Modified clipped histogram equalization for contrast enhancement

Histogram equalization (HE) based methodologies are popular and effective ways to improve image contrast and visual quality, but standard HE is not directly applied on consumer electronics. This paper proposes a modified Clipped Histogram Equalization (CHE) for contrast enhancement based on the fundamental of histogram modification. It improves the visual quality by enhancing details both in dark and bright regions through automatically detecting the dynamic range of the image. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art HE based algorithms in improving contrast and giving a visually-pleasing result while avoiding over-enhancement and noise amplification. Its high efficiency makes the proposed method practical for applications on consumer electronic.