Digital Image Processing:: Course Website

Digital Image Processing:
Introduction
Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee

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Introduction
“One picture is worth more than ten thousand

words”
Anonymous
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References
“Digital Image Processing”, Rafael C.
Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods,
Addison-Wesley, 2002
– Much of the material that follows is taken from
this book
“Machine Vision: Automated Visual
Inspection and Robot Vision”, David
Vernon, Prentice Hall, 1991
– Available online at:
homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/BOOKS/VERNON/
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Contents
This lecture will cover:
– What is a digital image?
– What is digital image processing?
– History of digital image processing
– State of the art examples of digital image
processing
– Key stages in digital image processing
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What is a Digital Image?
A digital image is a representation of a two-
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
dimensional image as a finite set of digital

values, called picture elements or pixels
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What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
Pixel values typically represent gray levels,
colours, heights, opacities etc

Remember digitization implies that a digital
image is an approximation of a real scene
1 pixel
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What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
Common image formats include:
– 1 sample per point (B&W or Grayscale)
– 3 samples per point (Red, Green, and Blue)
– 4 samples per point (Red, Green, Blue, and “Alpha”,
a.k.a. Opacity)
For most of this course we will focus on grey-scale

images
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What is Digital Image Processing?
Digital image processing focuses on two
major tasks
– Improvement of pictorial information for
human interpretation
– Processing of image data for storage,
transmission and representation for
autonomous machine perception
Some argument about where image
processing ends and fields such as image
analysis and computer vision start
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What is DIP? (cont…)
The continuum from image processing to
computer vision can be broken up into low-,
mid- and high-level processes
Low Level Process Mid Level Process High Level Process
Input: Image Input: Image Input: Attributes
Output: Image Output: Attributes Output: Understanding
Examples: Noise Examples: Object Examples: Scene
removal, image recognition, understanding,
sharpening segmentation autonomous navigation
In this course we will

stop here
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History of Digital Image Processing
Early 1920s: One of the first applications of
digital imaging was in the news-

paper industry
– The Bartlane cable picture
transmission service Early digital image
– Images were transferred by submarine cable

between London and New York
– Pictures were coded for cable transfer and
reconstructed at the receiving end on a
telegraph printer
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History of DIP (cont…)
Mid to late 1920s: Improvements to the
Bartlane system resulted in higher quality

images
– New reproduction
processes based
on photographic
techniques
– Increased number
of tones in Improved
digital image Early 15 tone digital
reproduced images image
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1960s: Improvements in computing
technology and the onset of the space race

led to a surge of work in digital image
processing
– 1964: Computers used to
improve the quality of
images of the moon taken
by the Ranger 7 probe
– Such techniques were used
A picture of the moon taken
in other space missions by the Ranger 7 probe
including the Apollo landings minutes before landing
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1970s: Digital image processing begins to
be used in medical applications

– 1979: Sir Godfrey N.
Hounsfield & Prof. Allan M.
Cormack share the Nobel
Prize in medicine for the
invention of tomography,
the technology behind
Computerised Axial Typical head slice CAT
Tomography (CAT) scans image
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1980s - Today: The use of digital image
processing techniques has exploded and
they are now used for all kinds of tasks in all
kinds of areas
– Image enhancement/restoration
– Artistic effects
– Medical visualisation
– Industrial inspection
– Law enforcement
– Human computer interfaces
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Examples: Image Enhancement
One of the most common uses of DIP
techniques: improve quality, remove noise

etc
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Examples: The Hubble Telescope
Launched in 1990 the Hubble
telescope can take images of
very distant objects
However, an incorrect mirror
made many of Hubble’s
images useless
Image processing
techniques were
used to fix this
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Examples: Artistic Effects
Artistic effects are
used to make
images more
visually appealing,
to add special
effects and to make
composite images
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Examples: Medicine
Take slice from MRI scan of canine heart,
and find boundaries between types of tissue

– Image with gray levels representing tissue
density
– Use a suitable filter to highlight edges
Original MRI Image of a Dog Heart Edge Detection Image

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Examples: GIS
Geographic Information Systems
– Digital image processing techniques are used

extensively to manipulate satellite imagery
– Terrain classification
– Meteorology
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Examples: GIS (cont…)
Night-Time Lights of
the World data set

– Global inventory of
human settlement
– Not hard to imagine
the kind of analysis
that might be done
using this data
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Examples: Industrial Inspection
Human operators are
expensive, slow and

unreliable
Make machines do the
job instead
Industrial vision systems
are used in all kinds of

industries
Can we trust them?
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Examples: PCB Inspection
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inspection
– Machine inspection is used to determine that
all components are present and that all solder
joints are acceptable
– Both conventional imaging and x-ray imaging
are used
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Examples: Law Enforcement
Image processing
techniques are used

extensively by law
enforcers
– Number plate
recognition for speed
cameras/automated
toll systems
– Fingerprint recognition
– Enhancement of
CCTV images
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Examples: HCI
Try to make human
computer interfaces more
natural
– Face recognition
– Gesture recognition
Does anyone remember the
user interface from “Minority
Report”?
These tasks can be
extremely difficult
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Key Stages in Digital Image Processing
Image Morphological
Restoration Processing
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Acquisition Recognition
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
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Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
36 Image Aquisition
Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Image Acquisition
Imaging sensor & capability to digitize the
signal collected by the sensor
– Video camera
– Digital camera
– Conventional camera & analog-to-digital
converter
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Enhancement (Preprocessing)
To improve the image to ensure the success
of further processes
e.g. enhancing contrast

removing noise
identifying information-rich areas
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Image Restoration
• To Improve the Appearance of an Image
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Morphological Processing
• It is the tools for Extracting the Image
Components.
• It is useful in the representation and
Description of shape.
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Segmentation
To partition the image into its constituent parts
(objects)
– Autonomous segmentation (very difficult)

• Can facilitate or disturb subsequent processes
– Output (representation):
• Raw pixel data, depicting either boundaries or whole regions
(corners vs. texture for example)
• Need conversion to a form suitable for computer processing
– (Description)
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Recognition & Interpretation
• To assign a label to an object based on
information provided by the descriptors
• To assign meaning to a group of

recognized objects
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Representation & Description
Feature selection (description) deals with
extracting:
– features that result in quantitative information

of interest
or
– features that are important for differentiating

one class of objects from another
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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Image Compression
• It is the technique for reducing the storage
required to save an Image
(or)
• reducing the bandwidth required to
transmit it.
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Image Morphological
Image
Segmentation
Enhancement
Image Object
Representation
Problem Domain
& Description
Colour Image Image
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of Color Image Processing:
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 Color is a powerful descriptor that often

simplifies object identification and extraction
from a scene.
• Human can discern thousands of color
shades and intensities, compared to about
only two dozen shades of gray.
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of Components of Image Processing System
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HUMAN VISUAL
PERCEPTION
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Human Visual Perception
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The Human Eye
Diameter of Human Eye: 20 mm
3 membranes enclose the eye

– Cornea & sclera
– Choroid
– Retina
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The Choroid
• The choroid contains blood vessels for
eye nutrition and is heavily pigmented to
reduce extraneous light entrance and
backscatter.
• It is divided into the ciliary body and the

iris diaphragm, which controls the amount
of light that enters the pupil (2 mm ~ 8
mm).
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The Lens
• The lens is made up of fibrous cells and is
suspended by fibers that attach it to the
ciliary body.
• It is slightly yellow and absorbs approx.

8% of the visible light spectrum.
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The Retina
• The retina lines the entire posterior
portion.
• Discrete light receptors are distributed

over the surface of the retina:
– cones (6-7 million per eye) and

– rods (75-150 million per eye)
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Cones
• Cones are located in the fovea and are
sensitive to color.
• Each one is connected to its own nerve

end.
• Cone vision is called photopic (or bright-

light vision).
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Rods
• Rods are giving a general, overall picture
of the field of view and are not involved in
color vision.
• Several rods are connected to a single

nerve and are sensitive to low levels of
illumination (scotopic or dim-light vision).
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Receptor Distribution
• The distribution of receptors is radially
symmetric about the fovea.
• Cones are most dense in the center of the

fovea while rods increase in density from
the center out to approximately 20% off
axis and then decrease.
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The Fovea
• The fovea is circular (1.5 mm in diameter)
but can be assumed to be a square
sensor array (1.5 mm x 1.5 mm).
• The density of cones: 150,000

elements/mm2 ~ 337,000 for the fovea.
• A CCD imaging chip of medium resolution

needs 5 mm x 5 mm for this number of
elements
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Image Formation in the Eye
• The eye lens (if compared to an optical
lens) is flexible.
• It gets controlled by the fibers of the ciliary

body and to focus on distant objects it
gets flatter (and vice versa).
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• Distance between the center of the lens
and the retina (focal length):
– varies from 17 mm to 14 mm (refractive power
of lens goes from minimum to maximum).
• Objects farther than 3 m use minimum

refractive lens powers (and vice versa).
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Example: 15 x
=
– Calculation of retinal image of an object100 17
x = 2.55mm
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• Perception (Understanding of sensory
information) takes place by the relative
excitation of light receptors.
• These receptors transform radiant energy

into electrical impulses that are ultimately
decoded by the brain.
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Brightness Adaptation &
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Discrimination
• Range of light intensity levels to which

HVS (human visual system) can adapt: on
the order of 1010.
• Subjective brightness (i.e. intensity as

perceived by the HVS) is a logarithmic
function of the light intensity incident on
the eye.
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Discrimination
• The HVS cannot operate over such a

range simultaneously.
• For any given set of conditions, the current

sensitivity level of HVS is called the
brightness adaptation level.
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Discrimination
• The eye also discriminates between

changes in brightness at any specific
adaptation level.
∆I c
→ Weber ratio
I
Where: Ic: the increment of illumination
discriminable 50% of the time and
I : background illumination
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Discrimination
• Small values of Weber ratio mean good

brightness discrimination (and vice versa).
• At low levels of illumination brightness

discrimination is poor (rods) and it
improves significantly as background
illumination increases (cones).
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Discrimination
• The typical observer can discern one to

two dozen different intensity changes
– i.e. the number of different intensities a

person can see at any one point in a
monochrome image
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Discrimination
• Overall intensity discrimination is broad

due to different set of incremental changes
to be detected at each new adaptation
level.
• Perceived brightness is not a simple

function of intensity
– Scalloped effect, Mach band pattern
– Simultaneous contrast
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Perceived Brightness
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of Simultaneous Contrast
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of Illusions
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Discrimination
• Overall intensity discrimination is broad

due to different set of incremental changes
to be detected at each new adaptation
level.
• Perceived brightness is not a simple

function of intensity
– Scalloped effect, Mach band pattern
– Simultaneous contrast
3. Image Sampling & Quantization
• To create a digital image, we need to

convert continuous sensed data into
digital form.
• This involves two processes: sampling
and quantization
• The basic idea behind sampling and
quantization is illustrated in Fig. 3.1.
Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee

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Image Sampling & Quantization
• Figure 3.1(a) shows a continuous image, f

(x, y), that we want to convert to digital
form.
• To convert it to digital form, we have to
sample the function in both coordinates and
in amplitude.
• An image may be continuous with respect
to the x‑ and y‑ co ordinates and also in
amplitude.
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• Digitizing the coordinate values is called

sampling.
• Digitizing the amplitude values is called

quantization.
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Fig 3.1 Generating a digital image (a) Continuous image. (b) A scan line from
A to B in the continuous image. (c) Sampling & quantisation. (d) Digital scan
line.
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• The one-dimensional function shown in Fig. 3.1(b)
is a plot of amplitude (gray level) values of the
continuous image along the line segment AB in
Fig. 3.1(a).
• To sample this function, we take equally spaced
samples along line AB, as shown in Fig. 3.1(c).
• Location of each sample is given by a vertical tick
mark in the bottom part of the figure.
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• The samples are shown as small white

squares superimposed on the function.
The set of these discrete locations gives
the sampled function.
• However, the values of the samples still
span (vertically) a continuous range of
gray level values.
• In order to form a digital function, the gray
level values also must be converted
(quantized) into discrete quantities.
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• The right side of Fig. 3.1(c) shows the
gray‑level scale divided into eight discrete
levels, ranging from black to white.
• The vertical tick marks indicate the specific
value assigned to each of eight gray levels.
• The continuous gray levels are quantized
simply by assigning one of the eight
discrete gray levels to each sample.
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• The assignment is made depending on
the vertical proximity of a sample to a
vertical tick mark.
• The digital samples resulting from both
sampling and quantization are shown in
Fig. 3.1(d) and Fig 3.2 (b).
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Fig. 3.2 (a) Continuous image projected onto a sensor array.

(b) Result of image sampling and quantisation
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3.2 Representing Digital Images
• The result of sampling and quantization is a

matrix of real numbers as shown in Fig.3.3,
Fig.3.4. and Fig 3.5.
• The values of the coordinates at the origin
are
(x,y) = (0,0).
• The next coordinate values along the first
row are (x,y) = (0,1).
• The notation (0,1) is used to signify the 2nd
sample along the 1st row.
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Fig. 3.3. Coordinate convention used to represent

digital images
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Fig. 3.4. A digital image of size M x N

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• It is advantageous to use a more
traditional matrix notation to denote a
digital image and its elements.
Fig. 3.5 A digital image

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• The number of bits required to store a
digitised image is
• b=MxNxk
Where M & N are the number of rows and
columns, respectively.
• The number of gray levels is an integer
power of 2:
• L = 2k where k =1,2,…24
• It is common practice to refer to the image
as a “k-bit image”
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• The spatial resolution of an image is the physical size
of a pixel in that image; i.e., the area in the scene that
is represented by a single pixel in that image.
• Dense sampling will produce a high resolution image
in which there are many pixels, each of which
represents of a small part of the scene.
• Coarse sampling, will produce a low resolution image
in which there are a few pixels, each of which
represents of a relatively large part of the scene.
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Fig. 3.6 Effect of resolution on image interpretation (a) 8x8

image. (b) 32x32 image © 256x256 image
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Fig.3.7 Effect of quantisation on image interpretation. (a) 4

levels. (b) 16 levels. (c) 256 levels

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Digital Image Processing:

Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee

“One picture is worth more than ten thousand

dimensional image as a finite set of digital

colours, heights, opacities etc

For most of this course we will focus on grey-scale

In this course we will

digital imaging was in the news-

– Images were transferred by submarine cable

Bartlane system resulted in higher quality

technology and the onset of the space race

be used in medical applications

techniques: improve quality, remove noise

and find boundaries between types of tissue

Original MRI Image of a Dog Heart Edge Detection Image

– Digital image processing techniques are used

the World data set

expensive, slow and

are used in all kinds of

techniques are used

e.g. enhancing contrast

– Autonomous segmentation (very difficult)

• To assign meaning to a group of

– features that result in quantitative information

– features that are important for differentiating

 Color is a powerful descriptor that often

3 membranes enclose the eye

• It is divided into the ciliary body and the

• It is slightly yellow and absorbs approx.

• Discrete light receptors are distributed

– cones (6-7 million per eye) and

• Each one is connected to its own nerve

• Cone vision is called photopic (or bright-

• Several rods are connected to a single

• Cones are most dense in the center of the

• The density of cones: 150,000

• A CCD imaging chip of medium resolution

• It gets controlled by the fibers of the ciliary

• Objects farther than 3 m use minimum

• These receptors transform radiant energy

• Range of light intensity levels to which

• Subjective brightness (i.e. intensity as

• The HVS cannot operate over such a

• For any given set of conditions, the current

• The eye also discriminates between

• Small values of Weber ratio mean good

• At low levels of illumination brightness

• The typical observer can discern one to

– i.e. the number of different intensities a

• Overall intensity discrimination is broad

• Perceived brightness is not a simple

• Overall intensity discrimination is broad

• Perceived brightness is not a simple

• To create a digital image, we need to

Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee

• Figure 3.1(a) shows a continuous image, f

• Digitizing the coordinate values is called

• Digitizing the amplitude values is called

• The samples are shown as small white

Fig. 3.2 (a) Continuous image projected onto a sensor array.

• The result of sampling and quantization is a

Fig. 3.3. Coordinate convention used to represent