Spatial Filtering

A spatial filter consists of (a) a neighborhood, and (b) a

predefined operation

Linear (filter that implements a linear operation) spatial

filtering of an image of size MxN with a filter of size mxn is
given by the expression
a b
g ( x, y )    w(s, t ) f ( x  s, y  t )
s  a t  b

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 Spatial Filtering

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 Spatial Correlation

The correlation of a filter w( x, y) of size m  n

with an image f ( x, y ), denoted as w( x, y) f ( x, y)

a b
w( x, y ) f ( x, y )    w( s, t ) f ( x  s, y  t )
s  a t  b

Sum of the product

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 Spatial Convolution

The convolution of a filter w( x, y) of size m  n

with an image f ( x, y ), denoted as w( x, y) f ( x, y)

a b
w( x, y ) f ( x, y )    w(s, t ) f ( x  s, y  t )
s  a t  b

Same thing but convolution is associative !!

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 Smoothing Spatial Filters

Smoothing filters are used for blurring and for noise

reduction

Blurring is used in removal of small details and bridging of

small gaps in lines or curves

Smoothing spatial filters include linear filters and nonlinear

filters.

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 Spatial Smoothing Linear Filters

The general implementation for filtering an M  N image

with a weighted averaging filter of size m  n is given
a b

  w(s, t ) f ( x  s, y  t )
g ( x, y )  s  a t  b
a b

  w(s, t )
s  a t  b

where m  2a  1, n  2b  1.

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 Two Smoothing Averaging Filter Masks

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 Example: Gross Representation of Objects

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 Order-statistic (Nonlinear) Filters

— Nonlinear

— Based on ordering (ranking) the pixels contained in the

filter mask

— Replacing the value of the center pixel with the value

determined by the ranking result

E.g., median filter, max filter, min filter

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Example: Use of Median Filtering for Noise Reduction

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 Sharpening Spatial Filters

► Foundation

► Laplacian Operator

► Unsharp Masking and Highboost Filtering

► Using First-Order Derivatives for Nonlinear Image

Sharpening — The Gradient

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 Sharpening Spatial Filters: Foundation

► The first-order derivative of a one-dimensional function f(x)

is the difference

f
 f ( x  1)  f ( x)
x

► The second-order derivative of f(x) as the difference

2 f
2
 f ( x  1)  f ( x  1)  2 f ( x)
x

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 Sharpening Spatial Filters: Laplace Operator

The second-order isotropic derivative operator is the

Laplacian for a function (image) f(x,y)
2 2
2  f  f
 f  2  2
x y
2 f
2
 f ( x  1, y )  f ( x  1, y )  2 f ( x, y )
x
2 f
2
 f ( x, y  1)  f ( x, y  1)  2 f ( x, y )
y
 2 f  f ( x  1, y )  f ( x  1, y )  f ( x, y  1)  f ( x, y  1)
- 4 f ( x, y )
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 Sharpening Spatial Filters: Laplace Operator

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 Sharpening Spatial Filters: Laplace Operator

Image sharpening in the way of using the Laplacian:

g ( x, y )  f ( x, y )  c  2 f ( x, y ) 
where,
f ( x, y ) is input image,
g ( x, y ) is sharpenend images,
c  -1 if  2 f ( x, y ) corresponding to Fig. 3.37(a) or (b)
and c  1 if either of the other two filters is used.

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 Image scaling (Ch2)

(OR) y= ((x-min)/(max-min))*255

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 Unsharp Masking and Highboost Filtering

► Unsharp masking
Sharpen images consists of subtracting an unsharp (smoothed)
version of an image from the original image
e.g., printing and publishing industry

► Steps
1. Blur the original image
2. Subtract the blurred image from the original (creates a mask)
3. Add the mask to the original

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 Unsharp Masking: Demo

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 Unsharp Masking and Highboost Filtering

Let f ( x, y ) denote the blurred image, unsharp masking is

g mask ( x, y)  f ( x, y )  f ( x, y )
Then add a weighted portion of the mask back to the original
g ( x, y )  f ( x, y )  k * g mask ( x, y ) k 0

when k  1, the process is referred to as highboost filtering.

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 Unsharp Masking and Highboost Filtering: Example

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 Image Sharpening based on First-Order Derivatives

For function f ( x, y ), the gradient of f at coordinates ( x, y )

is defined as
 f 
 g x   x 
f  grad( f )      
 g y   f 
 y 

The magnitude of vector f , denoted as M ( x, y )

2 2
Gradient Image M ( x, y)  mag(f )  g x  g y
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 Image Sharpening based on First-Order Derivatives

The magnitude of vector f , denoted as M ( x, y )

2 2
M ( x, y)  mag(f )  g x  g y

M ( x, y ) | g x |  | g y |

z1 z2 z3
M ( x, y ) | z8  z5 |  | z6  z5 |
z4 z5 z6
z7 z8 z9
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 Image Sharpening based on First-Order Derivatives

Roberts Cross-gradient Operators

M ( x, y ) | z9  z5 |  | z8  z6 |

Sobel Operators
M ( x, y ) | ( z7  2 z8  z9 )  ( z1  2 z2  z3 ) |
z1 z2 z3  | ( z3  2 z6  z9 )  ( z1  2 z4  z7 ) |
z4 z5 z6
z7 z8 z9
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 Image Sharpening based on First-Order Derivatives

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Example

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Example:

Combining
Spatial
Enhancement
Methods

Goal:

Enhance the
image by
sharpening it
and by bringing
out more of the
skeletal detail

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Example:

Combining
Spatial
Enhancement
Methods

Goal:

Enhance the
image by
sharpening it
and by bringing
out more of the
skeletal detail

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