7

Image structure

A naïve approach to digital imaging treats an image as a matrix of independent pixels, disregarding the spatial distribution of light power across each pixel. You might think that optimum image quality is obtained when there is no overlap between the distributions of neigh boring pixels; many computer engineers hold this view. However, continuous-tone images are best reproduced with a certain degree of overlap between pixels; sharpness is reduced slightly, but pixel structure is made less visible and image quality is improved.

Don’t confuse point spread function (PSF) with progressive segmented-frame (PsF), to be described on page 94.

The distribution of intensity across a displayed pixel is referred to as its point spread function ...

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