A color image enhancement method based on Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition and Genetic Algorithm

In this paper, we introduce a new method for enhancement of the color images. The proposed approach utilizes Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and Genetic Algorithm (GA). The algorithm is tested on the underwater images and the underexposed scenes. For the dark images, a nonlinear transform is first performed on the original image as a preliminary illumination correction. For underwater images, the mean of each RGB channels is initially corrected based on a GA-oriented technique. After the preprocessing steps, an EEMD based method is applied on the luminance channel of the resulting image to further correct the brightness of the image. The Genetic Algorithm enables the presented method to set the required parameters automatically. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm in visual enhancement of the color images.