How can I change the saturation of an UIImage?

Question

I have an UIImage and want to shift it's saturation about +10%. Are there standard methods or functions that can be used for this?

Answer 1

Nothing quite that straightforward. The easiest solution is probably to make an in-memory CGContext with a known pixel format, draw the image into that context, then read/modify the pixels in the known-format buffer.

I don't think CG supports a color space with a separate saturation channel, so you'll have to either convert from RGB to HSV or HSL, or do the calculations directly in the RGB space.

---

One way to do the calculation directly in RGB might be something like this:

average = (R + G + B) / 3;
red_delta = (R - average) * 11 / 10;
green_delta = (G - average) * 11 / 10;
blue_delta = (B - average) * 11 / 10;

R = average + red_delta;
G = average + green_delta;
B = average + blue_delta;
// clip R,G,B to be in 0-255 range

This will move the channels that are away from the mean about 10% further away. This is almost like increasing the saturation, though it'll give hue shifts for some colors.

Answer 2

Starting with a View-based Application Template, create a new subclass of UIView like so:

// header file
@interface DesatView : UIView {
     UIImage *image;
     float saturation;
}
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIImage *image;
@property (nonatomic) float desaturation;
@end  

// implementation file
#import "DesatView.h"
@implementation DesatView
@synthesize image, desaturation;

-(void)setSaturation:(float)sat;
    {
        saturation = sat;
        [self setNeedsDisplay];
    }

- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
     if (self = [super initWithFrame:frame]) {
          self.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor]; // else background is black
          desaturation = 0.0; // default is no effect
     }
     return self;
}

- (void)drawRect:(CGRect)rect {
     CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
     CGContextSaveGState(context);

     CGContextTranslateCTM(context, 0.0, self.bounds.size.height); // flip image right side up
     CGContextScaleCTM(context, 1.0, -1.0);

     CGContextDrawImage(context, rect, self.image.CGImage);
     CGContextSetBlendMode(context, kCGBlendModeSaturation);
     CGContextClipToMask(context, self.bounds, image.CGImage); // restricts drawing to within alpha channel
     CGContextSetRGBFillColor(context, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, desaturation);
     CGContextFillRect(context, rect);

     CGContextRestoreGState(context); // restore state to reset blend mode
}
@end

Now in your view controller's viewDidLoad method, put the view on screen and set it's saturation like this:

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];  

    DesatView *dv = [[DesatView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectZero];
    dv.image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"someImage.png"];
    dv.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, dv.image.size.width, dv.image.size.height);
    dv.center = CGPointMake(160, 240); // put it mid-screen
    dv.desaturation = 0.2; // desaturate by 20%,

    [self.view addSubview:dv];  // put it on screen   
}  

Change the saturation like this:

 dv.saturation = 0.8; // desaturate by 80%  

Obviously if you want to use it outside of a single method, you should make dv an ivar of the view controller. Hope this helps.