Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Color Correction and Detail Preservation

Quality of images that are captured underwater typically deteriorates owing to color distortion, low visibility, and detail losses caused by absorption and scattering. To effectively handle the above-mentioned problems, a novel underwater image enhancement method using color correction and detail preservation is proposed herein. First, a Retinex-inspired method is employed to achieve color correction by adjusting the histogram distribution of each color channel. Next, a dual-interval histogram based on the average of median and mean values is applied to improve the lower and upper pixel regions, which significantly improves the contrast of the integrated image. Finally, a multiscale unsharp masking method is used to sharpen the overall image to highlight the details of the output image. The experimental results show that the proposed method both effectively eliminates the color distortion and enhances the contrast and detail of the image.