SPOT 4.1 Basic and Advanced Software Manual for SPOT Insight ...

Ch. 8 – Viewing, Editing, and Annotating ImagesImage QualityThe image quality editing options provide you with a wide array ofpowerful and easy to use tools for changing the appearance of an imageafter it has been captured. These tools enable you to enhance theappearance of an image in ways that are not possible with conventionalphotography.Before using the SPOT editing features, review the following twosections:• Functional Features – This section explains how thumbnailimages work in the SPOT image editing windows.• Image Editing and the Concept of Color Space – This sectionintroduces the concept of color space and describes how it appliesto the SPOT software.Functional FeaturesWith the exception of Make Negative and Convert to Gray Scale, all ofthe image quality editing options utilize thumbnail images to previewthe edits being made to the main image. As illustrated at right, athumbnail of the image capture appears in the adjustment window, andthe Modify Main Image box is checked as the default.• If you leave the box selected… As you make editing adjustments,the changes appear in both the main image and the thumbnail.• If you deselect the box… As youmake editing adjustments, thechanges appear only in thethumbnail image. After you clickon OK, the changes appear in themain image.Properly utilized, thumbnail images canbe very helpful as part of the imageediting process. Consider the following:• You can use thumbnails to speed the editing process. The SPOT software often cannot update all thepixels in the main image as quickly as you can adjust the edit controls. In cases where the thumbnailimage is sufficient to judge the effect of the edits, you can save time by deselecting Modify MainImage, so that the main image is updated only after you close the editing window. DeselectingModify Main Image also makes the editing feel more “real time.”• The thumbnail can be used to display a smaller, magnified section of an image. When you select aspecific image area (i.e., by dragging the cursor) before selecting an edit function, only the selectedarea appears in the thumbnail. This is useful for Sharpen, an edit function that affects only the finestructure of an image. This is also useful when you are analyzing histograms, and want the histogramto represent only the section of the image that interests you.Image Editing and the Concept of Color SpaceA color space is a coordinate system that is used to mathematically represent color. In order to satisfy theimaging requirements of different microscopy techniques, the SPOT program allows you to adjustbrightness, color, and contrast in three color spaces: RGB, HSL, and HSV.142 User Guide to the SPOT Insight Camera