The python code is an implementation of image steganography, however, it isn't working as intended. The output of this code should create an image file that is almost the same as the input, with some data hidden. (The difference between images isn't detectable to the human eye). This code block embeds an image but the pixels where the data are hidden in their Least Significant Bits turn out with distorted colors. Instead of getting an image identical to the original image, we get an image where the data hidden is obvious. How can this be fixed?

import sys

import numpy as np

from PIL import Image

np.set_printoptions(threshold=sys.maxsize) # To use full representation instead of summarization

#TAKES A SOURCE IMAGE TO EMBED A MESSAGE (TXT FILE), AND THE OUTPUT DESTINATION

def encode(src, message, destination):

# OPEN AND CREATE AN ARRAY OF THE SOURCE IMAGE

sourceImage = Image.open(src,'r')

width,height = sourceImage.size

array = np.array(list (sourceImage.getdata()))

textFile = open(message, 'r')

message = textFile.read()

if sourceImage.mode == 'RGB':

n=3

if sourceImage.mode == 'RGBA':

n = 4

totalPixels = array.size//n

message += "$END" #STOP FLAG TO SIGNIFY THAT THE MESSAGE IS DONE

binaryMessage = ''.join([format(ord(i), "08b") for i in message]) #BINARY CONVERSION OF STRING

#print(binaryMessage)

requiredPixels = len(binaryMessage)

if requiredPixels > totalPixels:

print("Image size not sufficient for the message, try a larger image file")

else:

if n == 3:

print("if")

index=0

for p in range(totalPixels):

for q in range(0, 3):

if index < requiredPixels:

array[p][q] = int(bin(array[p][q])[2:9] + binaryMessage[index], 2)

index += 1

elif n == 4:

print("elif")

index=0

for p in range(totalPixels):

for q in range(0, 4):

if index < requiredPixels:

if q==3:

#print(bin(array[20][3]))

array[p][q] = int((bin(array[p][q])[2:9] + binaryMessage[index]), 2)

#print(bin(array[20][3])[0:9] + binaryMessage[index])

#sys.exit()

#print(binaryMessage[index])

index += 1

else:

#print(bin(array[20][1]))

array[p][q] = int((bin(array[p][q])[2:8] + binaryMessage[index]), 2)

#print(bin(array[20][1])[0:8] + binaryMessage[index])

#sys.exit()

#print(binaryMessage[index])

index += 1

array=array.reshape(height, width, n)

enc_img = Image.fromarray(array.astype("uint8"), sourceImage.mode)

enc_img.save(destination)

print("Image Encoded Successfully")

print(n)