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Digital Image Processing

Image EnhancementSpatial Filtering
From:
Digital Image Processing, Chapter 3
Refael C. Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods

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Contents
Next, we will look at spatial filtering
techniques:
What is spatial filtering?
Smoothing Spatial filters.
Sharpening Spatial Filters.
Combining Spatial Enhancement Methods

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Neighbourhood Operations
Neighbourhood operations simply operate
on a larger neighbourhood of pixels than
point operations
Origin
Neighbourhoods are
mostly a rectangle
around a central pixel
Neighbourhood
Any size rectangle
and any shape filter
are possible
y

Image f (x, y)

(x, y)

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Neighbourhood Operations
For each pixel in the origin image, the
outcome is written on the same location at
the target image.

Origin
Origin

Neighbourhood

(x, y)

Image f (x, y)

Target

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Simple Neighbourhood Operations

Simple neighbourhood operations example:
Min: Set the pixel value to the minimum in
the neighbourhood
Max: Set the pixel value to the maximum in
the neighbourhood

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The Spatial Filtering Process

Origin

Simple 3*3
Neighbourhood

3*3 Filter

Image f (x, y)

Original Image
Pixels

Filter (w)

eprocessed = n*e +
j*a + k*b + l*c +
m*d + o*f +
p*g + q*h + r*i

The above is repeated for every pixel in the

original image to generate the filtered image

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Spatial Filtering: Equation Form

g ( x, y )

w(s, t ) f ( x s, y t )

s at b

Filtering can be given

in equation form as
shown above
Notations are based
on the image shown
to the left

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Smoothing Spatial Filters

One of the simplest spatial filtering
operations we can perform is a smoothing
operation
Simply average all of the pixels in a
neighbourhood around a central value
Especially useful
1
1
1
/9
/9
/9
in removing noise
Simple
from images
1
1
1
/9
/9
/9 averaging
Also useful for
filter
highlighting gross
1
1
1
/9
/9
/9
detail

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Smoothing Spatial Filtering

Origin

104 100 108

99 106 98
95

Simple 3*3
Neighbourhood

1
1
1
/9 100
/9 108
/9
104
1
/9 106
/9 198
/9
99

/9 190
/9 185
/9
95

90

85

Original Image
3*3 Smoothing
Pixels

/9

/9

/9

/9

/9

/9

/9

/9

/9

Filter

Filter

Image f (x, y)

e = 1/9*106 +
1
/9*104 + 1/9*100 + 1/9*108 +
1
/9*99 + 1/9*98 +
1
/9*95 + 1/9*90 + 1/9*85
= 98.3333

The above is repeated for every pixel in the

original image to generate the smoothed image

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

The image at the top left
is an original image of
size 500*500 pixels
The subsequent images
show the image after
filtering with an averaging
filter of increasing sizes
3, 5, 9, 15 and 35

Notice how detail begins

to disappear

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Image Smoothing Example

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Weighted Smoothing Filters

More effective smoothing filters can be
generated by allowing different pixels in the
neighbourhood different weights in the
averaging function
Pixels closer to the
central pixel are more
important
Often referred to as a
weighted averaging

/16

/16

/16

/16

/16

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/16

/16
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Weighted
averaging filter

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Another Smoothing Example

By smoothing the original image we get rid
of lots of the finer detail which leaves only
the gross features for thresholding

Original Image

Smoothed Image

* Image taken from Hubble Space Telescope

Thresholded Image

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Averaging Filter Vs. Median Filter

Example

Original Image
With Noise

Image After
Averaging Filter

Image After
Median Filter

Filtering is often used to remove noise from

images
Sometimes a median filter works better than
an averaging filter

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Averaging Filter Vs. Median Filter

Example

Original

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Averaging Filter Vs. Median Filter

Example

Averaging
Filter

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Averaging Filter Vs. Median Filter

Example

Median
Filter

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Strange Things Happen At The Edges!

At the edges of an image we are missing
pixels to form a neighbourhood
Origin

e
e

Image f (x, y)

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Strange Things Happen At The Edges!

(cont)
There are a few approaches to dealing with
missing edge pixels:
Omit missing pixels
Only works with some filters
Can add extra code and slow down processing

Pad the image

Typically with either all white or all black pixels

Replicate border pixels

Truncate the image

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Correlation & Convolution

The filtering we have been talking about so
far is referred to as correlation with the filter
itself referred to as the correlation kernel
Convolution is a similar operation, with just
one subtle difference
a

Original Image
Pixels

Filter

eprocessed = v*e +
z*a + y*b + x*c +
w*d + u*e +
t*f + s*g + r*h

For symmetric filters it makes no difference

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Sharpening Spatial Filters

Previously we have looked at smoothing
filters which remove fine detail
Sharpening spatial filters seek to highlight
fine detail
Remove blurring from images
Highlight edges

Sharpening filters are based on spatial

differentiation

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Spatial Differentiation
Differentiation measures the rate of change of
a function
Lets consider a simple 1 dimensional
example

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Spatial Differentiation

A
B

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1st Derivative
The formula for the 1st derivative of a
function is as follows:

f
f ( x 1) f ( x)
x

Its just the difference between subsequent

values and measures the rate of change of
the function

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1st Derivative (cont)

f(x)

5 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 7 7 7 7
0 -1 -1 -1 -1 0 0 6 -6 0 0 0 1 2 -2 -1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0

f(x)

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2nd Derivative
The formula for the 2nd derivative of a
function is as follows:

f
f ( x 1) f ( x 1) 2 f ( x)
2
x
2

Simply takes into account the values both

before and after the current value

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2nd Derivative (cont)

f(x)

5 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 7 7 7 7
-1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6

f(x)

-12

6 0 0 1 1 -4 1 1 0 0 7 -7 0 0

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f(x)

f(x)

f(x)

1st and 2nd Derivative

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Using Second Derivatives For Image

Enhancement
The 2nd derivative is more useful for image
enhancement than the 1st derivative
Stronger response to fine detail
Simpler implementation
We will come back to the 1st order derivative
later on

The first sharpening filter we will look at is

the Laplacian
Isotropic
One of the simplest sharpening filters
We will look at a digital implementation

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The Laplacian
The Laplacian is defined as follows:

f f
f 2 2
x y
where the partial 1st order derivative in the x
direction is defined as follows:
2
f
f ( x 1, y ) f ( x 1, y ) 2 f ( x, y )
2
x
and in the y direction as follows:
2
f
f ( x, y 1) f ( x, y 1) 2 f ( x, y )
2
y
2

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The Laplacian (cont)

So, the Laplacian can be given as follows:

f [ f ( x 1, y ) f ( x 1, y )
f ( x, y 1) f ( x, y 1)]
4 f ( x, y )
2

We can easily build a filter based on this

0

-4

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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The Laplacian (cont)

Applying the Laplacian to an image we get a
new image that highlights edges and other
discontinuities

Original
Image

Laplacian
Filtered Image

Laplacian
Filtered Image
Scaled for Display

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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But That Is Not Very Enhanced!

The result of a Laplacian filtering
is not an enhanced image
We have to do more work in
order to get our final image
Subtract the Laplacian result
from the original image to
generate our final sharpened
enhanced image

g ( x, y ) f ( x, y ) f
2

Laplacian
Filtered Image
Scaled for Display

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Laplacian Image Enhancement

Original
Image

=
Laplacian
Filtered Image

Sharpened
Image

In the final sharpened image edges and fine

detail are much more obvious

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Laplacian Image Enhancement

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Simplified Image Enhancement

The entire enhancement can be combined
into a single filtering operation

g ( x, y ) f ( x, y ) f
f ( x, y ) [ f ( x 1, y ) f ( x 1, y )
f ( x, y 1) f ( x, y 1)
4 f ( x, y )]
5 f ( x, y ) f ( x 1, y ) f ( x 1, y )
f ( x, y 1) f ( x, y 1)
2

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Simplified Image Enhancement (cont)

This gives us a new filter which does the
whole job for us in one step
0

-1

-1

-1

-1

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Simplified Image Enhancement (cont)

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Variants On The Simple Laplacian

There are lots of slightly different versions of
the Laplacian that can be used:
0

-4

Simple
Laplacian

-8

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

Variant of
Laplacian

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Unsharp Mask & Highboost Filtering

Using sequence of linear spatial filters in
order to get Sharpening effect.
-Blur
- Subtract from original image
- add resulting mask to original image

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Highboost Filtering

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1st Derivative Filtering

Implementing 1st derivative filters is difficult in
practice
For a function f(x, y) the gradient of f at
coordinates (x, y) is given as the column
vector:
f
Gx x
f
f

Gy

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1st Derivative Filtering (cont)

The magnitude of this vector is given by:
f mag (f )

G G
2
x

2
y

f
f



x
y
2

For practical reasons this can be simplified as:

f G x G y

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1st Derivative Filtering (cont)

There is some debate as to how best to
calculate these gradients but we will use:
f z7 2 z8 z9 z1 2 z 2 z3

z3 2 z6 z9 z1 2 z 4 z7

which is based on these coordinates

z1

z2

z3

z4

z5

z6

z7

z8

z9

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Sobel Operators
Based on the previous equations we can
derive the Sobel Operators
-1

-2

-1

-1

-2

-1

To filter an image it is filtered using both

operators the results of which are added
together

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Sobel Example
An image of a
contact lens which
is enhanced in
order to make
defects (at four
and five oclock in
the image) more
obvious

Sobel filters are typically used for edge

detection

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1st & 2nd Derivatives

Comparing the 1st and 2nd derivatives we
can conclude the following:
1st order derivatives generally produce thicker
edges
2nd order derivatives have a stronger
response to fine detail e.g. thin lines
1st order derivatives have stronger response
to grey level step
2nd order derivatives produce a double
response at step changes in grey level

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Combining Spatial Enhancement

Methods
Successful image
enhancement is typically
not achieved using a single
operation
Rather we combine a range
of techniques in order to
achieve a final result
This example will focus on
enhancing the bone scan to
the right

Combining Spatial Enhancement

Methods (cont)

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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(a)
Laplacian filter
bone scan (a)

of
(b)
Sharpened version of
bone scan achieved
(c)
by subtracting (a)
Sobel filter of bone
and (b)
scan (a)

(d)

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Combining Spatial Enhancement

Methods (cont)

The product of (c)

and (e) which will be
used as a mask
(e)

Result of applying a
power-law trans. to
Sharpened image (g)
which is sum of (a)
(g)
and (f)

Image (d) smoothed with

a 5*5 averaging filter

(f)

(h)

Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

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Combining Spatial Enhancement

Methods (cont)
Compare the original and final images