The

IMAGE
PROCESSING
Handbook
Fourth Edition

John C. Russ
Materials Science and Engineering Department
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

CRC PR E S S
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
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Introduction

Image processing is used for two somewhat different purposes:

1. Improving the visual appearance of images to a human viewer
2. Preparing images for measurement of the features and structures present
The techniques that are appropriate for each of these tasks are not always the same, but
there is considerable overlap. This book covers methods that are used for both tasks.
To do the best possible job, it helps to know about the uses to which the processed images
will be put. For visual enhancement, this means having some familiarity with the human vi-
sual process, and an appreciation of what cues the viewer responds to in images. It is also
useful to know about the printing or display process, because many images are processed in
the context of reproduction or transmission.
The measurement of images generally requires that features be well defined, either by edges
or unique brightness, color, texture, or some combination of these factors. The types of mea-
surements that will be performed on entire scenes or individual features are important in
determining the appropriate processing steps.
It may help to recall that image processing, similar to food processing or word processing,
does not reduce the amount of data present but simply rearranges it. Some arrangements
may be more appealing to the senses, and some may convey more meaning, but these two
criteria may not be identical nor call for identical methods.
This handbook presents an extensive collection of image processing tools, so that the user of
computer-based systems can both understand those methods provided in packaged software,
and program those additions that may be needed for particular applications. Comparisons are
presented of different algorithms that may be used for similar purposes, using a selection of
representative pictures from light and electron microscopes, as well as macroscopic, remote
sensing and astronomical images.
In revising the book for this new edition, I tried to respond to some of the comments and re-
quests of readers and reviewers. New chapters on the measurement of images and the sub-
sequent interpretation of the data were added in the second edition, and a section on surface
images was added in the third edition. New chapters in this edition discuss in some depth the

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stereological interpretation of measurements on sections through three-dimensional

structures, and the various logical approaches to feature classification. The sections on the
ever-advancing hardware for image capture and printing have been expanded and informa-
tion added on the newest technologies. More examples have been added in every chapter,
and the reference list was expanded and brought up to date.
As in past editions, I resisted suggestions to put more of the math into the book. Excellent
texts are available on image processing, compression, mathematical morphology, etc. that
provide as much rigor and as many derivations as may be needed. Many of them are refer-
enced here, but the thrust of this book remains teaching by example. Few people learn the
principles of image processing from the equations. Just as we use images to do science, so
most of us use images to learn about many things, including imaging itself. The hope is that,
by seeing what various operations do to representative images, you will discover how and
why to use them. Then, if you need to look up the mathematical foundations, they will be
easier to understand.
The reader is encouraged to use this book in concert with a real source of images and a
computer-based system, and to freely experiment with different methods to determine
which are most appropriate for his or her particular needs. Selection of image processing
tools to explore images when you do not know the contents beforehand is a much more
difficult task than using tools to make it easier for another viewer or a measurement pro-
gram to see the same things you have discovered. It places greater demand on computing
speed and the interactive nature of the interface, but it particularly requires that you be-
come a very analytical observer of images. If you can learn to see what the computer sees,
you will become a better viewer and obtain the best possible images, suitable for further
processing and analysis.
To facilitate this hands-on learning process, I collaborated with my son, Chris Russ, to
produce a CD-ROM that can be used as a companion to this book. The Image Processing
Tool Kit contains more than 300 images, many of them the examples from the book, plus
nearly 200 Photoshop-compatible plug-ins that implement many of the algorithms dis-
cussed here. These can be used with Adobe Photoshop or any of the numerous pro-
grams (some of them free), which implement the Photoshop plug-in interface, on either
Macintosh or Windows computers. Information about the CD-ROM is available on-line at
http://ReindeerGraphics.com/

Acknowledgments
All the image processing and the creation of the resulting figures included in this book were
performed on an Apple Macintosh computer. Many of the images were acquired directly
from various microscopes and other sources using color or monochrome video cameras and
digitized directly into the computer. Others were digitized using a digital camera (most with
a Polaroid DMC), and some were obtained using a 36-bit color scanner (Agfa), often from im-
ages supplied by many co-workers and researchers. These are acknowledged wherever the
origin of an image could be determined. A few examples, taken from the literature, are in-
dividually referenced.
The book was delivered to the publisher in digital form (on a writable CD), without inter-
mediate hard copy, negatives, or prints of the images, etc. Among other things, this means
that the author must bear full responsibility for any errors because no traditional typesetting
was involved. (It has also forced me to learn more than I ever hoped to know about some
aspects of this technology!) However, going directly from disk file to print also shortens the

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time needed in production and helps to keep costs down, while preserving the full quality
of the images. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the efforts by the editors at CRC Press to
educate me and to accommodate the unusually large number of illustrations in this book
(about 2000 figures and a quarter of a million words).
Special thanks are due to Chris Russ (Reindeer Games Inc., Asheville, NC), who has helped
to program many of these algorithms and contributed invaluable comments, and to Helen
Adams, who has proofread many pages, endured many discussions, and provided the moral
support that make writing projects such as this possible.
John C. Russ
Raleigh, NC

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Table of Contents

1 Acquiring Images
Human reliance on images for information
Video cameras
CCD cameras
Camera artefacts and limitations
Color cameras
Camera resolution
CMOS cameras
Focusing
Electronics and bandwidth limitations
Pixels
Grey-scale resolution
Noise
High-depth images
Color imaging
Digital camera limitations
Color spaces
Color correction
Color displays
Image types
Range imaging
Multiple images
Stereoscopy
Imaging requirements

2 Printing and Storage

Printing

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Dots on paper
Color printing
Printing hardware
Film recorders
File storage
Storage media
Magnetic recording
Databases for images
Browsing and thumbnails
Lossless coding
Reduced color palettes
JPEG compression
Wavelet compression
Fractal compression
Digital movies

3 Correcting Imaging Defects

Contrast expansion
Noisy images
Neighborhood averaging
Neighborhood ranking
Other neighborhood noise-reduction methods
Defect removal, maximum entropy, and
maximum likelihood
Nonuniform illumination
Fitting a background function
Rank leveling
Color shading
Non-planar views
Computer graphics
Geometrical distortion
Alignment
Interpolation
Morphing

4 Image Enhancement (Processing in the

Spatial Domain)
Contrast manipulation
Histogram equalization
Laplacian
Derivatives
The Sobel and Kirsch operators
Rank operations
Texture

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Fractal analysis
Implementation notes
Image math
Subtracting images
Multiplication and division

5 Processing Images in Frequency

Space
Some necessary mathematical preliminaries
What frequency space is all about
The Fourier transform
Fourier transforms of real functions
Frequencies and orientations
Measuring images in the frequency domain
Orientation and spacing
Preferred orientation
Texture and fractals
Filtering images
Isolating periodic noise
Masks and filters
Selection of periodic information
Convolution and correlation
Fundamentals of convolution
Imaging system characteristics
Noise and Wiener deconvolution
Motion blur
Template matching and correlation
Autocorrelation
Conclusion

6 Segmentation and Thresholding

Thresholding
Multiband images
Two-dimensional thresholds
Multiband thresholding
Thresholding from texture
Multiple thresholding criteria
Textural orientation
Accuracy and reproducibility
Including position information
Selective histograms
Boundary lines
Contours

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Image representation
Other segmentation methods
The general classification problem

7 Processing Binary Images

Boolean operations
Combining Boolean operations
Masks
From pixels to features
Boolean logic with features
Selecting features by location
Double thresholding
Erosion and dilation
Opening and closing
Isotropy
Measurements using erosion and dilation
Extension to grey-scale images
Morphology neighborhood parameters
Examples of use
The custer
Euclidean distance map
Watershed segmentation
Ultimate eroded points
Other EDM-based measurements
Skeletonization
Boundary lines and thickening
Combining skeleton and EDM

8 Global Image Measurements

Global measurements and stereology
Surface area
ASTM Grain Size
Multiple types of surfaces
Length
Sampling strategies
Determining number
Curvature, connectivity, and the disector
Anisotropy and gradients
Size distributions
Classical stereology (unfolding)

9 Feature-Specific Measurements
Brightness measurements

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Determining location
Orientation
Neighbor relationships
Alignment
Counting features
Special counting procedures
Feature size
Circles and ellipses
Caliper dimensions
Perimeter
Describing shape
Fractal dimension
Harmonic analysis
Topology
Three-dimensional measurements

10 Feature Recognition and

Classification
Template matching and cross-correlation
Parametric description
Decision points
Multidimensional classification
Learning systems
kNN and cluster analysis
Expert systems
Neural nets
Syntactical models

11 3D Image Acquisition
Volume imaging versus sections
Basics of reconstruction
Algebraic reconstruction methods
Maximum entropy
Defects in reconstructed images
Beam hardening
Imaging geometries
Three-dimensional tomography
High-resolution tomography

12 3D Image Visualization
Sources of 3D data
Serial sections
Optical sectioning

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Sequential removal
Stereo measurement
3D data sets
Slicing the data set
Arbitrary section planes
The use of color
Volumetric display
Stereo viewing
Special display hardware
Ray tracing
Reflection
Surfaces
Multiply connected surfaces
Image processing in 3D
Measurements on 3D images
Conclusion

13 Imaging Surfaces
Producing surfaces
Devices that image surfaces by physical
contact
Noncontacting measurements
Microscopy of surfaces
Surface composition imaging
Processing of range images
Processing of composition maps
Data presentation and visualization
Rendering and visualization
Analysis of surface data
Profile measurements
The Birmingham measurement suite
New approaches topographic analysis and
fractal dimensions

References

2002 by CRC Press LLC