HighlightImage

HighlightImage[image,roi]

highlights the specified region of interest roi in image.

HighlightImage[image,{roi1,roi2,…}]

highlights several regions of interest roii.

HighlightImage[image,{…,w[roii],…}]

highlights using a feature defined by the symbolic wrapper w.

HighlightImage[image,fg,bgstyle]

applies the styling bgstyle to the complement of all the regions of interest.

Details and Options

  • HighlightImage is used for highlighting particular regions or features in an image. It returns the highlighted image as a Graphics object.
  • The region of interest roi can be any of the following:
  • {{x1,y1},…}a list of image positions
    regiona 2D geometric region (Point, Line, Disk, etc.)
    labelmatrixa 2D label matrix specifying image components
    maskimagenonzero pixels of an Image object
    graphicsa Graphics object
    fa region returned by a function f
    <|label1->roi1, …|>an association of labeled regions
  • Labels in labeled associations <|label1->roi1, …|> are used for labeling and legending.
  • By default, using DataRange->Full, positions {xi,yi} and geometric regions are assumed to be in the standard image coordinate system.
  • The following wrappers w can be used:
  • Annotation[roi,label]provide an annotation
    Button[roi,action]define an action to execute when the element is clicked
    EventHandler[roi,…]define a general event handler for the element
    Hyperlink[roi,uri]make the element act as a hyperlink
    ImageMarker[roi,…]place a marker at the medoid of roi
    Labeled[roii,…]place a marker at the medoid of roi
    Legended[roi,lbl]include the label lbl in the legend
    PopupWindow[roi,cont]attach a popup window to the element
    StatusArea[roi,label]display in the status area when the element is moused over
    Style[roi,opts]show the element using the specified styles
    Tooltip[roi,label]attach an arbitrary tooltip to the element
  • Use HighlightImage[image,{…,style,roi,…}] to specify a style for the region roi.
  • Basic style specifications include:
  • Automaticautomatically select the highlighting method
    colorcolor specification (RGBColor, LABColor, etc.)
    directiveany valid graphics directive (PointSize, Thickness, etc.)
  • By default, the most suitable highlighting style is used.
  • Additional style specifications include:
  • "Blur",{"Blur",r}blur using range r neighborhoods
    "Boundary",{"Boundary",t}highlight the boundary using thickness t
  • Nested lists of regions of interest and styles can be given. Style specifications remain in effect only until the end of the list that contains them.
  • The background is taken to be the complement of all regions of interest. The following bgstyle specifications can be used:
  • "Blur",
    {"Blur",r}    		blur using range r neighborhoods
    "Darken",{"Darken",a}blend with black (default )
    "Lighten",{"Lighten",a}blend with white (default )
    "Desaturate",{"Desaturate",s}desaturate
    "Remove"make background transparent
    {"Remove",color}replace background with color
    fperform f on the background
  • With an explicit bgstyle, the foreground opacity is set to 0. Use Opacity[α] to specify a different foreground opacity.
  • HighlightImage accepts all Graphics options with the following changes and additions: [List of all options]
  • DataRange Fullrange of coordinates in the original image
    ImageLabels Automatichow to label regions of interest
    ImageLegends Nonehow to add a legend
    PlotRange Automaticrange of coordinates to include
    PlotRangePaddingNonehow much to pad the range of values
  • Possible settings for ImageLabels and ImageLegends include:
  • {lbl1,lbl2,…}use an explicit lbli for roii
    Automaticautomatic labeling and legending
    Noneno label or legend
    "Expressions"use the arbitrary functions f
  • Typical settings for DataRange include:
  • Automatic{{0,1},{0,h/w}}
    Full{{0,w},{0,h}}
    {{left,right},{bottom,top}}explicit coordinate ranges in 2D
  • Typical settings for PlotRange include:
  • Allall points are included
    Automaticsame as DataRange settings
    {{left,right},{bottom,top}}explicit coordinate ranges

    • List of all options

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (3)

Highlight the corners of an image:

Highlight a region of interest by dehighlighting the rest of the image:

Highlight a region of interest:

Scope  (23)

Regions  (8)

Point Regions  (1)

Highlight a list of points:

Use a list of positions:

Use an explicit Point wrapper:

Use an ImageMarker wrapper:

Specify a marker:

Curve Regions  (1)

Highlight a one-dimensional region:

Area Regions  (3)

Use an Image object as the region:

Use a Graphics primitive to describe what to highlight:

Use a Graphics object as the region:

Use a geometric region to describe what to highlight:

The region of interest can be a Graphics object generated by any function:

Whenever the region is given as an image, it is assumed to be a 2D region:

Highlight only the detected pixels by removing the boundary:

Compare the result with the exact pixel-wise color replacement:

Label Matrices  (2)

Highlight connected components of a binary image:

Highlight segments of an image after performing watershed transform:

Highlight all components:

Delete border components and highlight the rest:

Other Graphics Elements  (1)

Use an Inset:

Use a Text element:

Styling  (15)

Region Styling  (3)

Specify a highlighting color:

Highlight the region using a solid color:

Highlight the boundary of a region:

Use Graphics directives to customize the region:

Background Styling  (6)

Highlight the image by decreasing the background brightness:

Highlight the image by increasing the background brightness:

Highlight the region of interest by converting the background to gray scale:

Use a specific saturation value:

Blur the background to highlight the foreground:

Use a custom function to highlight the background:

Remove the background:

Replace the removed background with a specific color:

Labeling & Legending  (5)

Label image faces:

Detect faces and label them with estimated age:

Specify labels for each dataset of points:

Create a legend using the provided labels:

Highlight and label two image segments:

Wrappers  (1)

Add tooltips on points of interest:

Compute position and strength of keypoints:

Options  (7)

DataRange  (1)

The default data range is determined by the dimensions of the image:

This is equivalent to DataRange->Full:

Use DataRange->Automatic for a normalized range on the axis:

Use a custom range:

GridLines  (1)

By default, no grid lines are shown:

Show grid lines:

Specify grid lines to show:

ImageLabels  (2)

By default, no label is used for the highlighted regions:

Use ImageLabels{"lbl1","lbl2",…} to define labels for each region:

Association keys are automatically used as labels:

Use ImageLabelsNone to disable automatic labeling:

ImageLegends  (2)

Use ImageLegends{"lbl1","lbl2",…} to define labels for each region:

Legends are matched by scanning the list of regions depth first:

Association keys automatically used as labels:

Use ImageLegendsAutomatic to enable automatic legending:

Use ImageLabelsNone to also disable labeling:

PlotRange  (1)

The default plot range is determined by the dimensions of the image:

Use PlotRange->All to see all regions:

Use a custom range:

Applications  (5)

Blur faces in an image:

Perform and visualize a semantic segmentation of an image using a neural network:

Define an evaluator function that can work on any image dimension:

Segment an image:

Highlight labeled segments:

Highlight segments and use legends to show labels:

Highlight strong and weak corners in different styles:

Segment an image and highlight the centers of the disk shapes with a marker:

Highlight multiple regions of interest:

Interactive Examples  (1)

Apply an interactive spotlight to a scene:

Wolfram Research (2012), HighlightImage, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html (updated 2021).

Text

Wolfram Research (2012), HighlightImage, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html (updated 2021).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2012. "HighlightImage." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2021. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2012). HighlightImage. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_highlightimage, author="Wolfram Research", title="{HighlightImage}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html}", note=[Accessed: 28-May-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_highlightimage, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={HighlightImage}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/HighlightImage.html}, note=[Accessed: 28-May-2025 ]}