How to retrieve an Image in Bitmap format from the Media Library

Question

I am performing image manipulation on Sitecore.

Given the ID of an image, I want to be able to retrieve it in Bitmap format - I am currently at loss on how to perform such an apparently simple task, and not for lack of searching.

EDIT: I am talking about a Bitmap object (System.Drawing.Bitmap), the reason being that I need to process them using a third-party graphic library (AForge).

Answer 1

I found out eventually; this is the code that will convert an image residing in Sitecore's Media Library in System.Drawing.Bitmap format:

var item = new Sitecore.Context.Database.GetItem(imageId);
var mediaItem = Sitecore.Data.Items.MediaItem(item);
var image = new System.Drawing.Bitmap(mediaItem.GetMediaStream());