ResNet-50 for Flower Image Classification: A Comparative Study of Segmentation and Non-Segmentation Approaches

Flower image classification poses a challenge in digital image processing, requiring effective methods for feature extraction and classification. The aim of this research is to improve the accuracy of flower image classification by employing ResNet-50 for feature extraction, with and without segmentation, and evaluating the effectiveness of various classification algorithms. The dataset consists of images of Calendula and Coreopsis flowers, totaling 2,025 samples. Four segmentation techniques-Canny, Thresholding, Otsu, and Mean Shift-along with a non-segmentation approach are applied. The features extracted using ResNet-50 are classified with Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree, and K-Neighbors Classifier (KNN). Performance evaluation is conducted using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score with 5-fold cross-validation. The results show that SVM delivers the best performance in most scenarios. The highest accuracy in segmentation scenarios was achieved with the Mean Shift technique at 0.91, while the non-segmentation approach yielded the highest accuracy of 0.95. The non-segmentation approach proves more effective, indicating segmentation is not always required for high classification accuracy with ResNet-50. This study shows that ResNet-50, especially without segmentation, can significantly improve flower image classification compared to traditional methods, opening opportunities for more efficient systems.