International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)

Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org

Volume 4, Issue 2, March-April 2015

ISSN 2278-6856

Text Hiding Based On Hue Content In HSV

Color Space
Ahmed S. Abdullah
Tikrit University , Dept. of Computer Science, College of Computer & Mathematic
Science ,Salah Al-Dien . IRAQ

Abstract
This paper presents a new method of hiding information and
rely on the HSV color space , in first step the color image
covert from RGB color space to (Hue , Saturation , Value),
Then we take (Hue component) and then hide information in
places that carry values of 60, 120 and 180 are then
photomontage ,in last step convert the color space from (HSV)
to(RGB), after that we used for measuring the amount of the
convergence criteria (MSE , PSNR) to measure the efficiency
of the proposed algorithm.

Keyword: information hiding, steganography, HSV color

space.

1.INTRODUCTION
Data hiding include conceal secret messages in into cover
object with Little distortion.It represents different
applications, for example, copyright protection
(watermarking), secret communication (steganography),
image authentication,etc . in spite of various applications
have different requirements, data hiding has two
fundamentals).First, reduce distortion. As far as security is
concerned, the embedding changes in cover object should
not be salient). Secondly, The ability to hide should be
enough to include a reasonable amount of embedded
Messages. However, a tradeoff between the embedding
distortion and the capacity to concealment is unavoidable.
Obviously, the goal of data hiding is to design schemes
with a high a potential for data conceal with slight
distortion [1]. Steganography is a technique for covert
information hide the existence of the message from third
persons [2]. All steganographic algorithms have to comply
with a few basic requirements. The most important
requirement is that a steganographic algorithm has to be
imperceptible(Unexpected) (Sense that you cannot notice a
difference distortion in the image with the naked eye) [3]
.The goal of the steganography methods is to
communicate securely so that no one is able to detect the
manner. The current approaches in steganography domain
could be divided into two categories of spatial and
transformation domains. In spatial domain, there are
many strategies of image steganography based on
manipulating the least significant bit using direct
replacing of least significant bit levels with the bits of
secret image [4]. In transform domain, secret message is
embedded in the coefficients of cover media in frequency
domain. In transform domain cosine, wavelet etc are used
as transforms [5]. Steganography in the frequency domain
is one of the growing research areas in recent years
because of its capability of providing robustness to attacks
and posing a real challenge to anybody trying to discover

Volume 4, Issue 2, March April 2015

and decode hidden messages [6]. In proposed method we

embedding text in HSV color images.

2. RELATED WORK
In 2002, Chin-Chen Chang, Tung-Shou Chen and Lou-Zo
Chung presented in their research A steganographic
method based upon JPEG and quantization table
modification, a novel steganographic method based on
joint photographic expert group (JPEG). The proposed
method modifies the quantization table first. Next, the
secret message is hidden in the cover-image with its
middle-frequency of the quantized DCT coefficients
modified. Proposed technique provides acceptable image
quality and a large message capacity [7].
Wen-Chao Yang, Ling-Hwei Chen in 2008, in their
research "A Novel Steganography Method via Various
Animation Effects in Powerpoint Files", a novel
steganography method that hides message via various
animation effects in a PowerPoint file is proposed. The
proposed method uses different animation effects to stand
for different characters, thus a codebook is designed to
record the corresponding between the animation effects
and characters. The proposed method contains two parts,
one is the embedding process and the other is extracting
process. Both processes use the same animation codebook
as a look-up table. This method does not distort the
PowerPoint file [8].
In 2009, Sudeep P.V. & K.A. Navas &Sheeba V.S. in
their research A Novel Data hiding Method In Spatial
Domain proposed technique hides ASCII characters in
the least significant digits (LSD) of the image .This
investigation mainly focuses on enhancing the capacity of
data hiding in medical images ,user has the choice for
selecting the number of LSDs of the pixel magnitude .
This method achieving enormous capacity without
sacrificing the visual quality of the images. 1 MB data can
be embedded in 512 512 in gray scale image [9].
Dipti Kapoor Sarmah & Neha Bajpai presented in 2010 in
their research Proposed System forData Hiding Using
Cryptography and Steganography they are developing a
system where they develop a new technique in which
Cryptography and Steganography are used as integrated
part along with newly developed enhanced security
module. In Cryptography they are using AES algorithm to
encrypt a message and a part of the message is hidden in
DCT of an image; remaining part of the message is used
to generate two secret keys which make this system highly
secured [10].
S. Suma Christal Mary presented in her research "
Improved Protection In Video Steganography Used
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International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)

Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org
Volume 4, Issue 2, March-April 2015
Compressed Video Bitstreams " in 2010 , a new method
for the real-time hiding of information used in compressed
video bitstreams . A new compressed video secure
steganography (CVSS) algorithm is proposed. In this
algorithm, embedding and detection operations are both
executed entirely in the compressed domain, with no need
for the decompression process. The new criteria
employing statistical invisibility of contiguous frames is
used to adjust the embedding strategy and capacity, which
increases the security of proposed algorithm. Therefore,
the collusion resistant properties are obtained [11].
In 2011, Malini Mohan & Anurenjan. P. R in their
research A Novel Data Hiding Method in Image using
Contourlet Transform , they applied an encryption
algorithm which provides additional security. A digit of
data is embedded by modifying the least significant digit
of a contourlet coefficient. A high frequency directional
pass band from the contourlet transform is selected for
data embedding. High capacity can be achieved using this
method. The performance of this proposed method in
other transform domains like DCT and wavelet transform
alse evaluated and compared with that in contourlet
domain [3] .

3. STEGANOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES
Over the past few years, numerous steganography
techniques that embed hidden messages in multimedia
objects have been proposed.There have been many
techniques for hiding information or messages in an
image in such a manner that the amendment to the image
are Unconsciously.
Common approaches are including:
i. Least significant bit insertion (LSB)
ii. Masking and filtering
iii. Transform techniques
Least Significant Bits (LSB) a simple way of
steganography is based on
modifying the least significant bit layer of image, In this
technique, the least
significant bits of the pixel is replaced by the message
which bits are permuted before embedding[7]. Modulating
the least significant bit does not result in human
perceptible
difference because Breadth of change is small. Masking
and filtering techniques, usually restricted to 24 bits and
gray scale images, hide information by marking an image,
in a manner similar to paper watermarks. The techniques
performs analysis of the image, find the significant areas
where, the hidden message will be more integrated to
cover the image and finally the data will be embed in that
particular area, Which does not affect the quality of the
image. Transform techniques embed the message by
modulating coefficients in a transform domain, such as
the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) used in JPEG
compression, Discrete Fourier Transform, or Wavelet
Transform. These methods hide messages in significant
areas of the cover-image, which make them more
robust to attack. Transformations can be applied over the
entire image, to block throughout the image, or other
variants [1].

Volume 4, Issue 2, March April 2015

ISSN 2278-6856

4.Color Space
If the visible portion of the light spectrum is divided into
three components, the predominant colors are red, green
and blue. These three colors are considered the primary
colors of the visible light spectrum. The RGB color space,
in which color is specified by the amount of Red, Green
and Blue present in the color, is known as the most
popular color space [12]. RGB is an additive and
subtractive model, respectively, defining color in terms of
the combination of primaries, whereas HSV color space
encapsulates information about a color in terms that are
more familiar to humans. In HSV color space, the color is
decomposed into hue, saturation and luminance value
similar to the way humans tend to perceive color. Ledleys
research shows that the performance of HSV color space
is good in color improving[9] . Among the three
components of HSV color space, hue is the attribute of a
color, which decides which color it is. For the purpose of
enhancing a color image, it is to be seen that hue should
not change for any pixel. If hue is changed then the color
gets changed, thereby distorting the image. Compared
with other perceptually uniform such as CIE LUV color
space and CIE Lab color space, it is easier to control the
Hue component of color and avoid color shifting in the
HSV color space. In our method, we keep hue preserved
and apply the enhancement only to luminance and
saturation. In Yangs research, they have paid attention to
the effect of luminance and saturation to color image
enhancement . Therefore, we chose HSV color space for
our enhancement method [12].
4.1Color Space Conversion
we apply our enhancement method in HSV color space. In
general, color images are represented by RGB color
space. Therefore the first step is to convert RGB color
space to HSV color space. The conversion algorithm is
shown in Fig.(1), Fig(2) which show a complete relation
between the two color model [12].

Fig. 1: relation between RGB and HSV

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International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)

Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org
Volume 4, Issue 2, March-April 2015
And the reveres wise conversion (HSV color space to RGB
color space) given below :

ISSN 2278-6856

Before embedded

Fig. 2: conversion from HSV to RGB.

5 . PROPOSED ALGORITHM
The embedding process is done in the following steps at
the sender side :
Step 1 : Conversion color system for the image from
RGB To HSV , and take copy of HSV image .
Step 2 : select hue (H) from HSV color image.
Step 3: multiply hue image values by 360 (convert
value of hue to pixel) .
Step 4: The embedded message will be converted to
ASCII code , so that it will be represented in binary
format .
Step5 : embedding process steps :
a) embed this text in the hue image in location (60,
120, 180, 240, 300, 360).
b) Each bit in message will exchange with one of
locations of hue image (60, 120, 180, 240, 300, 360).
Step 6: return hue (H) component to HSV copy image.
Step 7 : return HSV copy image to RGB color system.

6. Applied Example
These two images show before and after concealing
information :
Before embedded

Fig.2 a) Hydrangeas.jpg
After embedded

Fig.2 b) Hydrangeas.jpg

7. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

To evaluate the performance of the proposed embedding
algorithm we use the measuring the amount of the
convergence criteria (MSE, PSNR) .
This charts shows the amount of the convergence criteria
(MSE , PSNR) For each position (60, 120, 180, 240, 300,
360) in fig.1 and fig.2

Fig.1 MSE Values

Fig.1 a) Penguins.jpg
After embedded

Fig.1 PSNR Values

Fig.1 b) Penguins.jpg

Volume 4, Issue 2, March April 2015

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International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)

Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org
Volume 4, Issue 2, March-April 2015

Fig.2 MSE Values

Fig.2 PSNR Values

The values in the charts explains rate convergence
between the original image and the embedded image, so
you cannot recognize anything in the embedded image
raises doubts

ISSN 2278-6856

[7] Chang C. et al., (2002) . A steganographic method

based upon JPEG and quantization table
modification, Intelligent Multimedia
[8] Computing and Networking Atlantic City, NJ, USA ,
Vol_ 141.
[9] YANG W. and CHEN L. ,(2008)." A Novel
Steganography Method Via Various Animation
Effects In Powerpoint Files ", Proceedings of the
Seventh International Conference on Machine
Learning and Cybernetics, Kunming, 12-15 .
[10] Sudeep P.V. et al., (2009). A Novel Datahiding
Method in Spatial Domain, 10th National Conference
on Technological Trends (NCTT09) .
[11] Sarmah D. and Bajpai N. , (2010) .Proposed System
for Data Hiding Using Cryptography and
Steganography ,International Journal of Computer
Applications (0975 8887) Volume 8 No.9.
[12] Suma Christal Mary S.,(2010) ," Improved Protection
In Video Steganography Used Compressed Video
Bitstreams ", IJCSE)
[13] Khalil Ibraheem Al - Saif and Ahmed S. Abdullah,
Color Image Enhancement Based on Contourlet
[14] Transform Coefficients, Australian Journal of Basic
and Applied Sciences, 7(8): 207 213, 2013.
AUTHOR
Ahmed S. Abdullah received his Masters Degree in
computer science from mousl university , Iraq in the
year 2013

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