Message hidden in 1st and 2nd bit plane

Four algorithms to hide the message in 1st and 2nd bit plane of image pixel and its retrieval at the receiver end are developed. Algorithms hide the message in 1st bit and 2nd bit in such a way that effect to original image is same as in the case, when message is hidden in least significant bit (0th bit plane). However these algorithms avoid the some of the disadvantages associated with least significant bit insertion method.