Python cv2 imread: How to Read Image in Python

The cv2.imread() method loads the image from the specified file path. If the image cannot be read (because of improper permissions, missing file, unsupported or invalid format), then the cv2.imread() method returns an empty matrix.

Python OpenCV

OpenCV is a library of programming functions mainly aimed at real-time computer vision. It was initially developed by Intel and later supported by Willow Garage, then Itseez. The library is cross-platform and free for use under the open-source BSD license.

We will open an image using OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision). OpenCV-Python is the library of Python bindings designed to solve computer vision problems.

Install Python OpenCV

To work with OpenCV in Python, we have to install the opencv-python module.

python3 -m pip install opencv-python

# OR

pip install opencv-python

To use opencv-python in our project, we must import the cv2 module into the file.

import cv2

Python cv2.imread()

To read an image using OpenCV in Python, use the cv2.imread() method. The cv2.imread() method loads an image from the specified file.

Syntax

cv2.imread(path, flag)

Parameters

path: It is a string representing the path of the image to be read.
flag: It specifies how an image should be read. Its default value is cv2.IMREAD_COLOR. All three types of flags are described below:

1. cv2.IMREAD_COLOR: It defines to load the color image. Any transparency of an image will be neglected. It is a default flag. Alternatively, we can pass integer value 1 for this flag.
2. cv2.IMREAD_GRAYSCALE: It defines loading an image in grayscale mode. Alternatively, we can give the integer value 0 for this flag.
3. cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED: It explains to load an image as such, including the alpha channel. Alternatively, we can pass integer value -1 for this flag.

Return Value

The method returns an image that is loaded from the specified filesystem.

Example

Write the following code.

import cv2

path = 'info.png'

# Using cv2.imread() method
image = cv2.imread(path)

# Displaying the image
cv2.imshow('image', image)
cv2.waitKey(0)
cv2.destoryAllWindows()

Output

The cv2.waitKey() function waits for the user to press any key.

The cv2.destroyAllWindows() function closes all open windows.

Loading an image in grayscale mode

If you want to convert RGB image to grayscale image, then this will be helpful.

Write the following code.

import cv2

path = 'info.png'

# Using cv2.imread() method
image = cv2.imread(path, 0)

# Displaying the image
cv2.imshow('image', image)
cv2.waitKey(0)
cv2.destoryAllWindows()

Output

cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED

We can pass the flag cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED to the cv2.imread() function.

import cv2

path = 'info.png'

# Using cv2.imread() method
image = cv2.imread(path, cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED)

# Displaying the image
cv2.imshow('image', image)
cv2.waitKey(0)
cv2.destoryAllWindows()

Output

You can see from the output that the image is unchanged.

Conclusion

When reading a color image file, OpenCV imread() reads as a Numpy array ndarray of row (height) x column (width) x color (3). The order of color is BGR (blue, green, red).

Please, one thing to note here is that OpenCV is BGR, and Pillow is RGB.

That is it for the Python cv2 imread() method.