Image Enhancement by Histogram Specification Using Multiple Target Images

Abstract

Shape and characteristics of the histogram plays a major role in finding the quality of an image. Histogram Specification is an image enhancement technique, where the histogram of the input image is transformed to a pre-specified histogram derived from a high resolution image, called target image. In this paper, the classical histogram specification technique is extended by using a target image which is obtained by fusing multiple high resolution images. A set of Quality Metrics were identified to assess the quality of the output enhanced image. The paper addresses the following issues: a) Effect of varying the number of target images on the quality of the output enhanced image b) Role of using different methods of fusion on the quality of the output enhanced image c) Category of the target image on the quality of the output enhanced image. If the input image is from a forest, whether in order to obtain an enhanced image, all target images has to be selected from the forest category d) Effect of preprocessing of target image on the quality of the output enhanced image.