edge detection- how it works?

Question

I am new to image processing and had to do some edge detection. I understood that there are 2 types of detectors- Gaussian and Laplacian which look for maximas and zero crossings respectively. What I don't understand is how this is implemented by simply convolving the image with 2d kernels. I mean how does convolving equals finding maxima and zero crossing?

Answer 1

Laplacian zero crossing is a 2nd derivative operation, since the local maxima is equivalent with a zero crossing in a 2nd derivative. So it can be written as f_xx+f_yy. If we use a 1D vector to represent f_xx and f_yy, it is [-1 2 -1] (f(x+1,y)-2*f(x,y)+f(x-1,y)). Since the laplacian is f_xx + f_yy, it can be rephrased in a 2D kernal:

  0  -1  0
 -1   4 -1
  0  -1  0

or if you consider the diagonal elements as well, it is:

-1  -1  -1
-1   8  -1
-1  -1  -1

On the other hand,Gaussian kernal as a low pass filter is used here for scaling. The scaling ratio is controlled by the sigma. This mainly enhances the edges with different widths. Basically the larger the sigma, the thicker edges are enhanced.

Combined Laplacian and Gaussian is mathematically equivalent with G_xx + G_yy where G is the Gaussian kernel. But usually people used Difference of Gaussian instead of Laplacian of Gaussian to reduce the computational cost.