Digital Image Processing

Lecture # 4
Histogram Equalization & Matching

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 Histogram Equalization

Histogram equalization re-assigns the intensity values of pixels in the input

image such that the output image contains a uniform distribution of intensities

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 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION

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 AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PENTAGON

Resulting image uses more of dynamic range.

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Resulting histogram almost, but not completely, flat.
The Probability Distribution Function
of an Image
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Let A   hI  g 
g 0

Note that since hI  g  is the number of pixels in

I with value g ,
A is the number of pixels in I . That is if I is
R rows by C columns then A  R  C.

Then, This is the probability

1 that an arbitrary pixel
pI  g   hI  g 
A from I has value g.

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 The Probability Distribution Function
of an Image

• p(g) is the fraction of pixels in an image that have

intensity value g.
• p(g) is the probability that a pixel randomly selected
from the given image has intensity value g.
• Whereas the sum of the histogram h(g) over all g from
0 to 255 is equal to the number of pixels in the image,
the sum of p(g) over all g is 1.
• p is the normalized histogram of the image

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The Cumulative Distribution Function
of an Image
Let q = I(r,c) be the value of a randomly
selected pixel from I. Let g be a specific gray
level. The probability that q ≤ g is given by

g
1 g
 h  
I

PI  g    pI      hI    0
255
,
 h  
 0 A  0
I

0

where hI(γ ) is
the histogram of This is the probability that
image I. any given pixel from I has
value less than or equal to g.

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The Cumulative Distribution Function
of an Image
Let q = I(r,c) be the value of a randomly
selected pixel from I. Let g be a specific gray Also called CDF
level. The probability that q ≤ g is given by for “Cumulative
Distribution
Function”.
g

g
1 g
 h  
I

PI  g    pI      hI    0
255
,
 h  
 0 A  0
I

0

where hI(γ ) is
the histogram of This is the probability that
image I. any given pixel from I has
value less than or equal to g.

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 The Cumulative Distribution Function
of an Image
• P(g) is the fraction of pixels in an image that have intensity
values less than or equal to g.
• P(g) is the probability that a pixel randomly selected from
the given band has an intensity value less than or equal to
g.
• P(g) is the cumulative (or running) sum of p(g) from 0
through g inclusive.
• P(0) = p(0) and P(255) = 1;

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 Histogram Equalization

Task: remap image I so that its histogram is as close to

constant as possible

Let PI   
be the cumulative (probability) distribution function of I.

The CDF itself is used as the LUT.

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Histogram Equalization
The CDF (cumulative
distribution) is the
pdf
LUT for remapping.

CDF

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Histogram Equalization
The CDF (cumulative
distribution) is the
pdf
LUT for remapping.

LUT

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Histogram Equalization
The CDF (cumulative
distribution) is the
pdf
LUT for remapping.

LUT

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Histogram Equalization

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 Histogram Equalization
Luminosity

before

J  r , c   255  PI  I  r , c   .
after

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 HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION
IMPLEMENTATION

0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 4 4 4 4 4 5
4 5 6 6 6 5 5 7 7 7
8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9

Gray levels 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Counts (h(rk)) 5 4 0 0 2 1 3 0 4 1
r0 r1 r2 r3 r4 r5 r6

Normalized h (P(rk)) 5/20 4/20

0 0
2/20 1/20 3/20 0 4/20 1/20

cdf F(rk) 5/20 9/20 11/20 12/20 15/20 19/20 20/20

sk =round(9•F(rk)) 2 4 5 5 7 9 9
s0 s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6

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Histogram Equalization: Example

An 8x8 image

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 Histogram Equalization: Example
Fill in the following table/histogram

Image Histogram (Non-zero values)

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Histogram Equalization: Example

Image Histogram (Non-zero values shown)

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Histogram Equalization: Example

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 Histogram Equalization: Example

Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf)

Image Histogram/Prob Mass Function

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Histogram Equalization: Example

Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf)

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Histogram Equalization: Example

Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf)

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Histogram Equalization: Example

Normalized Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf)

Divide each value by total number of

pixels (64) to get the normalized cdf

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Histogram Equalization: Example
J  r , c   255  PI  I  r , c   .

If cdf is normalized

s  round (255.cdf (r ))
If cdf is NOT normalized
cdf (r )
s  round (255. )
M N
s  round (255.  46 / 64 )
s  183

183

Original Image

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Histogram Equalization: Example

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 Histogram Equalization: Example

Original Image Corresponding histogram (red) and cumulative

histogram (black)

Image after histogram equalization Corresponding histogram (red) and cumulative

histogram (black)
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 Histogram Equalization: Example
Equalized Histogram
Dark image
Bright image

Equalized Histogram
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 Histogram Equalization: Example
Equalized Histogram
Low contrast
High Contrast

Equalized Histogram
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 HISTOGRAM MATCHING
(SPECIFICATION)
• HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION DOES NOT ALLOW
INTERACTIVE IMAGE ENHANCEMENT AND
GENERATES ONLY ONE RESULT: AN
APPROXIMATION TO A UNIFORM HISTOGRAM.
• SOMETIMES THOUGH, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO
SPECIFY PARTICULAR HISTOGRAM SHAPES
CAPABLE OF HIGHLIGHTING CERTAIN GRAY-LEVEL
RANGES.

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 HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION
• THE PROCEDURE FOR HISTOGRAM-SPECIFICATION BASED
ENHANCEMENT IS:

– EQUALIZE THE LEVELS OF THE ORIGINAL IMAGE USING:

k nj
s  T (rk )  
j 0 n

n: total number of pixels,

nj: number of pixels with gray level rj,
L: number of discrete gray levels
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 HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION

– SPECIFY THE DESIRED DENSITY FUNCTION AND OBTAIN THE

TRANSFORMATION FUNCTION G(z):

k
vk  G  z k    p z  z i   s k
i 0

pz: specified desirable PDF for output

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 HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION

• THE NEW, PROCESSED VERSION OF THE

ORIGINAL IMAGE CONSISTS OF GRAY
LEVELS CHARACTERIZED BY THE SPECIFIED
DENSITY pz(z).
1 1
In essence: z  G ( s)  z  G [T (r )]

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 MAPPINGS

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 HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION

• OBTAIN THE HISTOGRAM OF THE GIVEN IMAGE

• MAP EACH LEVEL rK TO A LEVEL SK
• OBTAIN THE TRANSFORMATION FUNCTION G FROM THE
GIVEN PZ (Z)
• PRECOMPUTE ZK FOR EACH VALUE OF SK
• FOR EACH PIXEL IN THE ORIGINAL IMAGE, IF THE VALUE
OF THAT PIXEL IS rk MAP THIS VALUE TO ITS
CORRESPONDING LEVEL SK, THEN MAP LEVEL SK INTO THE
FINAL VALUE ZK

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 HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION
k nk pr(rk) sk pz(zk) vk nk
0 790 0.19 0.19 0 0 0
1 1023 0.25 0.44 0 0 0
2 850 0.21 0.65 0 0 0
3 656 0.16 0.81 0.15 0.15 790
4 329 0.08 0.89 0.2 0.35 1023
5 245 0.06 0.95 0.3 0.65 850
6 122 0.03 0.98 0.2 0.85 985
7 81 0.02 1.0 0.15 1.0 448

A 64X64 (4096 PIXELS) IMAGE WITH 8 GRAY LEVELS

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 IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IN THE
SPATIAL DOMAIN

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 IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IN THE
SPATIAL DOMAIN

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 GLOBAL/LOCAL HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION
• IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO ENHANCE DETAILS OVER SMALL AREAS IN THE
IMAGE
• THE NUMBER OF PIXELS IN THESE AREAS MAY HAVE NEGLIGIBLE INFLUENCE
ON THE COMPUTATION OF A GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION WHOSE SHAPE
DOES NOT NECESSARILY GUARANTEE THE DESIRED LOCAL ENHANCEMENT
• DEVISE TRANSFORMATION FUNCTIONS BASED ON THE GRAY LEVEL
DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF EVERY PIXEL IN THE IMAGE
• THE PROCEDURE IS:
– DEFINE A SQUARE (OR RECTANGULAR) NEIGHBORHOOD AND MOVE THE
CENTER OF THIS AREA FROM PIXEL TO PIXEL.
– AT EACH LOCATION, THE HISTOGRAM OF THE POINTS IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD IS COMPUTED AND EITHER A HISTOGRAM
EQUALIZATION OR HISTOGRAM SPECIFICATION TRANSFORMATION
FUNCTION IS OBTAINED.
– THIS FUNCTION IS FINALLY USED TO MAP THE GRAY LEVEL OF THE PIXEL
CENTERED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
– THE CENTER IS THEN MOVED TO AN ADJACENT PIXEL LOCATION AND THE
PROCEDURE IS REPEATED.

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 GLOBAL/LOCAL HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION

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 USE OF HISTOGRAM STATISTICS FOR IMAGE
ENHANCEMENT (Global)
• LET r REPRESENT A GRAY LEVEL IN THE IMAGE [0, L-1], AND LET p(ri )
DENOTE THE NORMALIZED HISTOGRAM COMPONENT
CORRESPONDING TO THE ith VALUE OF r.
• THE nth MOMENT OF r ABOUT ITS MEAN IS DEFINED AS

L 1 n

 n r    ri  m  pri 
i 0
• WHERE m IS THE MEAN VALUE OF r (AVERAGE GRAY LEVEL)

m  i 0 ri pri 
L 1

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 USE OF HISTOGRAM STATISTICS FOR IMAGE
ENHANCEMENT (Global)
• THE SECOND MOMENT IS GIVEN BY

L 1 2

 2 r    ri  m  pri 
i 0

• WHICH IS THE VARIANCE OF r

• MEAN AS A MEASURE OF AVERAGE GRAY LEVEL IN THE IMAGE
• VARIANCE AS A MEASURE OF AVERAGE CONTRAST

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 USE OF HISTOGRAM STATISTICS FOR IMAGE
ENHANCEMENT (Local)
• LET (x,y) BE THE COORDINATES OF A PIXEL IN AN
IMAGE, AND LET SX,Y DENOTE A NEIGBORHOOD OF
SPECIFIED SIZE, CENTERED AT (x,y)
• THE MEAN VALUE mSXY OF THE PIXELS IN SX,Y IS

ms xy   r s ,t p rs ,t 
 s ,t
 S xy
• THE GRAY LEVEL VARIANCE OF THE PIXELS IN
REGION SX,Y IS GIVEN BY

S xy
2
  r s ,t 
 ms xy prs ,t 
2

 
s ,t S xy
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 USE OF HISTOGRAM STATISTICS FOR IMAGE
ENHANCEMENT
• THE GLOBAL MEAN AND VARIANCE ARE MEASURED
OVER AN ENTIRE IMAGE AND ARE USEFUL FOR
GROSS ADJUSTMENTS OF OVERALL INTENSITY AND
CONTRAST.
• A USE OF THESE MEASURES IN LOCAL
ENHANCEMENT IS, WHERE THE LOCAL MEAN AND
VARIANCE ARE USED AS THE BASIS FOR MAKING
CHANGES THAT DEPEND ON IMAGE
CHARACTERISTICS IN A PREDEFINED REGION ABOUT
EACH PIXEL IN THE IMAGE.

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 TUNGSTEN FILAMENT IMAGE

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USE OF HISTOGRAM STATISTICS FOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

• A PIXEL AT POINT (x,y) IS CONSIDERED IF:

– mSXY ≤ k0MG, where k0 is a positive constant less than 1.0, and MG is
global mean
– σsxy ≤ k2DG, where DG is the global standard deviation and k2 is a
positive constant
– k1DG ≤ σsxy ,, with k1 < k2
• A PIXEL THAT MEETS ALL ABOVE CONDITIONS IS
PROCESSED SIMPLY BY MULTIPLYING IT BY A SPECIFIED
CONSTANT, E, TO INCREASE OR DECREASE THE VALUE OF
ITS GRAY LEVEL RELATIVE TO THE REST OF THE IMAGE.
• THE VALUES OF PIXELS THAT DO NOT MEET THE
ENHANCEMENT CONDITIONS ARE LEFT UNCHANGED.

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 IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IN THE
SPATIAL DOMAIN

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 IMAGE ENHANCEMENT IN THE
SPATIAL DOMAIN

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 Readings from Book (3rd Edn.)
• 3.3 Histogram
 Acknowledgements
 Statistical Pattern Recognition: A Review – A.K Jain et al., PAMI (22) 2000
 Pattern Recognition and Analysis Course – A.K. Jain, MSU
Material in these slides has been taken from, the following resources

 Pattern Classification” by Duda et al., John Wiley & Sons.

 Digital Image Processing”, Rafael C. Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods, Addison-Wesley, 2002
 Machine Vision: Automated Visual Inspection and Robot Vision”, David Vernon, Prentice Hall,
1991
 www.eu.aibo.com/
 Advances in Human Computer Interaction, Shane Pinder, InTech, Austria, October 2008

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