Vectorial morphological reconstruction for brightness elimination in colour images

In this paper, we present a new method for brightness elimination in chromatic images by means of the extension of the morphological reconstruction for colour images. We use the HSI colour space for morphological processing, after solving certain inconveniences present in this colour model. We investigate the connected filters of the mathematical morphology and, in particular, the so-called filters by reconstruction. These filters are formally defined for colour images. The power of the morphological reconstruction for brightness elimination in colour images is presented. We also describe a new algorithm to control the oversimplification of images and to reduce the high processing cost of the geodesic operations. Examples of its application are shown. The new method proposed here achieves good results, which are similar to those obtained from other techniques, yet does not require either costly multiple-view systems or stereo images. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.