You’ve probably heard the word “contrast” if you’ve ever
used a professional camera or a mobile phone for
photography. One of the key terms a photographer deal
with is this one. However, if we want to talk about
something more specific, contrast and its adjustment are
among the most significant elements that can greatly aid in
how a photo is displayed. In fact, by being sufficiently
knowledgeable about image contrast, we can easily adjust
the desired photos and produce the desired outcome. We
want to talk about image contrast in this section. The
definition of contrast and its purposes, different types
of contrast enhancement, and other topics that can be
extremely helpful in our affairs are among the topics that
are covered.
What is contrast in the processing of an image?
The degree of color or grayscale differentiation between
various image features in both analog and digital images is
defined as “contrast”. Images with higher contrast levels
typically show more color or grayscale variation than
images with lower contrast levels. After an image has been
captured with a digital camera or converted to digital
format by an analog-to-digital converter, its brightness
(also known as luminoucs brightness) is measured in
process as known as contrast enhancement.
What are the various types of contrast?
In photography, contrast is the visual proportion of various
tones in an image; this difference is what gives an image
its texture, highlight, shadow, color, and clarity. There are
various types of contrast; the following are some of the
most important types:
Tonal disparity
High contrast
Low contrast
Color contrast
Tonal contrast
The distinction in brightness between the various
components of the image is referred to as tonal contrast.
Tonal contrast can be used in both color and grayscale
images. For a medium-contrast image, you will be aiming
for a photo that includes tones from bright white to dark
black and everything in between, unless you are
specifically trying to create a high- or low-contrast image.
High contrast
Bright whites and deep blacks dominate high-contrast
photographs, which lack many mid-tones. High-contrast
images can be produced in color or grayscale. When
photographing a subject or element that needs to stand
out, such as a silhouette, or when using vibrant colors
against a gloomy, dark sky, high-contrast images are ideal.
Low contrast
You will see a lot of gray tones rather than whites and
blacks in low-contrast photographs because they have very
little tonal contrast. You will notice colors that are closer in
tone, such as yellow and orange, blue and green, or red
and purple, in color photographs with low contrast. Low-
contrast images lack a lot of shadows and highlights,
giving them a dreamy feel instead of details that stand out.
For moody landscapes, portraits, or when you want to
highlight a scene with soft, warm tones, low-contrast
photography is fantastic.
Color contrast
To produce an image with various levels of contrasting
colors, color contrast uses other contrast types (tonal,
high, and low contrast). The tonal value of each color on
the color wheel is based on the idea that white is the
lightest color and black is the darkest. Yellow would be
regarded as quite light on a tonal value scale, whereas
navy blue would have a darker value. More contrast is
produced when colors with different tonal values are
placed next to each other, whereas less contrast is
produced by colors with similar tonal values. Color
contrast is extremely important in fields such as infrared
photography, which focuses on inverting colors for a
dramatic effect.
What is contrast enhancement?
Contrast enhancement is one of the image processing
techniques used to increase the brightness difference
between objects and their backgrounds as well as the
visibility of objects in the image. In other words, “contrast
enhancement” means pixel intensity modification and
redistribution to increase visibility. Contrast enhancement
is one of the most important pre-processing steps in real-
world machine vision systems. Contrast enhancement has
a wide range of applications in industries ranging from
medicine to astronomy to manufacturing, in any case
where image processing may occur under sub-optimal
lightening circumstances.
What is the purpose of contrast enhancement?
In many image processing applications where the
subjective quality of images is crucial for human
interpretation, image enhancement techniques are
frequently used. Any subjective assessment of the quality
of an image must take contrast into consideration. The
difference in luminance reflected from two adjacent
surfaces produces a contrast. In other words, contrast is
the difference in visual characteristics that helps an object
stands out against the background and other nearby
objects. The contrast in visual perception is determined by
how an object differs from other objects in terms of color
and brightness. Because our visual system is more
sensitive to contrast than absolute luminance, we are able
to perceive the world consistently despite the significant
variations in lighting conditions.
Types of contrast enhancement methods
Contrast enhancement is an important image enhancing
research issue. This section has described three methods
for enhancing contrast.
Histogram equalization
HE, or histogram equalization, is a very well-liked
method for boosting an image’s contrast. Its fundamental
concept entails mapping the gray levels according to the
input gray level probability distribution. This process
flattens and stretches the dynamic range of the image’s
histogram, increasing overall contrast. The traditional
histogram equalization method has the advantage of
treating the image as a whole. The technique works well in
pictures where the foreground and background are both
dark or bright.
The technique can enhance x-ray views of bone structure
and improve the level of detail in overexposed or
underexposed photos. HE has been used in a variety of
industries, including radar and medical image processing.
The simplicity and effectiveness of this technique are two
of its main benefits. The computation doesn’t require a lot
of processing power. It is effective at drawing attention to
the edges and borders between various objects, but it
might obscure smaller, smoother local details.
CLAHE
Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization
(CLAHE) is an adaptive contrast enhancement method.
Adaptive histogram equalization serves as its foundation.
In addition to the standard Histogram Equalization
technique is adaptive histogram equalization. Instead of
computing one histogram for the entire image, this method
computes multiple histograms, each corresponding to a
different tile of the image. The contrast of each tile is
increased to redistribute the image’s pixel values.
Then, in order to remove artificially induced boundaries,
the neighboring tiles are combined using bilinear
interpolation. To prevent amplifying any noise that may be
present in the image, the contrast can be limited,
especially in homogeneous areas. Therefore, using this
technique will enhance local contrast in an image and
bring out more detail. Instead of focusing on overall
contrast, this approach emphasizes local contrast.
CLAHE is a method for preventing excessive amplification
while preserving the sub-blocks’ high dynamic range. this
technique, which was developed for medical imaging, has
been successfully used to enhance other low-contrast
images.
Morphological enhancement
The use of mathematical morphology in image
processing and analysis has spurred the development of a
fresh method for addressing various issues in this field.
Concepts of shape from set theory are the foundation of
this strategy. In morphology, sets of objects are considered
to be present in an image. Mathematical morphology has
emerged as a natural strategy for a number of machine
vision and recognition processes because it allows for the
identification of objects and objects’ features through their
shape.
Contrast enhancement algorithms
There are two kinds of contrast enhancement algorithms:
global and local.
Global
Global algorithms assign the same output intensity value to
all pixels with the same input value, regardless of where
they are in the image.
Local
Local algorithms adjust intensity based on the features of
each pixel’s spatial neighborhood. It has been
demonstrated that local algorithms provide better results
in general.
The contrast enhancement method at Saiwa
Saiwa supports a local contrast enhancement method
known as Log Local Color Correction (LLCC). LLCC is an
adaptive local contrast enhancement technique that
increases contrast in both dark and bright image regions
(as opposed to methods that cannot deal with both types of
regions at the same time) and achieves better results with
fewer halo artifacts. This is accomplished through the use
of a set of logarithmic tone mappings that are locally
applied to each pixel based on the brightness
characteristics of its surroundings.
The advantages of contrast enhancement at Saiwa
A quick and accurate method
Image contrast enhancement while preserving local
structure
Fewer halo artifacts.
Parameter adjustment to experience various adjustment
options
Image aggregation of applying several images at once
View and save the generated images
Exporting and archiving results on the user’s cloud or
locally
Saiwa team service customization using the “Request
for customization” option.
