MATLAB: Soil profile photo analyzing

Question

I have photographs of soil profiles and roots which have grown in them. I need to analyze the photos and calculate the root density. To do this i need matlab to recognize the roots and separate them from the soil. I tried enhancing the contrast but it doesn't seem to help. Any ideas will be welcome. Sharon.

Answer 1

Perhaps you need to look in the right part of the spectrum. You could investigate multispectral imaging, like the megavision camera ( http://www.mega-vision.com/ ). Or you could ask your friendly neighborhood spectroscopist to get you the spectrum of the dirt and the roots and pick a wavelength range that maximizes the difference. Then use a monochrome camera with a band pass optical filter in front of the lens. It's always better to get a good photo to begin with than to try to do it with software later.