COLOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHM BASED ON WEIGHTED GUIDED IMAGE FILTERING UNDER LOW AND NON- UNIFORM ILLUMINATION

Abstract

Image enhancement plays a crucial role in improving the visual quality of images captured under poor lighting conditions. Traditional methods applied to RGB images often cause color distortion and artifacts such as halo effects and blurring. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a color image enhancement method based on Weighted Guided Image Filtering (WGIF). The proposed method converts the RGB image into the HSI color model and enhances only the intensity component, preserving the original color information. WGIF is used to estimate illumination and reduce noise while maintaining edge details. The enhanced intensity is then reconstructed back into the RGB model using a linear color restoration method. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed uniform illumination conditions while preserving natural color appearance. Image enhancement plays a crucial role in improving the visual quality of images captured under poor lighting conditions. Traditional methods applied to RGB images often cause color distortion and artifacts such as halo effects and blurring.