Introduction to

Image Processing
What is image processing?
• A method of performing operations on an image to
enhance it or extract useful information.
• Involves manipulating and analyzing digital images to
improve their quality or to extract specific features
for further analysis.
Significance of image processing -
1
• Enhancement of visual information
• Improvement in image quality - Techniques like noise
reduction, contrast enhancement, and sharpening make images
clearer and more useful for human viewing and
interpretation.
• Restoration - Damaged or degraded images can be restored to
their original quality, making old or corrupted images
usable again.

Image Image contrast Image

sharpening enhancement restoration
Significance of image processing -
2
• Automated Analysis and Interpretation
• Object Recognition - Identifying objects within an image is crucial for
applications such as automated inspection, robotics, and autonomous
vehicles.
• Feature Extraction - Extracting features such as edges, textures, and
shapes enables further analysis and decision-making in applications such
as medical imaging, industrial quality control etc.

Object Shape
recognition extraction
Significance of image processing -
3
• Accessibility and Preservation of Information
• Document Processing - Converts physical documents into
digital form, making them easier to store, search, and
share, and preserving important information.
• Content-Based Image Retrieval - Allows for efficient
searching and indexing of large image databases based on
content rather than metadata alone.

Document
processing
Content-based image
Significance of image processing -
4
• Enabling New Technologies and Applications
• Medical Imaging - Enhances the ability to diagnose and treat medical
conditions by improving the quality of images from X-rays, MRI, and CT
scans.
• Surveillance and Security - Improves the effectiveness of monitoring
systems through techniques like motion detection, face recognition, and
anomaly detection.
• Entertainment and Media - Enhances visual content in movies, video
games, and virtual reality, creating more immersive and visually
appealing experiences.

Medical imaging

Motion detection Video games

Componen
ts of
image
processi
ng
system
Image sensors
• Devices such as digital cameras, webcams, scanners, and
specialized imaging sensors capture images or video
sequences.
• Image sensors senses the intensity, amplitude, co-ordinates
and other features of the images and passes the result to the
image processing hardware.
Image Processing Hardware
• Used to process the instructions obtained from the image
sensors. It passes the result to general purpose computer.
• CPUs (Central Processing Units) and GPUs (Graphics Processing
Units) handle the computationally intensive tasks of image
processing.
• Dedicated image processors are specialized hardware designed
for high-speed image processing tasks.
Computer
• Computer used in the image processing system is the
general purpose computer that is used by us in our
daily life.
• The computer plays a central role in an image
processing system, serving as the hub for performing
various operations and tasks.
Image Processing Software
• Includes all the mechanisms and algorithms that are used in
image processing system.
• Algorithms and Libraries : Provide functions and algorithms
for processing images. Examples include OpenCV, MATLAB Image
Processing Toolbox, and proprietary software.
• Development Environments: Platforms and frameworks used to
develop image processing applications, such as Python with
OpenCV, MATLAB, and other programming environments.
Mass storage
• Mass storage stores the pixels of the images during
the processing.
• RAM (Random Access Memory): Temporary storage for
images during processing.
• Hard Drives and SSDs (Solid State Drives): Long-term
storage for storing captured and processed images.
Other components
• Hard Copy Device : Once the image is processed then
it is stored in the hard copy device. It can be a pen
drive or any external ROM device.
• Image Display : Monitors and Screens are used to
display images and the results of image processing.
• Network : Networking Hardware and Protocols allow for
the transmission of images and data between different
parts of the system or between systems in a
distributed environment.
Image Formation and Digitization Concepts
Image formation
• The scene is illuminated by a single
source.
• The scene reflects radiation towards the
camera.
• The camera senses it via solid state
cells (CCD cameras).
• A CCD camera, or Charge-Coupled
Device camera, is a device that
captures images by converting photons
(light) into electrons.
• It utilizes a CCD sensor, which is a
light-sensitive integrated circuit
composed of pixels.
• Each pixel in the sensor converts
light into an electrical charge, and
these charges collectively form the
image.
Let’s design a camera
• Put a piece of film in front of an object - do we
get a reasonable image?
• Blurring - need to be more selective!
Let’s design a camera (cont.)
• Add a barrier with a small opening (i.e. aperture)
to block off most of the rays.
• Reduces blurring.
 Pinhole camera model
• This camera system can be designed by placing a barrier with a small
aperture between the 3D object and a photographic film or sensor.
• Each point on the 3D object emits multiple rays of light outwards.
• Without a barrier in place, every point on the film will be influenced by
light rays emitted from every point on the 3D object.
• Due to the barrier, only one (or a few) of these rays of light passes
through the aperture and hits the film.
• Therefore, we can establish a one-to-one mapping between points on the 3D
object and the film.
• The result is that the film gets exposed by an “image” of the 3D object by
means of this mapping.
Effect of aperture size
• Large aperture: light
from the source spreads
across the image (i.e.,
not properly focused),
making it blurry!
• Small aperture: reduces
blurring but (i) it
limits the amount of
light entering the
camera and (ii) causes
light diffraction.
Varying aperture size example
Example: varying aperture size
(cont’d)
• What happens if we keep
decreasing aperture
size?
• When light passes
through a small hole,
it does not travel in a
straight line and is
scattered in many
directions (i.e.,
diffraction)
Lens
• Lens duplicates pinhole geometry without resorting
to undesirably small apertures.
• Gathers all the light radiating from an object point
towards the lens’s finite aperture.
• Brings light into focus at a single distinct image
point.
Lens (cont.)
• Brightness : A lens allows more light
to enter the camera which results in
a brighter image.
• Aperture size : Lenses can have
larger apertures, which means they
can capture more light without the
need for a long exposure time.
• Focus mechanism : Lenses can be moved
to adjust the focus, allowing for
clear images of objects at various
distances from the camera.
• Depth of field : Lenses can control
the depth of field, enabling
photographers to focus on specific
parts of a scene while blurring out
the background or foreground, adding
artistic effects and enhancing image
clarity.
 Depth of Field
• The range of depths over which the world is approximately sharp
(i.e., in focus).
• It is the zone of sharpness in front of and behind the subject
where the image remains in focus.
• Outside of this zone, the image gradually becomes blurry.
 Effect of
aperture on
Depth of Field
(DoF)
• A larger aperture
results in a
shallow depth of
field, meaning only
a small portion of
the image will be
in focus, and the
background and
foreground will be
blurred.
Large aperture = small DOF
Small aperture = large DOF
• A smaller aperture
results in a deeper
depth of field,
meaning a larger
portion of the
image will be in
Effect of focal length on Depth of
Field
• Lenses with longer focal lengths (e.g., telephoto
lenses) tend to have a shallower depth of field.
Hence the subject will be in focus and background
will be blurry.
• Lenses with shorter focal lengths (e.g., wide-angle
lenses) tend to have a deeper depth of field. Hence
both the subject and background will be focused.
Effect of camera focal length on
faces
Lens flaws : chromatic aberration
• Occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are not
focused at the same point.
• This results in a color fringing or blurring of the image,
typically seen as colored edges around high-contrast areas.
Correcting chromatic aberration
• Anti-reflective coatings on lens elements help to
minimize the dispersion of light and reduce
chromatic aberration.
• Achromatic Lenses: Combine two types of glass with
different dispersion properties to bring two
wavelengths (typically red and blue) into the same
focus.
• Digital Correction : Modern cameras and image
processing software can correct chromatic
aberration during post-processing by realigning the
color channels.
Lens flaws : radial distortion
• A type of lens distortion that causes straight lines to appear
curved in an image.
• Occurs because the magnification of the lens decreases or
increases with the distance from the optical axis.
• Deviations are most noticeable for rays that pass through the
edge of the lens.
• Radial distortion is particularly noticeable in wide-angle and
fisheye lenses.
Correcting radial distortion
• Lens Design Improvements: Modern lens designs
incorporate aspherical elements and other advanced
technologies to minimize radial distortion.
• Camera Firmware: Many modern cameras have built-in
firmware that automatically corrects radial
distortion based on lens profiles.
• Software Tools: Image processing software like Adobe
Photoshop, Lightroom, and specialized lens correction
software can correct radial distortion by adjusting
the curvature of lines in the image.
Image digitization
• Sampling : Measures the value of an image at a finite
number of discrete points.
• Quantization : Represents the measured values (e.g.,
voltage) at the sampled points by discrete integers.

(a) Continuous image

projected onto a sensor
array (b) Result of image
sampling and quantization
Sampling
• Sampling involves taking measurements of the image's
intensity (brightness or color) at specific, evenly
spaced intervals across the image. These measurements
are taken at discrete points that correspond to the
pixels in a digital image grid.
• Sampling reduces a continuous image to a set of values
at discrete locations (pixels).
• Spatial resolution : The density of these points
(pixels per unit area) determines the image's spatial
resolution, with higher resolution providing more
detail.
• Example : If an analog image is sampled at 300 pixels
per inch (PPI), it means that the image's intensity is
measured at 300 evenly spaced points per inch in both
Image Sampling

Images have been resized

for easier comparison.
Quantization
• After the image has been sampled, each sampled value (which
could initially be a continuous range of values, such as a
voltage) is mapped to the nearest value within a finite set of
discrete levels.
• This process assigns an integer value to each sampled point,
thereby converting the continuous range of intensities into a
finite number of levels that can be stored and processed
digitally.
• Discrete Levels: Quantization converts continuous intensity
values into a finite set of discrete levels.
• Bit Depth: The number of discrete levels is determined by the
bit depth. For example, an 8-bit system can represent 256 (2^8)
discrete levels.
• Example : If the intensity of a pixel is measured and found to
be 123.7 (on a continuous scale), in an 8-bit quantization
system, this might be represented by the nearest integer value
Sampling vs Quantization
• Sampling: Converts continuous spatial coordinates
into discrete pixels.
• Quantization: Converts continuous intensity values at
those pixels into discrete integer levels.

Sampling Quantization

Continuous Image