Using PIL to turn a RGB image into a pure black and white image

Question

I'm using the Python Imaging Library for some very simple image manipulation, however I'm having trouble converting a greyscale image to a monochrome (black and white) image. If I save after changing the image to greyscale (convert('L')) then the image renders as you would expect. However, if I convert the image to a monochrome, single-band image it just gives me noise as you can see in the images below. Is there a simple way to take a colour png image to a pure black and white image using PIL / python?

from PIL import Image 
import ImageEnhance
import ImageFilter
from scipy.misc import imsave
image_file = Image.open("convert_image.png") # open colour image
image_file= image_file.convert('L') # convert image to monochrome - this works
image_file= image_file.convert('1') # convert image to black and white
imsave('result_col.png', image_file)

Answer 1

from PIL import Image 
image_file = Image.open("convert_image.png") # open colour image
image_file = image_file.convert('1') # convert image to black and white
image_file.save('result.png')

yields

Answer 2

A PIL only solution for creating a bi-level (black and white) image with a custom threshold:

from PIL import Image
img = Image.open('mB96s.png')
thresh = 200
fn = lambda x : 255 if x > thresh else 0
r = img.convert('L').point(fn, mode='1')
r.save('foo.png')

With just

r = img.convert('1')
r.save('foo.png')

you get a dithered image.

From left to right the input image, the black and white conversion result and the dithered result:

You can click on the images to view the unscaled versions.

Answer 3

Another option (which is useful e.g. for scientific purposes when you need to work with segmentation masks) is simply apply a threshold:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""Binarize (make it black and white) an image with Python."""

from PIL import Image
from scipy.misc import imsave
import numpy


def binarize_image(img_path, target_path, threshold):
    """Binarize an image."""
    image_file = Image.open(img_path)
    image = image_file.convert('L')  # convert image to monochrome
    image = numpy.array(image)
    image = binarize_array(image, threshold)
    imsave(target_path, image)


def binarize_array(numpy_array, threshold=200):
    """Binarize a numpy array."""
    for i in range(len(numpy_array)):
        for j in range(len(numpy_array[0])):
            if numpy_array[i][j] > threshold:
                numpy_array[i][j] = 255
            else:
                numpy_array[i][j] = 0
    return numpy_array


def get_parser():
    """Get parser object for script xy.py."""
    from argparse import ArgumentParser, ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter
    parser = ArgumentParser(description=__doc__,
                            formatter_class=ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter)
    parser.add_argument("-i", "--input",
                        dest="input",
                        help="read this file",
                        metavar="FILE",
                        required=True)
    parser.add_argument("-o", "--output",
                        dest="output",
                        help="write binarized file hre",
                        metavar="FILE",
                        required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--threshold",
                        dest="threshold",
                        default=200,
                        type=int,
                        help="Threshold when to show white")
    return parser


if __name__ == "__main__":
    args = get_parser().parse_args()
    binarize_image(args.input, args.output, args.threshold)

It looks like this for ./binarize.py -i convert_image.png -o result_bin.png --threshold 200: