plot_equalize.py

"""
======================
Histogram Equalization
======================

This examples enhances an image with low contrast, using a method called
*histogram equalization*, which "spreads out the most frequent intensity
values" in an image [1]_. The equalized image has a roughly linear cumulative
distribution function.

While histogram equalization has the advantage that it requires no parameters,
it sometimes yields unnatural looking images.  An alternative method is
*contrast stretching*, where the image is rescaled to include all intensities
that fall within the 2nd and 98th percentiles [2]_.

.. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histogram_equalization
.. [2] http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/stretch.htm

"""
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

from skimage import data, img_as_float
from skimage import exposure


def plot_img_and_hist(img, axes, bins=256):
    """Plot an image along with its histogram and cumulative histogram.

    """
    img = img_as_float(img)
    ax_img, ax_hist = axes
    ax_cdf = ax_hist.twinx()

    # Display image
    ax_img.imshow(img, cmap=plt.cm.gray)
    ax_img.set_axis_off()

    # Display histogram
    ax_hist.hist(img.ravel(), bins=bins, histtype='step', color='black')
    ax_hist.ticklabel_format(axis='y', style='scientific', scilimits=(0, 0))
    ax_hist.set_xlabel('Pixel intensity')
    ax_hist.set_xlim(0, 1)
    ax_hist.set_yticks([])

    # Display cumulative distribution
    img_cdf, bins = exposure.cumulative_distribution(img, bins)
    ax_cdf.plot(bins, img_cdf, 'r')
    ax_cdf.set_yticks([])

    return ax_img, ax_hist, ax_cdf


# Load an example image
img = data.moon()

# Contrast stretching
p2 = np.percentile(img, 2)
p98 = np.percentile(img, 98)
img_rescale = exposure.rescale_intensity(img, in_range=(p2, p98))

# Equalization
img_eq = exposure.equalize_hist(img)

# Adaptive Equalization
img_adapteq = exposure.equalize_adapthist(img, clip_limit=0.03)

# Display results
f, axes = plt.subplots(2, 4, figsize=(8, 4))

ax_img, ax_hist, ax_cdf = plot_img_and_hist(img, axes[:, 0])
ax_img.set_title('Low contrast image')

y_min, y_max = ax_hist.get_ylim()
ax_hist.set_ylabel('Number of pixels')
ax_hist.set_yticks(np.linspace(0, y_max, 5))

ax_img, ax_hist, ax_cdf = plot_img_and_hist(img_rescale, axes[:, 1])
ax_img.set_title('Contrast stretching')

ax_img, ax_hist, ax_cdf = plot_img_and_hist(img_eq, axes[:, 2])
ax_img.set_title('Histogram equalization')

ax_img, ax_hist, ax_cdf = plot_img_and_hist(img_adapteq, axes[:, 3])
ax_img.set_title('Adaptive equalization')

ax_cdf.set_ylabel('Fraction of total intensity')
ax_cdf.set_yticks(np.linspace(0, 1, 5))

# prevent overlap of y-axis labels
plt.subplots_adjust(wspace=0.4)
plt.show()