How to read tif image with transparent pixels in opencv

Question

I have a tif image with transparent pixels (I see them in paint.net as transparent pixels).

I am trying to read them in Mat in openCV, and I am using this code:

Mat image=imread(imagePathname,CV_LOAD_IMAGE_UNCHANGED);
auto x=image.channels();

based on my understanding, since the input image has transparency, channels () should return 4, but they return 3.

How can I read a tif image with transparent pixels and check if the pixel is transparent in opencv?

edit1

The result of imagemagick:

Image: layer0003.tif
  Format: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
  Mime type: image/tiff
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 10000x5000+0+0
  Resolution: 150x150
  Print size: 66.6667x33.3333
  Units: PixelsPerInch
  Type: TrueColorAlpha
  Base type: TrueColor
  Endianess: MSB
  Colorspace: sRGB
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    red: 8-bit
    green: 8-bit
    blue: 8-bit
    alpha: 1-bit
  Channel statistics:
    Red:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 23.6472 (0.0927342)
      standard deviation: 37.6851 (0.147785)
      kurtosis: 8.93054
      skewness: 2.28009
    Green:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 22.8353 (0.0895504)
      standard deviation: 37.6516 (0.147653)
      kurtosis: 10.4255
      skewness: 2.52881
    Blue:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 22.798 (0.0894041)
      standard deviation: 37.6575 (0.147677)
      kurtosis: 10.9059
      skewness: 2.58999
    Alpha:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 89.055 (0.349235)
      standard deviation: 121.566 (0.476728)
      kurtosis: -1.59995
      skewness: -0.632496
  Image statistics:
    Overall:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 58.8064 (0.230613)
      standard deviation: 68.9821 (0.270518)
      kurtosis: 8.35337
      skewness: 3.53852
  Alpha: none   #00000000
  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329)
  Background color: white
  Border color: srgba(223,223,223,1)
  Matte color: grey74
  Transparent color: none
  Interlace: None
  Intensity: Undefined
  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 10000x5000+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0
  Compression: LZW
  Orientation: TopLeft
  Properties:
    date:create: 2014-03-01T13:11:12+00:00
    date:modify: 2014-02-28T17:48:41+00:00
    signature: dfa3e35c35345ef3440ff15d15ad37222f9cf0376bed7b7710dd95f4e537e210
    tiff:alpha: unassociated
    tiff:endian: lsb
    tiff:photometric: RGB
    tiff:rows-per-strip: 1
    tiff:timestamp: 2014:02:28 17:48:38
    xmp:CreatorTool: Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery 15.4.3555.308
  Profiles:
    Profile-xmp: 12702 bytes
  Artifacts:
    filename: layer0003.tif
    verbose: true
  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 20.42MB
  Number pixels: 50M
  Pixels per second: 60.24MB
  User time: 0.827u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.829
  Version: ImageMagick 6.8.8-7 Q16 x64 2014-02-13 http://www.imagemagick.org

Answer 1

I just had time to review this :-)

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, , ImageMagick , , , OpenCV.

, 16- , :

convert -size 300x300 gradient:black-white -alpha set -region 100x100+100+100 -alpha transparent image.tif

, :

identify -verbose image.tif | head -14

Image: image.tif
  Format: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
  Mime type: image/tiff
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 300x300+0+0
  Units: PixelsPerInch
  Type: GrayscaleAlpha
  Base type: Grayscale
  Endianess: LSB
  Colorspace: Gray
  Depth: 16-bit
  Channel depth:
    gray: 16-bit          <--- 16-bit greyscale data
    alpha: 1-bit          <--- 1-bit alpha

8- - 8- :

# Force to at least 8-bit greyscale (but maybe RGB depending on rest of image) plus 8-bit alpha...
# ... by adding a line across the bottom with alpha varying from 0 to 1 (i=x coordinate,w=width)
convert image.tif                                \
   \( +clone -resize x1! -channel A -fx "i/w" \) \
   -append -depth 8 result.tif

:

identify -verbose result.tif | head -16

Image: result.tif
  Format: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
  Mime type: image/tiff
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 300x301+0+0      <--- one extra row
  Units: PixelsPerInch
  Type: GrayscaleAlpha
  Base type: Grayscale
  Endianess: LSB
  Colorspace: Gray
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    gray: 8-bit              <--- 8-bit data
    alpha: 8-bit             <--- 8-bit alpha

8- RGB 8- alpha:

# Force to 8-bit RGB plus 8-bit alpha...
# ...  by adding a coloured line across the bottom with alpha varying from 0 to 1 (i=x coordinate,w=width)
convert image.tif                                      \
   \( +clone -resize x1! -channel RGBA -fx "rand()" \) \
   -append -depth 8 result.tif

:

Image: result.tif
  Format: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
  Mime type: image/tiff
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 300x301+0+0       <--- 1 extra row
  Units: PixelsPerInch
  Type: TrueColorAlpha
  Base type: TrueColor        <--- Truecolour
  Endianess: LSB
  Colorspace: sRGB            <--- RGB
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    red: 8-bit                <--- 8-bit red
    green: 8-bit              <--- 8-bit green
    blue: 8-bit               <--- 8-bit blue
    alpha: 8-bit              <--- 8-bit alpha