Image processing techniques are described in detail that are used to gain information about the dynamics of wave propagation in excitable media. We focus on a phenomenon called spreading depression (SD) observed in the chicken retina, but the techniques described here concern a large variety of excitable systems. Despite the impressive progress both in SD research of the past 50 years and, during nearly the same period, in the theory of self-organization of wave patterns, there is still little mutual overlap. However, the increasing demands for understanding complex systems, like neuronal tissue, require such theoretical concepts. Arguments are given why the chicken retina is a nearly perfect experimental system for assessing and further developing these concepts.