How can I convert an RGB image into grayscale in Python?

Three of the suggested methods were tested for speed with 1000 RGBA PNG images (224 x 256 pixels) running with Python 3.5 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xeon E5 2670 with SSD).

Average run times

pil : 1.037 seconds

scipy: 1.040 seconds

sk : 2.120 seconds

PIL and SciPy gave identical numpy arrays (ranging from 0 to 255). SkImage gives arrays from 0 to 1. In addition the colors are converted slightly different, see the example from the CUB-200 dataset.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZLd5vm.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/eQ4KIm.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/DTjVSm.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/43cy1m.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/f5fy9m.png

Code

Performance run_times = dict(sk=list(), pil=list(), scipy=list()) for t in range(100): start_time = time.time() for i in range(1000): z = random.choice(filenames_png) img = skimage.color.rgb2gray(skimage.io.imread(z)) run_times['sk'].append(time.time() - start_time) start_time = time.time() for i in range(1000): z = random.choice(filenames_png) img = np.array(Image.open(z).convert('L')) run_times['pil'].append(time.time() - start_time) start_time = time.time() for i in range(1000): z = random.choice(filenames_png) img = scipy.ndimage.imread(z, mode='L') run_times['scipy'].append(time.time() - start_time) for k, v in run_times.items(): print('{:5}: {:0.3f} seconds'.format(k, sum(v) / len(v))) Output z = 'Cardinal_0007_3025810472.jpg' img1 = skimage.color.rgb2gray(skimage.io.imread(z)) * 255 IPython.display.display(PIL.Image.fromarray(img1).convert('RGB')) img2 = np.array(Image.open(z).convert('L')) IPython.display.display(PIL.Image.fromarray(img2)) img3 = scipy.ndimage.imread(z, mode='L') IPython.display.display(PIL.Image.fromarray(img3)) Comparison img_diff = np.ndarray(shape=img1.shape, dtype='float32') img_diff.fill(128) img_diff += (img1 - img3) img_diff -= img_diff.min() img_diff *= (255/img_diff.max()) IPython.display.display(PIL.Image.fromarray(img_diff).convert('RGB')) Imports import skimage.color import skimage.io import random import time from PIL import Image import numpy as np import scipy.ndimage import IPython.display Versions skimage.version 0.13.0 scipy.version 0.19.1 np.version 1.13.1

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You can always read the image file as grayscale right from the beginning using imread from OpenCV:

img = cv2.imread('messi5.jpg', 0)

Furthermore, in case you want to read the image as RGB, do some processing and then convert to Gray Scale you could use cvtcolor from OpenCV:

gray_image = cv2.cvtColor(image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)

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The fastest and current way is to use Pillow, installed via pip install Pillow.

The code is then:

from PIL import Image
img = Image.open('input_file.jpg').convert('L')
img.save('output_file.jpg')

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The tutorial is cheating because it is starting with a greyscale image encoded in RGB, so they are just slicing a single color channel and treating it as greyscale. The basic steps you need to do are to transform from the RGB colorspace to a colorspace that encodes with something approximating the luma/chroma model, such as YUV/YIQ or HSL/HSV, then slice off the luma-like channel and use that as your greyscale image. matplotlib does not appear to provide a mechanism to convert to YUV/YIQ, but it does let you convert to HSV.

Try using matplotlib.colors.rgb_to_hsv(img) then slicing the last value (V) from the array for your grayscale. It's not quite the same as a luma value, but it means you can do it all in matplotlib.

Background:

http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/api/colors_api.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV

Alternatively, you could use PIL or the builtin colorsys.rgb_to_yiq() to convert to a colorspace with a true luma value. You could also go all in and roll your own luma-only converter, though that's probably overkill.

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Using this formula

Y' = 0.299 R + 0.587 G + 0.114 B 

We can do

import imageio
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

pic = imageio.imread('(image)')
gray = lambda rgb : np.dot(rgb[... , :3] , [0.299 , 0.587, 0.114]) 
gray = gray(pic)  
plt.imshow(gray, cmap = plt.get_cmap(name = 'gray'))

However, the GIMP converting color to grayscale image software has three algorithms to do the task.

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you could do:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.image as mpimg

def rgb_to_gray(img):
        grayImage = np.zeros(img.shape)
        R = np.array(img[:, :, 0])
        G = np.array(img[:, :, 1])
        B = np.array(img[:, :, 2])

        R = (R *.299)
        G = (G *.587)
        B = (B *.114)

        Avg = (R+G+B)
        grayImage = img.copy()

        for i in range(3):
           grayImage[:,:,i] = Avg
           
        return grayImage       

image = mpimg.imread("your_image.png")   
grayImage = rgb_to_gray(image)  
plt.imshow(grayImage)
plt.show()

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If you're using NumPy/SciPy already you may as well use:

scipy.ndimage.imread(file_name, mode='L')

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Use img.Convert(), supports “L”, “RGB” and “CMYK.” mode

import numpy as np
from PIL import Image

img = Image.open("IMG/center_2018_02_03_00_34_32_784.jpg")
img.convert('L')

print np.array(img)

Output:

[[135 123 134 ...,  30   3  14]
 [137 130 137 ...,   9  20  13]
 [170 177 183 ...,  14  10 250]
 ..., 
 [112  99  91 ...,  90  88  80]
 [ 95 103 111 ..., 102  85 103]
 [112  96  86 ..., 182 148 114]]

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I came to this question via Google, searching for a way to convert an already loaded image to grayscale.

Here is a way to do it with SciPy:

import scipy.misc
import scipy.ndimage

# Load an example image
# Use scipy.ndimage.imread(file_name, mode='L') if you have your own
img = scipy.misc.face()

# Convert the image
R = img[:, :, 0]
G = img[:, :, 1]
B = img[:, :, 2]
img_gray = R * 299. / 1000 + G * 587. / 1000 + B * 114. / 1000

# Show the image
scipy.misc.imshow(img_gray)

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With OpenCV its simple:

import cv2

im = cv2.imread("flower.jpg")

# To Grayscale
im = cv2.cvtColor(im, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
cv2.imwrite("grayscale.jpg", im)

# To Black & White
im = cv2.threshold(im, 127, 255, cv2.THRESH_BINARY)[1]
cv2.imwrite("black-white.jpg", im)

https://i.stack.imgur.com/J4eEv.png

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When the values in a pixel across all 3 color channels (RGB) are same then that pixel will always be in grayscale format.

One of a simple & intuitive method to convert a RGB image to Grayscale is by taking the mean of all color channels in each pixel and assigning the value back to that pixel.

import numpy as np
from PIL import Image

img=np.array(Image.open('sample.jpg')) #Input - Color image
gray_img=img.copy()

for clr in range(img.shape[2]):
    gray_img[:,:,clr]=img.mean(axis=2) #Take mean of all 3 color channels of each pixel and assign it back to that pixel(in copied image)

#plt.imshow(gray_img) #Result - Grayscale image

https://i.stack.imgur.com/0F6KF.jpg

https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xy0hW.jpg

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image=myCamera.getImage().crop(xx,xx,xx,xx).scale(xx,xx).greyscale()

You can use greyscale() directly for the transformation.

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