Courtesy of Optronics

Live dinoflagellate image

Image Content Technology LLC of New Britain, Conn., has developed Lucis software, an easy-to-use image processing tool that improves image contrast and uncovers previously hidden image details. According to company president and chief executive officer Barbara Williams, Lucis enhances contrast patterns in color and black and white images based on variations in intensity. Desired features are enhanced and unimportant details diminished, resulting in "an artifact-free image with clarity far beyond that achieved with any existing image processing method," says Williams.

Live dinoflagellate image processed with Lucis software.

Although some image processing systems discard data to enhance detail, with Lucis, no data is lost in the enhancement process. Instead, the relative emphasis of contrast information is altered to reveal previously imperceptible information. Additionally, the software enhances all aspects of an image; according to Williams, "Lucis uniquely enhances detail in the bright and dark areas...