Spatial Filtering

Spatial Filtering Methods

output image
 Spatial Filtering (cont’d)

• The word “filtering” comes from the frequency domain

where “filters” are classified as:

– Low-pass (i.e., preserve low frequencies)

– High-pass (i.e., preserve high frequencies)
– Band-pass (i.e., preserve frequencies within a band)
– Band-reject (i.e., reject frequencies within a band)
 Spatial Filtering (cont’d)
• Need to define:
(1) a neighborhood (or mask)
(2) an operation

output image
Spatial Filtering – Neighborhood (or Mask)
• Typically, the neighborhood is rectangular and its size
is much smaller than that of f(x,y)
- e.g., 3x3 or 5x5
 Spatial filtering - Operation
• Manipulate the pixel values, e.g.,
z’5 = 5z1 -3z2+z3-z4-2z5-3z6+z8-z9-9z7
z’5 = max(z1,z2,z3,z4,z5,z6,z7,z8,z9)

output image
 Linear vs Non-Linear filters
• A filter is called linear when its output is a linear combination
of the inputs, e.g.,

z’5 = 5z1 -3z2+z3-z4-2z5-3z6+z8-z9-9z7

output image
 Linear vs Non-Linear filters (cont’d)

• A filter is called non-linear when its output is not a linear

combination of the inputs, e.g.,

z’5 = max(z1,z2,z3,z4,z5,z6,z7,z8,z9)

output image
 Correlation (linear operator)
• The output of correlation is a weighted sum of input pixels.
Need to
define mask
weights!

output image
 Correlation (cont’d)
w(i,j)
g(i,j)
Filtered
Image

f(i,j)
Filtered image is
generated by moving
the center of the mask
at every location of
the input image.

K /2 K /2
g (i, j )  w(i, j )  f (i, j )   
s  K /2 t  K /2
w( s, t ) f (i  s, j  t )
Handling Pixels Close to Boundaries

pad with zeroes

0 0 0 ……………………….0

0 0 0 ……………………….0
Correlation (cont’d)

Often used in applications where

we need to measure the similarity
between images or parts of images
(e.g., template matching).
 Convolution (linear operator)

• Similar to correlation except that the mask is first flipped

both horizontally and vertically.

K /2 K /2
g (i, j )  w(i, j )  f (i, j )   
s  K /2 t  K /2
w( s, t ) f (i  s, j  t )

• If w(i, j) is symmetric (i.e., w(i, j)=w(-i,-j)), then

convolution is equivalent to correlation!
 Example

Correlation:

Convolution:
 Filter Categories

• We will focus on two types of filters:

– Smoothing (low-pass) filters
– Sharpening (high-pass) filters
 Smoothing Filters (low-pass)

• Useful for reducing noise and eliminating small details.

– The elements of the mask must be positive.
– Mask elements sum to 1 (assuming normalization).
Smoothing filters – Example

input image smoothed image

 Sharpening Filters (high-pass)

• Useful for highlighting fine details.

– The elements of the mask contain both positive and
negative weights.
– Mask elements sum to 0.
 Sharpening Filters - Example
• Useful for highlighting fine details.
– e.g., emphasize edges
 Sharpening Filters - Example

input image sharpened image

(for better visualization, the original

image has been added to the sharpened image)
 Common Smoothing Filters

• Averaging
• Gaussian
• Median filtering (non-linear)
Smoothing Filters: Averaging
Smoothing Filters: Averaging (cont’d)
• Mask size determines degree of smoothing (i.e., loss of detail).

original 3x3 5x5 7x7

15x15 25x25
Smoothing Filters: Averaging (cont’d)
Example: extract largest, brightest objects

15 x 15 averaging image thresholding

 Smoothing filters: Gaussian
• The weights are samples of a 2D Gaussian function:
 Smoothing filters: Gaussian (cont’d)
• Mask size depends on σ
 Smoothing filters: Gaussian (cont’d)
• σ controls the amount of smoothing

σ=3
σ = 1.4
Smoothing filters: Gaussian (cont’d)
Averaging vs Gaussian Smoothing

Averaging

Gaussian
 Smoothing Filters: Median Filtering
(non-linear)
• Very effective for removing “salt and pepper” noise (i.e.,
random occurrences of black and white pixels).

median
averaging filtering
 Smoothing Filters: Median Filtering (cont’d)
• Replace each pixel by the median in a neighborhood
around the pixel.
• The size of the neighborhood controls the amount of
smoothing.
 Common Sharpening Filters

• Unsharp masking
• High Boost filter
• Gradient (1st derivative)
• Laplacian (2nd derivative)
 Sharpening Filters: Unsharp Masking
• Obtain a sharp image by subtracting a lowpass filtered
(i.e., smoothed) image from the original image:

- =
(with contrast
enhancement)
 Sharpening Filters: High Boost
• Image sharpening emphasizes edges but details are lost.
• Idea: amplify input image, then subtract a lowpass image.

(A-1) + =
 Sharpening Filters: High Boost (cont’d)
• If A=1, the result is unsharp masking.
• If A>1, part of the original image is added back to the high
pass filtered image.

High boost

One way to
implement high boost
filtering is using the
masks below
 Sharpening Filters: High Boost (cont’d)

A=1.4 A=1.9
 Sharpening Filters: Derivatives
• The derivative of an image results in a sharpened image.

• Image derivatives can be computed using the gradient:

 Gradient

• The gradient is a vector which has magnitude and direction:

(approximation)
f f
or | || |
x y
 Gradient (cont’d)

• Gradient magnitude: provides information about edge

strength.
• Gradient direction: perpendicular to the direction of the
edge.
 Gradient Computation

• Approximate partial derivatives using finite differences:

Δx
Gradient Computation (cont’d)

f(x3,y3)-f(x3,y2)
sensitive to horizontal edges
y3-y2

y2=y3+Dy, y3=y, x3=x, Dy=1

sensitive to vertical edges

Example: visualize partial derivatives

f
x

f
y
 Implement Gradient Using Masks

• We can implement and using masks:

(x+1/2,y)

good approximation
at (x+1/2,y) (x,y+1/2)
*
*

good approximation
at (x,y+1/2)
 Implement Gradient Using Masks (cont’d)

• A different approximation of the gradient:

good approximation
(x+1/2,y+1/2)

• We can implement and using the following masks:

 Implement Gradient Using Masks (cont’d)
• Other approximations

Prewitt

Sobel
Example: Gradient Magnitude Image
Gradient Magnitude
f
x

f
y
(isotropic)
 Laplacian
The Laplacian (2nd derivative) is defined as:

(dot product)

Approximate
2nd derivatives:
 Laplacian (cont’d)
Laplacian Mask

input image output image

5 5 5 Edges can
5 -10 -5 -5
be found
5 -10
by detecting
10
the zero-
-10
crossings
 Example: Laplacian vs Gradient
Laplacian Sobel

• Laplacian localizes edges better (zero-crossings).

• Higher order derivatives more sensitive to noise.
• Laplacian is less computational expensive.
• Laplacian can provide edge magnitude information
but no information about edge direction.