MET 654

Digital Image Processing and Analysis

AHMAD WAQAS
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY
CIIT-ISLAMABAD
USDA Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center, http://fsweb.rsac.fs.fed.us and ENVS403

Lecture No. 4

ALGEBRAIC OPERATIONS ON DIGITAL IMAGE

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MET 654 Digital Image Processing & Analysis 1

 Lecture Outlines

 Multi Image Point Operations

 Concept of multi Image point operation in DIP
 Image Addition
 Image Subtraction
 Image Multiplication
 Image Division
 Index Derivation
 Vegetation Indices
 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
 Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
 Snow Indices
 Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI)
 Water Index
 Iron oxide ratio Index

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Concept of Multi Image Point Operation in DIP

 For multi-spectral or, more generally, multi-layer images, algebraic

operations such as the four basic arithmetic operations (+,-,x,/)
logarithms, exponentials and trigonometric functions can be
applied to the DNs of different bands for each pixel to produce a
new image. Such processing is called image algebraic operation.

 Algebraic operations are performed pixel by pixel among DNs of

spectral bands (or layers) for each pixel without involving
neighborhood pixels. They can therefore be considered as multi-
image point operations defined as follows:

Y = (x1,x2,x3, …,xn)

 Obviously, all the images involving algebraic operations should be

precisely co-registered.
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 Image Addition

Image addition is used to reduce noise and increase the signal

to noise ratio (SNR)

Suppose each image band of an n-band multi-spectral image is

contaminated by an additive noise source Ni (i = 1,2, . . . , n);
then the noise pixels are not likely to occur at the same positions
in different bands and thus a noise pixel DN in band i will be
averaged with the non-noise DNs in the other n-1 bands. As a
result the noise will be largely suppressed.

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Image Addition

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 Applications of Image Addition

An important application of image addition is to reduce noise

and increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR).

It is proved from signal processing theory that, of n duplications of

an image, each contaminated by the same level of random noise,
the SNR of the sum image of these n duplications equals the
square root n times the SNR of any individual duplication

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Image Subtraction

The weights wi and wj are important to ensure that balanced

differencing is performed. If the brightness of Xi is significantly higher
than that of Xj, for instance, the difference image Xi -Xj will be
dominated by Xi and, as a result, the true difference between the two
images will not be effectively revealed. To produce a ‘fair’ difference
image, histogram matching (matching the histogram of Xi to that of
Xj) may be applied as a preprocessing step. Whichever method is
chosen, the differencing that follows should then be performed with
equal weighting (wi=wj=1).

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 Difference images of a Landsat TM image: (a) TM3 – TM1 highlights red features often
associated to iron oxides; (b) TM4 – TM3 detects the diagnostic ‘red edge’ features of
vegetation; (c) TM5 – TM7 enhances the clay mineral absorption features in SWIR spectral
range; and (d) the color composite of TM3 – TM1 in red, TM4 – TM3 in green and TM5 –
TM7 in blue highlights iron oxide, vegetation and clay minerals in red, green and blue
colors
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Applications of Image Subtraction

Subtraction is one of the simplest and most effective techniques for

selective spectral enhancement and it is also useful for change detection
and removal of background illumination bias.
Band differences of multi-spectral images are successfully used for
studies of vegetation, land use and geology.

The image subtraction technique is also widely used for background

noise removal in microscopic image analysis. An image of the
background illumination field (as a reference) is captured before the
target object is placed in the field. The second image is then taken with
the target object in the field. The difference image between the two will
retain the target while the effects of the illumination bias and
background noise are cancelled out

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MET 654 Digital Image Processing & Analysis 5

 Image Multiplication

Here the image multiplication is performed pixel by pixel; at each image

pixel, its band i DN is multiplied with band j DN. This is fundamentally
different from matrix multiplication. A digital image is a 2D array, but it is not
a matrix.

A multiplication product image often has much greater DN range than the
dynamic range of the display devices and thus need to be rescaled before
display. Most image processing software packages can display any image
based on its actual value range which is then fitted into a 0–255 display
range.

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Applications of Image Multiplication

Image Masking

One application of multiplication is masking. For instance, if Xi is a mask

image composed of DN values 0 and 1, the pixels in image Xj which
correspond to 0 in Xi will become 0 (masked off) and others will remain
unchanged in the product image Y. This operation could be achieved more
efficiently using a logical operation of a given condition

Image Modulation

Another application is image modulation. For instance, topographic features

can be added back to a colour-coded classification image by using a
panchromatic image (as an intensity component) to modulate the three
colour components (red, green and blue) of the classification image as
follows:

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 Applications of Image Multiplication

1. Produce red (R), green (G) and blue (B) component images from the color-
coded classification image.

2. Use the relevant panchromatic image (I) to modulate the R, G and B

components: RI, GI and BI.

3. Color composition using RI,GI and BI.

This process is, in some image processing software packages,

automated by draping a color-coded classification image on an
intensity image layer.

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Image Multiplication Applications

Multiplication for image modulation: (a) a color-coded classification

image; and (b) the intensity modulated classification image

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 Image Division

Image division is a very popular technique, also known as an

image ratio.

In order to carry out image division, certain protection is needed to avoid

overflow, in case a number is divided by 0. A commonly used trick in this
context is to change 0 to 1 whenever 0 becomes a divisor. A better
approach is to shift the value range of the denominator image upwards,
by 1, to avoid 0. For an 8 bit image, this shift changes the image DN
range from 0–255 to 1–256 which just exceeds 8 bits. This was a problem
in the older generation of image processing systems before the 1990s
but is no longer in most modern image processing software packages
where the image processing is performed based on the double-
precision, floating-point data type.

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Ratio images and ratio color composite: (a) the ratio image of TM3/TM1; (b) the
ratio image of TM4/TM3; (c) the ratio image of TM5/TM7; and (d) the ratio color
composite of TM5/TM7 in blue, TM4/TM3 in green and TM3/TM1 in red

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 Applications of Image Division

Ratio is also well known as an effective technique for suppressing

topographic shadows. For a given incident angle of solar radiation, the
radiation energy received by a land surface depends on the angle between
the land surface and the incident radiation. Therefore, solar illumination
on a land surface varies with terrain slope and aspect, which results in
topographic shadows.

In a remotely sensed image, the spectral information is often occluded by

sharp variations of topographic shadowing. The DNs in different spectral
bands of a multi-spectral image are proportional to the solar radiation
received by the land surface and its spectral reflectance. Let DN(l)
represent the digital number of a pixel in an image of spectral band λ.

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Applications of Image Division

where r (λ) and E (λ) are the spectral reflectance and solar radiation of
spectral band l received at the land surface corresponding to the pixel.

As shown in Figure below, suppose a pixel representing a land surface

facing the Sun receives n times the radiation energy of that received by
another pixel of land surface facing away from the Sun;

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 Applications of Image Division

Then the DNs of the two pixels in spectral bands i and j are as follows:
Pixel in shadow:
DN1(i) = ρ(i)E(i) and DN1(j) = ρ(j)E(j)

Pixel facing illumination:

DN2(i) = nρ(i)E(i) and DN2(j) = n ρ(j)E(j)

Thus the ratio between band i and j for both pixels will be

Therefore, R1i,j = R2i,j.

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Applications of Image Division

Equations indicate that band ratios are independent of the variation of

solar illumination caused by topographic shadowing and are decided only
by the spectral reflectance of the image pixels. The pixels of the objects
with the same spectral signature will result in the same band ratio values
no matter whether they are under direct illumination or in shadow.

Unfortunately, the real situation is more complicated than this simplified

model because of atmospheric effects that often add different constants
to different spectral bands. This is why the ratio technique can suppress
topographic shadows but may not be able to eliminate their effects
completely.

Shadow suppression means losing topography that often accounts for

more than 90% information of a multi-spectral image; ratio images
therefore reduce SNRs significantly.

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MET 654 Digital Image Processing & Analysis 10

 Index Derivation
The Infinite combinations of algebraic operations can be derived from
basic arithmetic operations and algebraic functions. Aimless
combinations of algebraic operations may mean an endless and
potentially fruitless game; that is, you may spend a very long time
without achieving any satisfactory result. Alternatively, you may happen
upon a visually impressive image without being able to explain or
interpret it. To design a meaningful and effectively combined operation,
knowledge of the spectral properties of targets is essential. The formulae
should be composed on the basis of spectral or physical principles, and
designed for the enhancement of particular targets; these are then
referred to as spectral indices, such as the NDVI. An index can be
considered as supervised enhancement. Here we briefly introduce a few
commonly used examples of indices based on Landsat TM/ETM+ image
data.
You may design your own indices for a given image processing task based
on spectral analysis. In Part Three of this book, you will find several
examples of this kind of supervised enhancement in the teaching and
research case studies.
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Vegetation Indices

As shown in Figure, healthy vegetation has a high reflection peak in

the NIR and an absorption trough in the red. If we could see NIR,
vegetation would be NIR rather than green. This significant difference
between red and NIR bands is known as the red edge: it is a unique
spectral property that makes vegetation different from all other
ground objects. Obviously, this diagnostic spectral feature of
vegetation can be very effectively enhanced by differencing and ratio
operations. Nearly all the vegetation indices are designed to highlight
the red edge in one way or another.
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MET 654 Digital Image Processing & Analysis 11

 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
(NDVI)

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Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)

where NIR/red/blue are atmospherically-corrected or partially

atmosphere corrected (Rayleigh and ozone absorption) surface
reflectance's, L is the canopy background adjustment that
addresses non-linear, differential NIR and red radiant transfer
through a canopy, and C1, C2 are the coefficients of the aerosol
resistance term, which uses the blue band to correct for aerosol
influences in the red band. The coefficients adopted in the
MODIS-EVI algorithm are; L=1, C1 = 6, C2 = 7.5, and G (gain factor)
= 2.5.

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 Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI)

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Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)

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 Iron Oxide Ratio Index

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Questions

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