converting an image format with ImageJ

Question

I have the following code that I use to convert an image from fits format to jpeg format

  ImagePlus fitsImage = openImage(fitsImagePath);
  final File out = new File(fullPath +  fileNameNoExt + ".jpg");           
  BufferedImage jpgImage = fitsImage.getBufferedImage();           
  ImageIO.write(jpgImage, "jpg", out);       

the actual format change is working and I do get a jpg file, but the problem is that the resulting file is in black and white and I know for a fact that the image I am using is colored.

So the question is what should I do to make the resulting image colored.

cheers,

es

Answer 1

For some reason the getBufferedImage() function is only copying the data in an 8-bit format. As I am unfamiliar with fits format, what pixel depth does it have and what pixel depth does your data have?

If you are importing in 8-bit which is false colored with red, green, or blue, then when you export it will maintain its 8-bit grey scale and not the false color.

If you want it to maintain its rgb, you will have to convert it into a rgb format before exporting.

The function command flatten might help as it will convert the picture to an RGB format

 fitsImage.flatten()