Digital image processing

Before the coming of digital cameras there were the analog devices which used photographic films for the purpose and in such case image processing was done in darkrooms with the help of photo retouching method. However with the progress of time, technological developments ensued the birth of digital cameras and it must be admitted that editing digital images is not a very complex endeavor as the presence of computers and the various software application tools make it an easy process. Digital image processing refers to the means by which digital images are processed with the help of computer based algorithms. Digital signal processing allows the exemption of unwanted noise and sound effects which may affect the final quality of the digital imagery with the help of a wide variety of computer based algorithms. It was in the 1960s that the various techniques and tools to be implemented fro digital image processing were being introduced and initially it was an expensive proposition as computers were slow and fewer hardware options were available. However in the 21st century, with the widespread usage and presence of computers and signal processors as well, digital image processing has become widely prevalent.

In case of digital image processing, most digital cameras use the digital image processing chips in order to convert the raw data into the image sensor in the standard file format of the image files. Finally it is with the help of multitudes of software applications that aid image editing that the digital image processing is carried out. Moreover, it is necessary to remember that since the computer algorithms used fro this purpose are complex, the resultant output after processing is an enhanced product. For techniques like pattern recognition, projection, feature extraction, classification and multi-scale signal analysis, digital processing is highly recommended. Some of the processing programs include self-organizing maps, neural networks, independent and principal component analysis and hidden Markov models.