Understanding Digital Images

Have you ever tried to zoom in on a digital picture like a photograph taken with a digital camera or a cell phone camera? If you zoom in close enough, the picture appears to become a series of square blocks and each one seems to be a different color. Each of those blocks is a separate picture element. When all of the elements of a single picture are taken together and arranged in a particular sequence of rows and columns, the picture you see is formed. Among the many important components of remote sensors on satellites orbiting the Earth there is a digital camera that divides the picture it 'sees' into just such an array of picture elements. In this lesson, learners will use ImageJ software to become familiar with structure of digital images and how the picture elements can be manipulated to enhance an image for greater clarity, analysis and interpretation.

Next Generation Science Standards addressed in this lesson:
    MS-PS4-3     HS-PS4-2     HS-PS4-5