This paper presents a modified alpha-rooting method for color image enhancement using the two-dimensional quaternion discrete Fourier transform (2D-QDFT). The approach processes all color channels simultaneously, aiming for a more accurate representation of original colors, and introduces a quantitative measurement known as the color enhancement measure estimation (CEME) for evaluating enhancement effectiveness. Experimental results indicate that the proposed quaternion-based enhancement method significantly improves the color representation of images compared to traditional channel-by-channel processing.