Lenna or Lena is the name given to a 512 x 512 pixel

Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....

 standard test image

Standard test image

A standard test image is a digital image file used across different institutions to test image processing and image compression algorithms. By using the same standard test images, different labs are able to compare results, both visually and quantitatively...

 originally cropped from the centerfold

Centerfold

The centerfold of a magazine refers to a gatefolded spread, usually a portrait such as a pin-up or a nude, inserted in the middle of the publication, or to the model featured in the portrait...

 of November 1972 issue of Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine. It is a picture of Lena Söderberg

Lena Soderberg

Lena Söderberg appeared as a Playmate in the November 1972 issue of Playboy magazine, under the name Lenna Sjööblom. Her centerfold was photographed by Dwight Hooker....

, a Swedish model, shot by photographer Dwight Hooker

Dwight Hooker

Dwight Hooker is a photographer for Playboy magazine. He was, at times, described as a master of the sensual and the erotic along with photographers Helmut Newton and J. Frederick Smith...

. The image is probably the most widely used test image for all sorts of image processing

Image processing

In electrical engineering and computer science, image processing is any form of signal processing for which the input is an image, such as a photograph or video frame; the output of image processing may be either an image or, a set of characteristics or parameters related to the image...

 algorithm

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...

s (such as compression

Image compression

The objective of image compression is to reduce irrelevance and redundancy of the image data in order to be able to store or transmit data in an efficient form.- Lossy and lossless compression :...

 and denoising

Noise reduction

Noise reduction is the process of removing noise from a signal.All recording devices, both analogue or digital, have traits which make them susceptible to noise...

) and related scientific publications.

The anglicised

Anglicisation

Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...

 version "Lenna" of Lena Söderberg's actual name comes from the Playboy article where Playboy changed the original "Lena".

History

The picture's history was described in the May 2001 newsletter of the IEEE Professional Communication Society, in an article by Jamie Hutchinson:
This scan, nonetheless, became one of the most used images in computer history, so much that the mysterious Lenna came to be dubbed the "First Lady of the Internet".

Lenna was not the first Playboy magazine image to be used to illustrate image processing algorithms. Lawrence G. Roberts used a 1960 Playboy image, with permission and attribution, in his 1961 MIT master's thesis on image dithering.

Impact

David C. Munson, editor-in-chief, January 1996 IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...

 Transactions on Image Processing, cited two reasons for the popularity of the image in research:
Lenna is so widely accepted in the image processing community that Söderberg was a guest at the 50th annual Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology in 1997.

Controversy

The use of the image has produced some controversy, with some people concerned about Playboy magazine as the source of the image, and with the image being copyrighted.

In a 1999 essay on reasons for the male predominance in computer science, Dianne O'Leary wrote:
When the IS&T wanted to invite Söderberg to their meeting,

Coincidentally, Playboy states the issue (November 1972) was its best-selling issue ever, having sold 7,161,561 copies as of May 2006.

External links

• http://www.ee.cityu.edu.hk/~lmpo/lenna/Lenna97.html
• The Lenna Story - Contains a link to an un-cropped scan of the original Playboy photograph