An image may be decomposed as a difference between an image of peaks and an image of wells. This decomposition depends upon the point of view, an arbitrary set from where the image is considered: a peak appears as a peak if it is impossible to reach it starting from any position in the point of view without climbing. A well cannot be reached without descending. To any particular point of view corresponds a different decomposition. The decomposition is reversible. If one applies a morphological operator to the peaks and wells component before applying the inverse transform, one gets a new, transformed image.
['Fernand Meyer']
Image decompositions and transformations as peaks and wells