Image Enhancement in the

Spatial Domain
Lecturer: Hossam Abdelmunim
Email : [email protected]

Computers and Systems Engineering

 Principle Objective of
Enhancement
• Process an image so that the result will be more
suitable than the original image for a specific
application.
• The suitableness is up to each application.
• A method which is quite useful for enhancing an
image may not necessarily be the best approach
for enhancing another images

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 2 domains
• Spatial Domain : (image plane)
– Techniques are based on direct manipulation of pixels in
an image
• Frequency Domain :
– Techniques are based on modifying the Fourier transform
of an image
• There are some enhancement techniques based on
various combinations of methods from these two
categories.

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 Good images
• For human visual
– The visual evaluation of image quality is a highly subjective
process.
– It is hard to standardize the definition of a good image.
• For machine perception
– The evaluation task is easier.
– A good image is one which gives the best machine
recognition results.
• A certain amount of trial and error usually is required
before a particular image enhancement approach is
selected.
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Spatial Domain
• Procedures that operate
directly on pixels.
g(x,y) = T[f(x,y)]
where
– f(x,y) is the input image
– g(x,y) is the processed image
– T is an operator on f defined
over some neighborhood of
(x,y)

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 Mask/Filter
• Neighborhood of a point (x,y) can
be defined by using a
square/rectangular (common
(x,y)
used) or circular subimage area
centered at (x,y)
• • The center of the subimage is
moved from pixel to pixel starting
at the top of the corner

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 Point Processing
• Neighborhood = 1x1 pixel
• g depends on only the value of f at (x,y)
• T = gray level (or intensity or mapping)
transformation function
s = T(r)
• Where
– r = gray level of f(x,y)
– s = gray level of g(x,y)

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Contrast Stretching
• Produce higher contrast
than the original by
– darkening the levels
below m in the original
image
– Brightening the levels
above m in the original
image

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Thresholding
• Produce a two-level
(binary) image

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 Mask Processing or Filter
• Neighborhood is bigger than 1x1 pixel
• Use a function of the values of f in a predefined
neighborhood of (x,y) to determine the value of g at
(x,y)
• The value of the mask coefficients determine the
nature of the process
• Used in techniques
– Image Sharpening
– Image Smoothing

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 3 basic gray-level transformation
functions
• Linear function
Negative

nth root
– Negative and identity
Output gray level, s

transformations
Log
nth power • Logarithm function
– Log and inverse-log
transformation
• Power-law function
Identity Inverse Log
– nth power and nth root
transformations
Input gray level, r
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 Identity function
• Output intensities are
Negative
identical to input
nth root
intensities.
Output gray level, s

Log
nth power
• Is included in the graph
only for completeness.

Identity Inverse Log

Input gray level, r

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 Image Negatives
• An image with gray level in the
Negative range [0, L-1]
nth root where L = 2n ; n = 1, 2…
Output gray level, s

• Negative transformation :
Log
nth power s = L – 1 –r
• Reversing the intensity levels of
an image.
• Suitable for enhancing white or
Identity Inverse Log
gray detail embedded in dark
regions of an image, especially
when the black area dominant in
Input gray level, r size.
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Example of Negative Image

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 Log Transformations
s = c log (1+r)
Negative
• c is a constant
nth root and r  0
Output gray level, s

Log
• Log curve maps a narrow
nth power range of low gray-level values
in the input image into a
wider range of output levels.
• Used to expand the values of
dark pixels in an image while
Inverse Log
Identity
compressing the higher-level
values.
Input gray level, r
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 Log Transformations
• It compresses the dynamic range of images with
large variations in pixel values
• Example of image with dynamic range: Fourier
spectrum image
• It can have intensity range from 0 to 106 or higher.
• We can’t see the significant degree of detail as it will
be lost in the display.

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Example of Logarithm Image

Fourier Spectrum with Result after apply the log

range = 0 to 1.5 x 106 transformation with c = 1,
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range = 0 to 6.2
Inverse Logarithm Transformations
• Do opposite to the Log Transformations
• Used to expand the values of high pixels in an
image while compressing the darker-level
values.

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 Power-Law Transformations
s = cr
• c and  are positive constants
• Power-law curves with fractional values of  map a narrow range
of dark input values into a wider range of output values, with the
opposite being true for higher values of input levels.
• c =  = 1  Identity function

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Power-Law Transformations

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 Effect of decreasing gamma
• When the  is reduced too much, the image
begins to reduce contrast to the point where
the image started to have very slight “wash-
out” look, especially in the background

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 Power Law Transformations (cont…)
•An aerial photo
of a runway is
shown s = r 3.0
•This time
power law
s=

s = r 4.0
transforms are r 5.0
used to darken
the image

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 Piecewise-Linear Transformation
Functions
• Advantage:
– The form of piecewise functions can be arbitrarily
complex
• Disadvantage:
– Their specification requires considerably more
user input

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Contrast Stretching
• increase the dynamic range of the
gray levels in the image
• (b) a low-contrast image : result from
poor illumination, lack of dynamic
range in the imaging sensor, or even
wrong setting of a lens aperture of
image acquisition
• (c) result of contrast stretching: (r1,s1)
= (rmin,0) and (r2,s2) = (rmax,L-1)
• (d) result of thresholding

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 Gray Level Slicing
•Highlights a specific range of grey levels
– Similar to thresholding
– Other levels can be
suppressed or maintained
– Useful for highlighting features
in an image

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 Bit-plane slicing
• Highlighting the contribution
Bit-plane 7
made to total image
One 8-bit byte
(most significant) appearance by specific bits
• Suppose each pixel is
represented by 8 bits
• Higher-order bits contain the
majority of the visually
significant data
Bit-plane 0
(least significant)
• Useful for analyzing the relative
importance played by each bit
of the image

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 Bit Plane Slicing
•Often by isolating particular bits of the pixel
values in an image we can highlight interesting
aspects of that image
– Higher-order bits usually contain most of the
significant visual information
– Lower-order bits contain
subtle details
Bit Plane Slicing (cont…)
Bit Plane Slicing: Another Example
Least/Most Significance?