Crunching Pixels

Abstract

For a long time, using a computer to manipulate a digital image (i. e., digital image processing) was something performed by only a relatively small group of specialists who had access to expensive equipment. Usually this combination of specialists and equipment was only to be found in research labs, and so the field of digital image processing has its roots in the academic realm. Now, however, the combination of a powerful computer on every desktop and the fact that nearly everyone has some type of device for digital image acquisition, be it their cell phone camera, digital camera, or scanner, has resulted in a plethora of digital images and, with that, for many digital image processing has become as common as word processing.