Underwater Image Restoration and Enhancement Based on a Fusion Algorithm With Color Balance, Contrast Optimization, and Histogram Stretching

A fusion algorithm is proposed for the restoration and enhancement of underwater images. Color balance, contrast optimization and histogram stretching are carried out. To alleviate the effect of color shift in an underwater image, the scalar values of R, G, B channels are renewed so that the distributions of the three channels in histogram are similar. Instead of refining the transmittance in dark channel prior based restoration, an optimized contrast algorithm is employed by which the optimal transmittance is determined. To further improve the brightness and contrast of underwater images, a histogram stretching algorithm based on the red channel is given. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed fusion algorithm, experimental underwater images are treated. Results show that the quality of underwater images is improved significantly, both in term of subjective visual effect and objective evaluation. The proposed underwater image processing strategy is also compared with some popular techniques. Comparison results indicate the advantage of the proposed strategy over others.