IMAGE CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT BASED ON INTENSITY-PAIR DISTRIBUTION
*Tzu-Cheng Jen, **Brian Hsieh and *Sheng-Jyh Wang
*Inst. of Electronics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
**AU Optronics Corporation, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C.
E-mail: shengjyh@cc.nctu.edu.tw
ABSTRACT
Current contrast enhancement algorithms sometimes come
with undesired drawbacks, like the loss of tiny details,
enhancement of image noise, occasional over-
enhancement, and unnatural look of the processed images.
In this paper, we propose a new approach for contrast
enhancement based on the use of a so-called intensity-pair
distribution. This distribution possesses both local
information and global information of the image content.
By analyzing the content of intensity-pair distribution, a
set of expansion forces are generated for contrast
enhancement while another set of anti-expansion forces
are generated to suppress image noise. To avoid over-
enhancement and preserve the natural look of the
processed images, a magnitude mapping function is also
proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed
algorithm does provide a flexible and reliable way for
contrast enhancement.
1. INTRODUCTION
Taking a picture in an excessively bright or dark
environment makes the captured image less contrasted. To
enhance image contrast, Histogram Equalization (HE) is a
widely used approach and has been recognized as the
ancestor of plentiful contrast enhancement algorithms [1].
This HE approach analyzes the histogram of the given
image and assigns a broader range of gray values to these
gray levels with larger counts. Since this approach only
takes global information into account, some portions of
the image may get over-enhanced and the processed
image may look unnatural. Moreover, because the pixel
counts of tiny regions only contribute small portions of
the histogram, in some situations the contrast of tiny
regions may get compressed after contrast enhancement.
[2], [3] indicate that the over-enhancement problem in
HE may be properly avoided by preserving the intensity
mean of the image data. However, with the preservation
of intensity mean, the enhanced images may still look
unnatural since some other factors, like color and object
shape, may also get affected during the contrast
enhancement process.
0-7803-9134-9/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE I-913
Another popular approach for contrast enhancement is
adaptive histogram equalization (AHE). The operation of
AHE is similar to HE, except that the histogram is now
based on localized data. AHE usually provides significant
contrast enhancement and may well preserve fine details.
However, from time to time, over-enhancement may
happen and the enhanced images may look unnatural.
Recently, [4] and [5] propose the approach for
enhancement based on AHE. They use overlapped-mask
to acquire local image data. Further, in order to obtain
nature-look processing result, in their approaches, the
original image is added to the processed image. However,
computational complexity is still a problem for these
approaches. On the other hand, [6] proposes a contrast
enhancement method based on neural networks. In this
approach, the training data and decision rules would have
significant influence on the processed result.
In this paper, we propose a new approach that
combines the advantages of global approaches, such as
HE, and local approaches, such as AHE. The
implementation of this approach is simple and the
performance of enhancement is quite promising. This
approach is based on a so-called intensity-pair distribution.
With the intensity-pair distribution, a set of expansion
forces is generated for contrast enhancement while
another set of anti-expansion forces is generated to
suppress image noise. To avoid over-enhancement and to
preserve the natural look of the processed images, a
magnitude mapping function is also proposed. In this
paper, the proposed approach is introduced in Section 2.
Some experimental results are then demonstrated in
Section 3. Finally, conclusions are given in Section 4.
2. PROPOSED METHOD
In our algorithm, the first step is to extract both local
information and global information of the given image.
Here, we define a so-called intensity-pair distribution. For
a given image, we test at each pixel the intensity
difference between that pixel and each of its 8-connection
neighbors. Figure 1 shows an illustration of a pixel and its
8-connection neighbors. Due to the commutative property
of intensity pair, we only check 4 neighboring pixels,
instead of 8, as we scan the image in the raster order. That
is, for the pixel at E in Figure 1, we only check the
intensity difference between that pixel and its upper-left
pixel (A), upper pixel (B), upper-right pixel (C), and left
pixel (D).
Fig.1. An illustration of a pixel and its 8-connection neighbors.
After the computation of intensity differences, we may
imagine that we have formed an intensity-pair distribution
as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2(a) shows an example of a
2D image. As we calculate the intensity difference
between adjacent pixels, we have formed four different
intensity pairs, {(80, 80), (175, 80), (80, 175), (175, 175)}.
If we ignore the pair order and treat (175, 80) and (80,
175) as the same type of pair, these four types of pairs are
further merged into three types of pairs, {(80, 80), (175,
80), (175, 175)}. As we count the total pixel number for
each type of intensity pair, we may generate the intensity-
pair distribution as shown in Figure 2(b). Here, the values
at (80, 80), (175, 80), and (175, 175) are 21, 13, and 21,
respectively. Similarly, for a real image shown in Figure
2(c), its intensity-pair distribution can be easily calculated
as shown in Figure 2(d). Especially, if the intensity
difference of an intensity-pair is large than a pre-selected
threshold, that intensity-pair is treated as an edge pair.
Intensity value
175 175 175 175
175 175 175 175 (80,80)
80 80 80 80
80 80 80 80
Intensity value
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig.2. (a) A synthesized image. (b) Intensity-pair distribution of
(a). (c) A real image. (d) Intensity-pair distribution of (c).
With this intensity-pair distribution, we can easily
illustrate how an intensity mapping function changes the
contents of the given image. In Figure 3(a), we show two
intensity mapping functions. The green curve in Figure
3(a) indicates the default mapping function, which keeps
the image in its original form. As we change the intensity
mapping function from the green curve to the red curve,
the image contents are modified. In this example, the
intensity value 80 is changed to a value smaller than 80,
while the intensity value 175 is changed to a value larger
than 175. Hence, the intensity-pair distribution shown in
Figure 2(b) will be changed to be the intensity-pair
distribution shown in Figure 3(b). After this modification
of intensity mapping function, the image contrast in
Figure 2(a) is enhanced.
Intensity Value after Processing
255
Intensity value
175
80
0
0 80 175 255 Intensity value
Intensity Value before Processing
(a) (b)
Fig.3. (a) The intensity mapping function between the intensity
value of the original image and the intensity value of the
processed image. (b) The change of intensity-pair distribution
after the modification of intensity mapping function.
Next, we explain how to generate the intensity
mapping function for contrast enhancement, based on the
information revealed in the original intensity-pair
distribution. Take the same example shown in Figure 2(b),
(175,175)
the intensity pair (175, 80) corresponds to a strong edge in
the image. To enhance the contrast of this edge, we may
(175,80)
want to generate a mapping function that looks like the
red curve in Figure 3(a). This can be achieved by
generating a train of forces between 80 and 175 first, as
shown in Figure 4. Then the integration operation is
applied to the expansion forces to generate a so-called
expansion function. This expansion function is added to
the original mapping function to pull up the mapping
function, as shown in the lower-right of Figure 4. Then,
the modified mapping function is normalized to the range
of 0~255 to form the final mapping function, as shown in
the lower-left part of Figure 4. With this procedure, an
intensity mapping function that enhances the edge
contrast is generated.
For a real 2D image, there usually exist many edge
pairs and their corresponding expansion forces can be
accumulated to form the net expansion forces. Figure 5
shows such an example. In this example, we assume there
are three edge pairs: (1-11), (7-11) and (7-20).After the
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accumulation of expansion forces for all three edge pairs, expansion forces between B and C are reduced, the noise
we have the net expansion forces as shown in Figure 5. It enhancement over the flat regions is suppressed.
is worth mentioning that, as long as the elements of the In the proposed contrast enhancement algorithm, the
net expansion forces are non-negative, the generated magnitude of expansion force has significant influence
mapping function for contrast enhancement will always be over the enhanced result. That is, the larger the magnitude
monotonically increasing. Hence, there would be no of expansion force is, the more the contrast stretch will be.
intensity-reversal problem in the enhanced image. Therefore, some un-natural or overly enhanced images
Expansion Function
may be produced. To avoid the above problems, we adjust
Expansion Force the magnitude of the net expansion forces so that the
Integration
difference between the maximum force and the minimum
0 80 175 255
0 80 175 255 force is reduced. That is, we may compress the dynamic
range of the net expansion forces. To achieve this goal,
we propose a magnitude mapping function M(X) that is
monotonically increasing, while the slope of the mapping
255
255

Output Intensity Value

Output Intensity Value

function is decreasing to zero as X increases. Based on

175
175

Normalization this mapping function, the expansion forces with large

80
80

magnitudes will be constrained to an extent so that the

processed image looks more natural. An example of the
0
0

0 80 175 255 0 80 175 255

Input Intensity Value Input Intensity Value
mapping function M( . ) is
Fig.4. Procedure for the generation of intensity mapping Y = M ( X ) = X 1/ M 0 ,
function.
where X is the expansion force, Y is the adjusted
expansion force, and M0 is a parameter that controls the
behavior of the mapping function.
Intensity value

Fig.5. Accumulation of expansion forces

A B C D

Intensity value
Generally speaking, real images always suffer certain
levels of noise. As we enhance image contrast, image Expansion Forces
noise is also enhanced. If we can distinguish the gray
levels belonging to flat regions from the gray levels Anti-expansion Forces
belonging to edge regions, we can enhance edge regions
but not flat regions. Figure 6 illustrates such an example. Net Expansion Forces

In Figure 6, the red region corresponds to a strong edge

pair while the blue region corresponds to small noise Fig.6. Illustration of anti-expansion force for noise suppression
fluctuations in flat regions. As we stretch the contrast in contrast enhancement
between A and D, the contrast between B and C is also
stretched. Hence, the noise on flat regions will also get In summary, the procedure of the proposed contrast
enhanced. To suppress noise enhancement, we propose enhancement algorithm is described as follows.
the concept of anti-expansion force. Take Figure 6 as an 1. Scan through every pixel of the given image to
example. By taking a threshold over the intensity calculate the intensity-pair information. If the intensity
difference, we may distinguish the edge region from the difference of an intensity pair is larger than a pre-selected
smooth region. A train of expansion forces will be threshold, a corresponding train of expansion forces are
generated between A and D, while another train of anti- generated. Otherwise, a train of anti-expansion forces are
expansion forces will be generated between B and C. generated. The expansion force and anti-expansion force
After subtracting the anti-expansion forces from the are accumulated until all pixels in the image are scanned.
expansion forces, we have the net expansion forces for 2. Calculate the net expansion force based on the
contrast enhancement. Because the magnitudes of the following equation:

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 Net-expansion-force[k] =
Expansion-force[k]-g×Anti-expansion- forces[k];
where 0 ≤ k ≤ 255 and g is parameter that control the
magnitude of anti-expansion. In this paper, g is chosen to
be 0.1 empirically. If the net expansion force at k is
negative, reset that value to zero.
3. Apply the magnitude mapping function M( . ) over
Net-expansion-force[k] to adjust the magnitude of the net
expansion force.
4. Integrate the net expansion forces to get the
expansion function. This expansion function is then
normalized to fit into the range of 0~255.
5. Finally, the intensity mapping function for contrast
enhancement is obtained by calculating the weighted sum
of the original mapping function (slope = 1) and the
normalized expansion function. That is,
Intensity mapping function=
k×(Normalized Expansion Function)
+ (1-k)×(Original Mapping Function)
Here, k is the combination factor with 0 ≤ k ≤ 1.
Finally, we use the intensity mapping function to
adjust the intensity of the image for contrast enhancement.
Dejhan and A. Somboonkaew, “Contrast Enhancement
Using Multi-peak Histogram Equalization With Brightness
Preserving,” IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Circuits and
Systems, pp.455-458, Nov. 1998.
[4] J.Y. Kim, L.S. Kim and S.H. Hwang, “An Advanced
Contrast Enhancement Using Partially Overlapped Sub-
Block Histogram Equalization,” IEEE Trans. on Circuits
and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 11, Issue 4,
pp.475-484, Apr. 2001.
[5] T.K. Kim, J.K. Paik and B.S. Kang, “Contrast
Enhancement System Using Spatially Adaptive Histogram
Equalization with Temporal Filtering,” IEEE Transactions
on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 44, Issue 1, pp.82-87, Feb.
1998.
[6] S. Sakaue, A. Tamura, M. Nakayama, and S. Maruno,
“Dynamic Range expansion of video cameras by adaptive
gamma processing”, Proc. on ICCE, pp.118-119, 1995.
(a) (b)

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In this section, we present some simulation results and do
the comparison with the enhancement results of HE and
AHE. In Figure 7 and 8, we can find that, with different (c) (d)
parameter settings, the proposed algorithm may provide
flexible and more natural results than HE and AHE.
Figure 8(a) shows an image polluted by Gaussian
noise. After HE and AHE, image noise is apparently
enhanced, as shown in Figure 8(b) and 8(c). However,
with the proposed approach, even when k is set to be 1,
(e) (f)
we may get reliable contrast enhancement without overly Fig.7. (a) Original image. (b) Image enhanced by HE. (c)
enhancing image noise. Image enhanced by AHE. (d) ~ (f) Images enhanced by the
proposed method with M0 = 2, g=0.1, and k=0.4, 0.6, and
4. CONCLUSION 0.8, respectively.
In this paper, we propose a new approach for contrast
enhancement based on intensity-pair distribution. After
distinguishing edge regions from flat regions, expansion
forces and anti-expansion forces are generated
accordingly. Moreover, to provide a natural-looking
processing result, a magnitude mapping function is
proposed to adjust the dynamic range of the net expansion (a) (b)
forces. Experimental results do demonstrate the
superiority of this approach.

5. REFERENCES
[1] R.C. Gonzalez and R. E. Woods, Digital image processing,
Addison-Wesley, 2002.
[2] Y.T. Kim, “Contrast Enhancement Using Brightness
Preserving Bi-Histogram Equalization,” IEEE Transactions (c) (d)
on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp.1-8, Feb. Fig.8. (a) Original image with Gaussian noise. (b) Image
1997. enhanced by HE. (c) Image enhanced by AHE. (d) Image
[3] K. Wongsritong, K. Kittayaruasiriwat, F. Cheevasuvit, K. enhanced by the proposed method. ( M0, g, k) = (2, 0.1, 1).

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