Investigation on quality enhancement of old and fragile artworks using non-linear filter and histogram equalization techniques

Traditional Cultural artwork requires utmost care and may tend to degrade if not preserved properly. These old artworks can regain their quality with the help of modern image processing tools. Image processing forms an integral part of the scientific and research community. Removal of the unwanted noise forms the first step in image processing. Various filters have been developed and modified for noise removal over the years. Enhancement of the image by improving its contrast or brightness is also a crucial and important step. This paper discusses about the improvement of image quality by implementing a combination of the non-linear median filter with three different histogram equalization techniques (CLAHE, BBHE, and DSIHE). MATLAB is used for the implementation of the above mentioned combinations. Reference quality metrics parameters like AMBE, PSNR, NMSE as well as Non-reference quality metrics parameters like CPP, BRISQUE, PIQE are determined for the quality assessment of the processed image.