Comparison and Analysis of Watermarking Algorithms in Color Images - Image Security Paradigm

This paper is based on a comparative study between different watermarking techniques such as LSB hiding algorithm, (2, 2) visual cryptography based watermarking for color images [3,4] and Randomized LSB-MSB hiding algorithm [1]. Here, we embed the secret image in a host or original image, by using these bit-wise pixel manipulation algorithms. This is followed by a comparative study of the resultant images through Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) calculation. The property wise variation of different types of secret images that are embedded into the host image plays an important role in this context. The calculation of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio is done for different color levels (red, green, blue) and also for their equivalent gray level images. From the results, we are trying to predict which technique is more suitable to which type of secret image.