Fig. 2(a),
the effect of this transformation would be to
produce an image of higher contrast than the
original by darkening the levels below m and
brightening the levels above m in the original
image.
In this technique , known as contrast stretching, the
values of r below m are compressed by the
transformation function into a narrow range of s,
toward black.
The opposite effect takes place for values of r above m.
In the limiting case shown in Fig. 2(b), T(r)produces a
two-level (binary) image.
A mapping of this form is called a thresholding
function.
INTRODUCTION TO SOME
GREY-LEVEL
TRANSFORMATION
As an introduction to gray-level The identity function is the trivial case
transformations, consider Fig. 3, which in which output intensities are identical
shows three basic types of functions to input intensities.
used frequently for image enhancement:
It is included in the graph only for
linear (negative and identity completeness.
transformations), logarithmic (log and
inverse-log transformations), and
power-law (nth power and nth root
transformations).
IMAGE NEGATIVES
white
The negative of an image with gray
levels in the range [0,L-1] (L is length of
grey scale) is obtained by using the
negative transformation shown in Fig. 3,
which is given by the expression:
s=L-1-r.
For example if we have L =256 then
and r = 255 which is white
S = 256-1-255 =0 which is black.
white
EXAMPLE
LOG TRANSFORMATIONS
The general form of the log transformation is
s=c log(1+r)
where c is a constant, and it is assumed that r
is greater than or equals 0.
We would use a transformation of this type
to expand the values of dark pixels in an
image while compressing the higher-level
values.
The opposite is true of the inverse log
transformation.
This will enhance the quality of the image.
INVERSE LOG
y=log10 X
10y=x
