Digital Image Processing CPE3643

Lecture 6:

Histogram equalization and

processing

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In the last lecture

▪ Contrast Stretching
▪ Piecewise linear contrast stretching
▪ Image Histogram

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 Histogram equalization: continuous case
▪ Idea: To find a non-linear transformation
s = T (r)
to be applied to each pixel of the input image f(x,y), such that a
uniform distribution of gray levels in the entire range results for
the output image g(x,y).

▪ Assuming ideal, continuous case, with normalized histograms

– that 0  r  1 and 0  s  1
– T(r) is single valued i.e., there exists r= T-1(r)
– T(r) is monotonically increasing

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Single valued monotonically increasing function

A function T(r) is monotonically increasing
if T(r1) < T(r2) for r1 < r2,
and monotonically decreasing
if T(r1) > T(r2) for r1 < r2.

Example of a transformation function

which is both single valued and
monotonically increasing
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 Background (probability distribution)
▪ Assume continuous random variables
Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf)
▪ The probability that the random variable is less than or equal to a
specified constant a. We write this as

for all values of a (i.e., −  < a < ),

▪ The probability density function (pdf) or density function of

random variable x is defined as the derivative of the cdf:

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Histogram equalization: continuous case

▪ Fr(r) and Fs(s) : cdfs of original and transformed gray levels r and s.
▪ pr(r) and ps(s) : pdfs of original and transformed gray levels r and s.
For strictly monotonically increasing transformation function
Fs(s) = Fr(r) or ps(s) ds = pr(r) dr
Goal of histogram equalization:
Gray levels are uniformly distributed
i.e. pdf ps(s) = 1 over the range 0  s  1
 dr  ds dT (r )
ps ( s) = pr (r )  = 1 or pr (r ) = =
 ds  dr dr
r
 s = T (r ) =  pr ( )d
0

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 Histogram equalization
If the following transformation function is used
r
s = T (r ) =  pr ( )d for 0  r 1
0
Then the pdf ps(s) = 1 over the range 0  s  1

In words
If we select T(r) as the cumulative distribution of r
Then the output image will have a uniform pdf of gray levels

Now Consider
1. a digital (gray level) case
2. the gray levels 0  r  L −1
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Histogram equalization: Discrete case

The discrete approximation of the transformation
function for histogram equalization is:
k
sk = T (rk ) =  pr (r j ) for 0  k  L − 1
j =0

nj L −1

where pr (rj ) = , j = 0,........,L − 1 and n =  n j

n j =0
nj : number of pixels with gray level rj
n : total number of pixels
Note: For digital images, gray-level pdf cannot be
exactly uniform after histogram equalization
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 Histogram equalization examples
Input image Output image

Input histogram and cdf Output histogram and cdf

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Histogram equalization examples

Low contrast image Output image

Equalized histogram

Equalized histogram
high contrast image Output image

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 Histogram equalization examples
Dark input image Output image

Equalized histogram

Equalized histogram
Bright input image Output image

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Histogram equalization examples

Transformation functions for

histogram equalization
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 Histogram equalization examples

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Histogram equalization examples

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 Histogram equalization examples

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Histogram equalization examples

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 Local histogram processing
The histogram processing methods mentioned up to now
are global transformation where:
▪ Function is designed according to the gray-level
distribution over an entire image
▪ Global transformation methods may not be suitable for
enhancing details over small areas (where number of
pixels may have negligible influence on designing the
global transformation function)

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Local histogram processing

Implementation steps
1: Define a square or rectangular neighborhood (block), compute the
histogram in the local block
2: Generate the transformation function by histogram equalization or
specification and perform the gray level mapping for each pixel
3: Move the center of the block to an adjacent pixel location and
repeat the procedure
Note
▪ Histogram can be updated each time without re-computing the
histogram over all pixels in the new block
▪ If utilizing non-overlapping region shift, the processed image
usually has an undesirable checkerboard effect

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 Local histogram equalization example

Result of Global Result of local

Original Image Histogram Histogram
Equalization Equalization

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Local histogram equalization example

Original Image Result of local Histogram

Equalization using 9x9
window

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