Tracking white color using python opencv

user3429616 picture user3429616 · Mar 23, 2014 · Viewed 61.8k times · Source

I would like to track white color using webcam and python opencv. I already have the code to track blue color.

_, frame = cap.read()
hsv = cv2.cvtColor(frame, cv2.COLOR_BGR2HSV)

# define range of blue color in HSV
lower_blue = np.array([110,100,100])
upper_blue = np.array([130,255,255])

#How to define this range for white color


# Threshold the HSV image to get only blue colors
mask = cv2.inRange(hsv, lower_blue, upper_blue)
# Bitwise-AND mask and original image
res = cv2.bitwise_and(frame,frame, mask= mask)

cv2.imshow('frame',frame)
cv2.imshow('mask',mask)
cv2.imshow('res',res)

what values should I give as lower bound and upper bound to track white color!!?? I tried changing values and I got other colors but no luck with the white color!!!

is that HSV values or BGR values specified as lower and upper bounds???

PS : I must get the last result as a binary image for further processing!!

Please help me !!!

Answer

Legat picture Legat · Mar 23, 2014

Let's take a look at HSV color space:

enter image description here

You need white, which is close to the center and rather high. Start with

sensitivity = 15
lower_white = np.array([0,0,255-sensitivity])
upper_white = np.array([255,sensitivity,255])

and then adjust the threshold to your needs.

You might also consider using HSL color space, which stands for Hue, Saturation, Lightness. Then you would only have to look at lightness for detecting white and recognizing other colors would stay easy. Both HSV and HSL keep similar colors close. Also HSL would probably prove more accurate for detecting white - here is why:

enter image description here