pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Converting Images To Digital Computer Data

So ok, so far we’ve discussed that the world is analogue, and the computer is digital, but, you say… can we get back to pictures?

Well, the fact is that image data is not only analogue in nature, it has many levels of complexity. With temperature, data can be measured in a linear fashion as it has only one dimension of variance: cold to hot. Applying numerical values to temperature, therefore, seems logical: low to high. An image, on the other hand, has little that easily lends itself to numeric representation. Nonetheless, the way that images are stored digitally is still based on numerically translated sampling and measuring techniques, just taken on to another level.

Let’s take a square image, like this one for instance.

Flower

We’ll overlay it with a grid that is 10×10. Notice there is no unit of measurement used at this point, because it isn’t necessary – yet. Each square in the grid we can say is a picture element, but they’re referred to as pixel for short.

Each

Each pixel contains a small area of our image, and forms the basis of digital image representation. Starting at the top-left pixel, we calculate an average of the colour within it.

The

We continue through each pixel left to right, top to bottom, until every pixel’s colour has been sampled.

Clearly, if only for simplicity’s sake, we’ve used a very low resolution for sampling our image. On the next page we’ll discuss some of the implications of sample resolutions for digital images.

  • How Do You Put Picasso in PCs?
  • Analogue and Digital Data
  • Converting Images To Digital Computer Data
  • Resolutions When Sampling Digital Images with Scanners or Using Digital Cameras
  • Making Bitmaps with the RGB Colour System, Palettes and Look Up Tables

Filed Under: Computer Graphics and Video Tagged With: analogue to digital, digital image, image data, image scanner, image scanning, scanners

Latest Articles

DiskImage 5 Review

DiskImage 5 Review

PROS: DiskImage comes with uncomplicated menus and options. It allows for a full image data backup of your computer. CONS: There are no controls to reduce systems resources. OVERVIEW: DiskImage is a disk imaging tool. Simply put, it makes a copy of your computer's disk drive, so if your … [Read More...]

xDSL Variants

RADSL, like ADSL, operates faster in one direction than in the other and has the same transmission limits as ADSL. But as its name suggests, it adjusts transmission speed according to the length and quality of the local line. Connection speed is … [Read More...]

8mm Tape Storage

8mm tape technology was originally designed for the video industry. Its original purpose was to transfer high-quality colour images to tape for storage and retrieval. Now 8mm technology has been adopted by the computer industry as a … [Read More...]

Comments

  1. rog says

    January 23, 2014 at 11:21 am

    not very good

Gaming Laptop Security Guide: Protecting Your High-End Hardware Investment in 2025

Since Jacob took over PC Tech Guide, we’ve looked at how tech intersects with personal well-being and digital safety. Gaming laptops are now … [Read More...]

20 Cool Creative Commons Photographs About the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to have a huge impact on our lives. The market value for AI is estimated to have been worth $279.22 billion in 2024 and it … [Read More...]

13 Impressive Stats on the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to become much more important in our everyday lives. Many businesses are using it as well. While he has created a lot of … [Read More...]

Graphic Designers on Reddit Share their Views of AI

There are clearly a lot of positive things about AI. However, it is not a good thing for everyone. One of the things that many people are worried … [Read More...]

Redditors Talk About the Impact of AI on Freelance Writers

AI technology has had a huge impact on our lives. A 2023 survey by Pew Research found that 56% of people use AI at least once a day or once a week. … [Read More...]

11 Most Popular Books on Perl Programming

Perl is not the most popular programming language. It has only one million users, compared to 12 million that use Python. However, it has a lot of … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

Talisman

Unveiled at Siggraph 1996, Talisman was a Microsoft initiative to improve the quality, performance and integration of … [Read More...]

Utilizing the Windows Repair Function to Fix Problems with Solid State Drives

In our last post, we covered some basic Windows reporting features to help understand hard drive problems. We wanted to delve into more detail on … [Read More...]

Agile Collaboration: Redefining Business Meetings with Board Portal Technology

In modern businesses and their work environment, efficiency and agility are vital. Board meetings, once known for rooms filled with stacks of paper … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors