1. Binary images

1.1 Scene, objects and context

It should be remembered that a binary image is generally the result of one (or even more) gray-scale (or color) image(s) of a scene (scene ), often partially observed, comprising objects (objects ) (e.g. powders of a material, living cells, textile fibers, cars on a highway, stars in a galaxy) in a particular context (background ). Objects with one or more common or similar properties (e.g. physical, chemical or geometric) form an image component. By way of example, a component is referred to as a phase (phase ) (e.g. in the field of materials), a population (population ) (e.g. in biology), or a collection (collection ), depending on the situation and/or disciplinary field concerned. The observed scene, depending on the light (e.g. visible, infrared,...