CONVERTING
PIXELS TO MICRONS
In the microscopic world, the most common units of measurements
are the micrometer (micron), and the
nano-meter. The micron is one millionth of a
meter, and the nano-meter is one billionth of a meter. However, in
the field of digital images, the pixel is the basic
unit of measurement. Therefore, if we want to measure the
dimensions of an object of interest, within a digitally captured
microscopic image (micro-graph), we need to convert
pixels to microns.
Most good image manipulating programs, include a measuring
tool that allows us to measure (in pixels) the distance between
any two selected points of an image (a micro-graph in our case).
The GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is one of those
programs. Here is an example, of using the GIMP's measuring tool,
to measure (in pixels) the diameter of a red blood cell.