Contrast Stretching
Contrast stretching is an image processing technique used to enhance the contrast of an image by expanding the range of intensity values it contains. It works by linearly mapping the original pixel values to a new, wider range, making dark areas darker and bright areas brighter to improve visual clarity. This method is particularly useful for images with poor contrast due to limited dynamic range or suboptimal lighting conditions.
Developers should learn contrast stretching when working in computer vision, medical imaging, or remote sensing applications where image quality is critical for analysis. It is used to preprocess images before tasks like object detection, segmentation, or feature extraction, as it can reveal details that are otherwise hard to see. For example, in medical scans or satellite imagery, it helps highlight subtle variations that aid in diagnosis or environmental monitoring.