COLOR IMAGE WATERMARKING IN HSI SPACE
Dinu Coltuc and Philippe Bolon
LAMII/CESALP, University of Savoie,
41 AV. de la Plaine, PO BOX 806, 74016 Annecy, FRANCE
Tel: $33-450 096541; Fax: +33-450 096649
email: { coltuc,bolon}@esia.univ-savoie.fr
ABSTRACT
For graylevel images, the histogram based watermark-
ing approach considers image histogram as its signa-
ture and, by exact histogram specification, images are
marked accordingly. This paper extends to color im-
ages the histogram based watermarking. Image mark-
ing is performed in the HSI space by creating notches
in the intensity component histogram. The number
of notches and their locations are the features which
define each watermark. The detection is blind and of
considerably low complexity. Robustness of the pro-
posed method is investigated - tests performed using
StirMark show that marking with notches ensures high
robustness against many attacks: JPEG compression,
geometric distortions (cropping, scaling, rotation, row
and column removal, translation, etc.,), linear and non-
linear filtering.
1. INTRODUCTION
By exact histogram specification, image graylevels are
handled to precisely match any histogram [l,21. It has
also been shown that image histogram can be drasti-
cally modified with no loss of image information con-
tent and, in many cases, without any visual distortions.
Therefore, image histograms can be used for invisible
watermarking of graylevel images [3].
Furthermore, a suitable choice of watermarks yields
robustness against many intentional and unintentional
attacks. Examples have been already provided on saw-
teeth shaped histograms which turned out to be very
resistant to linear and nonlinear filtering, JPEG com-
pression, geometrical distortions [4].
Histogram based watermarking is a IOW complexity
technique. We mention that detection is blind (it is
not necesarry to store the original marked image) and
consists mainly of histogram computation.
This paper extends to color images the histogram
based watermarking technique. Marking is performed
by exact histogram specification in the HSI domain.
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The watermarks under consideration are chosen in or-
der to preserve image appearance. Robustness of the
proposed technique against attacks is investigated.
2. COLOR IMAGE WATERMARKING
The basic idea of robust histogram based watermark-
ing is to eliminate (or reduce), in a controlled manner,
groups of graylevels, taking care to preserve the visual
appearance of the image. Attacks change the graylevel
distribution. It is reasonable to assume that the new
value of each pixel depends on its original graylevel as
well as on the graylevels of its neighbors. Therefore,
if there are very few pixels of a specific graylevel in
the original image, one expects t o have in the attacked
image a corresponding level (or levels) very little repre-
sented. A more detailed discussion on method robust-
ness is given in [5].
The exact histogram specification applies directly
to graylevel images; expanding histogram techniques
to color images is not straightforward. Since humans
are sensitive to chromatic changes, attention must be
paid that incorrect colors be not produced. This is why
direct histogram specification in the RGB space is gen-
erally avoided and histogram processing is performed
in other color spaces, e.g., HSI (hue, saturation, inten-
sity), UCS uniform chromaticity scale, modified UCS,
L*a*b*,etc., [SI-[SI.
In the sequel, we perform histogram specification
on the intensity component in HSI space. Changing
only the intensity component, no color shifts occur.
2.1. Watermarks
Watermarks under consideration are derived by insert-
ing notches in the histogram of the intensity compo-
nent. Each watermark is described by the number of
notches and their location. Such histograms have been
recently proposed for robust watermarking of graylevel
images [5].

Figure 1: Original (up) and marked image (down).
Due to histogram notches, groups of graylevels are
eliminated. Hence, the corresponding pixels should be
distributed among the remaining graylevels. There are
many possibilities to reassign them:
0 uniformly spread over the allowed graylevels (the
original shape of the histogram is preserved as
much as possible);
0 distributed such that the local averages of the
original histogram are preserved;
0 distributed on some predefined ranges of graylevels.
In this paper, we have considered the first case, namely
uniform spreading.
The original test image and a marked copy are shown
in Fig. 1; as it can be seen, the two images look visu-
ally identical. The watermark consists of 2 notches of
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250
200
150
250
200
300
Figure 2: Histograms of original and marked test image
in RGB space.
Figure 3: Marked images - flat histogram with notches.
15 graylevels width, one centered on graylevel 105, the
other on 175. The 3D representation of the histograms
(RGB space) of original and marked test image is plot-
ted in Figure 2.
2.2. Marking
The marking procedure consists of the following steps:
1. RGB to HSI conversion;
2. exact histogram specification of intensity compo-
nent according to the destined watermark;
3. back conversion from HSI to RGB.
2.3. Detection
Watermark detection is performed in HSI space. After
RGB to HSI conversion, the histogram of the intensity
component is computed. Next, the detection can be
approached at various complexity levels ranging from
mere visual inspection of notches to automatic pattern
recognition. Since watermarks are characterised by
Figure 4: JPEG compression: quality factor 50 - p =
0.95 (left); quality factor 25 - p = 0.90 (right).;
Figure 5: Filtering: median filter 3 x 3 - p = 0.98 (left);
gaussian filter 3 x 3 - p = 0.95 (right).
notch positions and widths, the detection does not need
the original marked image. However, the detection is
more robust if the marked histogram of the intensity
component is available - this usually means storing 256
integers.
2.4. Joint marking and enhancement
Marking with notches was chosen in order to preserve
the visual appearance of the images. Even thus, for
large notch widths a certain increase in image contrast
may appear.
Conversely, if image enhancement is of interest, we
suggest the use of bi-valued watermarks with zero cor-
responding to notches and a constant value over the
remaining graylevel scale. For such watermarks, the
marking procedure can be approached as histogram
equalization (the specification of a perfectly flat his-
togram) followed by watermarking by notches. Obvi-
ously, color image enhancement and contrast increase
appear due t o histogram equalization on the intensity
component.
Two examples are provided in Fig. 3, where, on
perfectly flat histogram 2 notches (15 graylevels width)
have been inserted: centered on levels 105, 175 (left)
and 155, 225 (right). The 2 marked copies appears vi-
sually identical. Using such watermarks provides more
robustness against attacks. Moreover, no storage of the
original marked histogram is needed in the detection
stage.
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Figure 6: Rotation 30" - p = 0.96 (left); rotation 45"
-p = 0.95 (right).
,am, , , , , ,
Figure 7: Scaling 50% - p = 0.94 (left); scaling 150%
- p = 0.97 (right).
3. ROBUSTNESS
The robustness of the proposed watermarking has been
tested against basic StirMark attacks [9, lo]. In the se-
quel, results obtained on the test image (Fig. 1) are
presented in Fig. 4-10. Histograms of both marked
(dashed line) and attacked image (solid line) are d i s
played. Their similarity is measured by means of their
correlation coefficient, p.
The proposed method is robust against JPEG com-
pression for quality factors 2 25. Thus, one obtains
p = 0.97 for compression at quality factor 90, p = 0.95
for quality factor 50 and p = 0.90 for 25 (Fig. 4).
As expected, the method is very robust against me-
dian filtering and robust against linear filtering. The
results obtained with 3 x 3 window filters are presented
in Fig. 5 - for median, p = 0.98 and for Gaussian
filtering, p = 0.95.
Very good results are obtained as well against geo-
metrical distortions. Thus, for rotation with 30" one
gets p = 0.96, for 45", p = 0.95 (Fig. 6); for scal-
ing at 50% p is 0.94 and at 150% p is 0.97 (Fig. 7).
For centered cropping (75%) one gets p = 0.95 (Fig.
8). Similar results are obtained for rotation scaling, +
random removal of rows and columns, translation, etc.
The result for color quantization is p = 0.95 (Fig.
9). We shall mention the results obtained for special-
ized StirMark attacks: randomization and bending -
p = 0.95, FMLR - p = 0.94 (Fig. 10). Lower robust-
ness was obtained against sharpening ( p = 0.89).
 Figure 8: Centered cropping 70% - p = 0.95.
Figure 9: Color quantization - p = 0.95.
3.1. Towards statistical invisibility
The method is vulnerable to histogram specification at-
tacks. This drawback cannot be completely eliminated,
but a better protection can be achieved by assuring
global statistical invisibility. Researches are in progress
on this subject - we have recently developed a regional
marking technique for graylevel images, [5], which split
image into regions and marks with notches taking care
to preserve the image global histogram. Hence, water-
mark removal is made more difficult.
4. CONCLUSIONS
A first order approach to color image watermarking
has been proposed. Its robustness against many inten-
tional and unintentional attacks has been investigated.
Watermarking of color images was approached by ex-
act histogram specification in the HSI space with wa-
termarks defined by the number and the position of
notches. In terms of robustness, results obtained so far
are promissing and further researches are in progress.
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70 I
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Figure 10: StirMark with randomization and bending
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