Color removal transformation by using fuzzy inference model

In order to convert a color image into a monochrome one, luminance components of the color image are extracted, and are used in the typical photo re-touching software. This luminance extraction is useful and enough for obtaining a monochrome image in most cases. However, saliencies of the image included only in the chrominance components are not preserved at all. In this paper, we propose a new color removal method that employs the concept of signed color distance, and a fuzzy model. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by applying it to some images.