In this blog post, we will explore how to use the imageio library in Python to combine multiple images into a single image. Combining images can be useful in various applications such as creating photo collages, merging different frames of a video, or generating composite images.

Installation

Before we start, make sure you have the imageio library installed in your Python environment. If you don’t have it installed, you can install it using pip:

pip install imageio

Combining Images

To combine images using imageio, we need to follow these steps:

1. Load the images that we want to combine.
2. Create a blank canvas to place the images onto.
3. Paste the loaded images onto the canvas at desired positions.
4. Save the combined image to a file or display it using imageio.

Let’s see an example that combines two images side by side:

import imageio
import numpy as np

# Step 1: Load the images
image1 = imageio.imread('image1.jpg')
image2 = imageio.imread('image2.jpg')

# Step 2: Create a blank canvas
canvas_width = image1.shape[1] + image2.shape[1]
canvas_height = max(image1.shape[0], image2.shape[0])
canvas = np.zeros((canvas_height, canvas_width, 3), dtype=np.uint8)

# Step 3: Paste the images onto the canvas
canvas[:image1.shape[0], :image1.shape[1]] = image1
canvas[:image2.shape[0], image1.shape[1]:] = image2

# Step 4: Save or display the combined image
imageio.imwrite('combined_image.jpg', canvas)

In this example, we use the imread function from imageio to load the images 'image1.jpg' and 'image2.jpg'. Then, we create a blank canvas with a width equal to the sum of the widths of the two images and a height equal to the maximum height of the two images.

We use the NumPy library to create the canvas as a numpy array. The canvas is initialized with zeros and has a data type of unsigned integer 8-bit (np.uint8). The canvas shape is (canvas_height, canvas_width, 3) to represent a color image (3 color channels: red, green, blue).

Next, we paste the loaded images onto the canvas using array slicing. The first image is placed on the left side of the canvas, and the second image is placed on the right side. Array slicing allows us to copy the pixel values from the loaded images to the corresponding positions on the canvas.

Finally, we save the combined image to a file named 'combined_image.jpg' using the imwrite function from imageio.

Conclusion

Combining images can be done easily using the imageio library in Python. With just a few lines of code, we can load multiple images, create a canvas, paste the images onto the canvas, and save the combined image. This enables us to create interesting visuals and composite images programmatically.

Hope you found this tutorial helpful! Happy coding!