Balancing areas of varying density in a digital image

A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a module for balancing areas of varying density within a digital image by:

• (a) receiving an unequalized digital image having a plurality of pixels each with an unequalized intensity value;
• (b) associating a blurred intensity value to each pixel;
• (c) selecting an image enhancement strength factor for the image;
• (d) selecting an exposure compensation factor for the image;
• (e) determining a mask intensity value for each pixel by calculating the linear convex combination of the pixel's blurred intensity value and the exposure compensation factor, wherein the degree of convex combination is determined by the strength factor;
• (f) determining an enhanced intensity value for each pixel by dividing the pixel's unequalized intensity value by the pixel's mask intensity value, and then scaling the dividend by the exposure compensation factor;
• then
• (g) displaying an enhanced image having a plurality of pixels at their equalized intensity values.

A method of producing a mask for digital unsharp masking or for digital equalization, comprising:

• (a) receiving a starting kernel size K;
• (b) receiving a minimum kernel size M;
• (c) receiving a number of iterations n;
• (d) receiving an unprocessed digital radiograph I;
• (e) creating a new image I′ by copying I;
• (f) creating a new image I, by blurring I′ with the kernel;
• (g) replacing the pixel values in I′ by retrieving the pixel-wise maximum of I, and I;
• (h) dividing K by 2.
• (i) Repeating steps (f) through (g) for either n iterations or until K is less than or equal to M.