Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-021-00566-8

Detection of Optic Disc Localization from Retinal Fundus Image Using

Optimized Color Space
Buket Toptaş1   · Murat Toptaş2 · Davut Hanbay3

Received: 5 April 2021 / Revised: 25 November 2021 / Accepted: 6 December 2021 / Published online: 11 January 2022
© The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine 2021

Abstract
Optic disc localization offers an important clue in detecting other retinal components such as the macula, fovea, and retinal
vessels. With the correct detection of this area, sudden vision loss caused by diseases such as age-related macular degenera-
tion and diabetic retinopathy can be prevented. Therefore, there is an increase in computer-aided diagnosis systems in this
field. In this paper, an automated method for detecting optic disc localization is proposed. In the proposed method, the fundus
images are moved from RGB color space to a new color space by using an artificial bee colony algorithm. In the new color
space, the localization of the optical disc is clearer than in the RGB color space. In this method, a matrix called the feature
matrix is created. This matrix is obtained from the color pixel values of the image patches containing the optical disc and
the image patches not containing the optical disc. Then, the conversion matrix is created. The initial values of this matrix are
randomly determined. These two matrices are processed in the artificial bee colony algorithm. Ultimately, the conversion
matrix becomes optimal and is applied over the original fundus images. Thus, the images are moved to the new color space.
Thresholding is applied to these images, and the optic disc localization is obtained. The success rate of the proposed method
has been tested on three general datasets. The accuracy success rate for the DRIVE, DRIONS, and MESSIDOR datasets,
respectively, is 100%, 96.37%, and 94.42% for the proposed method.

Keywords  Artificial bee colony · Fundus image · Optic disc localization · Eigenvalue

Introduction computer-aided diagnostic systems (CADs) can prevent

vision loss and impairments on fundus structures. CADs are
Glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), and age-related macu- for helping physicians and reducing the error rate. Actually,
lar degeneration (ARMD) are the important retinal diseases these systems are speeding up the identification of param-
which can be the leading cause of blindness. Screening of eters for the diagnosis of the disease.
digital fundus images helps us to detect symptoms of this The location of the OD has an important role in retinal
pathological change. Early detection of these diseases by image analysis. Therefore, optic disc (OD) segmentation
by using CADs is the basic step in the diagnosis of reti-
nal diseases [1]. Many approaches have been presented by
* Buket Toptaş
btoptas@bandirma.edu.tr researchers for OD segmentation, but this topic is still an
active area of research. In addition, the issue is still devel-
Murat Toptaş
mtoptas@bandirma.edu.tr oping to reach better results in terms of robustness and
accuracy. Especially, in recent years, automatic detection
Davut Hanbay
davut.hanbay@inonu.edu.tr of OD localization in retinal images has become popular in
the CADs.
1
Computer Eng. Dept, Engineering and Natural Science For instance, Pathan et al. [2] proposed an automated deci-
Faculty, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Balıkesir, sion tree classifier system for the detection of OD contours. This
Turkey
proposed system is based on two main steps. The first step was
2
Software Eng. Dept, Engineering and Natural Science developed using a directional filter. An effective retinal blood
Faculty, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Balıkesir, Turkey
vessel detection and extraction algorithm is obtained by this fil-
3
Computer Eng. Dept., Engineering Faculty, Inonu University, ter. Then, its adaptive threshold based on a decision tree
44280 Malatya, Turkey

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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
classifier was used for the obtaining of OD contour. Kumar et al.
[3] proposed an improved optic disc and retinal blood vessel
segmentation method. The proposed method consists of five
stages. The first stage used mathematical morphology operation
for pre-processing and retinal blood vessel detection. Then, a
watershed transform is used for OD segmentation. Also, radial-
based function neural network is used for the classification of
the diseases. Uribe-Valencia et al. [4] proposed a method for OD
location in fundus images based on high-intensity information.
The proposed method has been created from four main stages.
These stages are as follows; (i) OD pixel candidate generation
(ii) promising OD region detection, (iii) feature extraction, and
(iv) feature’s set and classification. Reza [5] proposed an idea of
a circle operator that is based on the properties of the optic disc.
The operator was used to reveal the circular image intensity vari-
ation deal with the OD. Firstly, the proposed method predicts
image variation using this operator. Then, this method estimates
the OD-based value maximum-minimum variation. Thakur and
Juneja [6] presented a hybrid approach using the optic cup and
optic disc segmentation for glaucoma disease diagnosis. This
approach is used as a level set approach. The initial contour for
the level set approach is the boundary of the segmented image.
Thereby, the final segmented image was achieved. Gui et al. [7]
proposed an algorithm of optic disc localization. This proposed
algorithm is based on an improved corner detection algorithm.
This corner detection algorithm is based on the feature of the
corner point distribution where the disc is intensive. The Harris
corner detection algorithm is used to segment the corner points
correctly. A method based on histogram matching for localiza-
tion detection of the OD region is presented in [8]. An average
filter is used in this method. The effect of noise is reduced by
using this filter. Then, an 80 × 80 pixel window was designed.
The histogram of each color component in this window is cal-
culated. The mean of this histogram was used as a template and
the center of the OD localization was signed. One of the meth-
ods used to detect the OD region in fundus images is Radon
transform (RT). With this transformation, the bright information
of the OD region is used in the method proposed in [9]. In this
method, the fundus image is divided into sub-images. RT was
applied to each sub-image. High between fundus image intensity
differences were associated with the peaks of OD in the radon
space. These operations were performed on the blue channel of
the fundus image. All sub-images with a peak value higher than
a threshold were considered candidate points containing OD.
Harangi and Hajdu [10] proposed a method based on member
algorithms for automatic detection of OD. In the method, seven
different member algorithms were used, and candidate OD
regions were created. Then, probability maps were created by
member algorithms. A suitable combination of these maps is
then provided to find the correct OD region. These probability
maps were then combined to find the OD region. The purpose
of using member functions is to obtain as much information as
possible about the location of the OD. Wang et al. [11] presented
303
an HSI color space-based approach for automatic segmentation
of the OD region. Here, all fundus images have been converted
to HSI space. Then, morphological closing and Fourier correla-
tion operations were performed on the I channel. The process
up to here was the template matching process. The template
matching method was used to approach the OD center. Then,
the OD region was segmented using the level clustering method.
Ahmed and Amin [12] proposed a candidate-based method on
the green channel of the RGB fundus image to detect the central
position of the OD. In the method, the intensities of the pixels
in the OD region are extracted. Then, the highest mean candidate
approaches were found. For each candidate point, circular
patches of different radii are extracted. Then, the average inten-
sity was calculated for each radius. The point with the average
intensity value calculated as the maximum between all candidate
points is labeled as the center OD. Dashtbozorg et al. [13] pro-
posed an automated method based on a sliding band filter to
segment the OD region. The method was initiated with the pre-
processing step. In the preprocessing step, the segmented vessels
were removed from the image. Then, the sliding band filter was
applied to these images. Firstly, this filter was applied to the
low-resolution images. Thus, the approximate center position of
the OD on the subsampled images was obtained. Then, it was
applied to high-resolution images, and the OD region was
obtained. Mary et al. [14] designed a system to segment the OD
region. The system consists of three basic steps. The first step is
the preprocessing step. The second step is the circular Hough
transform to determine the OD position. The last step is the
Active Contour Model (ACM). Nine different ACM algorithms
are applied to the Hough transform for segmentation of the OD
region. Hausdorff distance criterion was used for the similarity
between the segmentation results and the ground truth. Bharkad
[15] presented an algorithm for automatic segmentation of the
OD region. In the proposed method, an equiripple low pass finite
impulse response (FIR) is used. This filter is designed to sup-
press the dominance of blood vessels. It is also used to enhance
the OD region in the retinal image. The filter offers low compu-
tational complexity. Moreover, this filter is designed to have the
desired frequency response with the most suitable parameter
values. Segmentation of the OD region was performed using
grayscale morphological dilation and median filtering. Kamble
et al. [16] developed a new method to detect the localization of
the OD and fovea. This method is based on one-dimensional
scanned intensity profile analysis. Firstly, fundus images are pre-
processed. Then, 19 scan lines are created on these images. The
aim is to find the “x” and “y” coordinates of the OD by using
the horizontal and vertical scanlines. These scan lines have been
extracted from the intensity profile analyses. Finally, the locali-
zation of the OD region is marked by interpreting the intensity
profile analyses. Zhou et al. [17] presented a new locally statisti-
cal active contour model and structure prior to robustly detecting
the OD and optic cup (OC) localization. Firstly, fundus images
are pre-processed. Then, the region of interest (ROI) of the OD
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region was cropped on pre-processed images. The effect of
intensity inhomogeneity is observed on these images. To deal
with this, the locally statistical active contour model is intro-
duced. Also, a structure prior model is proposed to combine the
OD and OC segmentation results. Naqvi et al. [18] developed a
system that uses gradient independent active contour estimation
to define the boundaries of the OD region. This system performs
localization, homogenization, and boundary estimation of OD.
OD homogenization was performed by inpainting the retinal
vascular network followed by gradient-independent contour
estimation using the variational active contour model. The con-
tour estimation process has become independent of the gradient
information. This has increased the success. Yu et al. [19] pro-
posed an automated system to detect localization and perform
segmentation of OD. Firstly, template matching was used on
fundus images in CIElab space. Thus, candidate OD location
regions are found. A directional matching filter is used to remove
false-positive candidate regions resulting from template match-
ing. In order to segment the OD, the fundus image was preproc-
essed. In pre-processed, the saturation value of the red channel
of the image is checked. Then, blood vessels and bright regions
are removed from the image. A hybrid level clustering approach
is applied to the final image. Finally, the OD region is seg-
mented. The methods mentioned so far are studies using
machine learning and image processing techniques. In recent
years, there is an increase in deep learning–based methods for
optic disc segmentation Tan et al. [20] used a 7-layer convolu-
tional neural network (CNN) architecture to segment optic disc,
vasculature. and fovea. This architecture classified every pixel
into one of the four classes: optic disc, background, fovea, and
blood vessels. This proposed method consists of two parts:
7-layer CNN and background normalization. Yu et al. [21] used
a modified U-Net architecture. This architecture combines a pre-
trained ResNet-34 model as encoding layers with classical
U-Net decoding layers. The purpose of architecture is to detect
glaucoma by segmenting optic disc and optic cub. Liu et al. [22]
used Generative Adversarial Nets (GANs) for optic disc and
optic cup segmentation. This used GANs model consists of a
segmentation net, a discriminator, and a generator. This model
has the purpose of learning a mapping between the fundus
image and the corresponding segmentation maps. Lim et al. [23]
proposed a method for glaucoma detection. This method con-
sists of four stages: (i) localization of a square region around the
optic disc, (ii) the conversion of this region to extend relevant
visual features, (iii) the classification of the converted image
with a CNN, (iv) dividing this map into sections to produce the
predicted disc and cup boundaries. Jana et al. proposed a method
for automatic OD detection and segmentation. Firstly, fundus
images are converted to gray-scale images. These images are
preprocessed, thus eliminating noise on images. Then, edge
detection methods are applied, and the edges of the OD are
determined. After, the Hough transform is used to find the center
of the optic disc. Finally, among all candidate optic disc regions,
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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
the most ideal optic disc region is searched. A supervised
machine learning algorithm is used for this [24]. Tulsani et al.
[25] proposed a new method to perform OD and OC segmenta-
tion. This method is designed for medical images with small
datasets. The method uses Unet +  + , a deep learning model.
Unet +  + segments OD and OC separately. Finally, information
about glaucoma is obtained from fundus images using the OD
and OC segmentation results. Veena et al. [26] used two differ-
ent convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures for OD
and OC segmentation. First, the input images are pre-processed.
In pre-processing, Gaussian filter and image normalization
methods are used. Then, a color-texture descriptor-based mor-
phological approach is applied to these images. Later, region-
based semantic segmentation methods are applied. Thus, the
regions of interest are extracted from the images. Lastly, the
CNN architecture is applied separately for both the OD region
and the OC region. As a result of CNN, OD and OC are
segmented.
When the above studies are examined, it is seen that there
are some terms frequently mentioned together with a retinal
image. These terms seem confusing. For this reason, the terms
used together with a retinal fundus image are briefly defined
in Table 1 for convenience to researchers. The terms given in
Table 1 are shown on the retina image in Fig. 1.
OD usually has a circular and bright shape on fundus images.
However, factors such as retinal diseases, age, and gender diver-
sify the size of OD. Therefore, localization and segmentation of
OD become difficult. Numerous approaches have been presented
for the localization and segmentation of OD. But, the location
of the OD has an important role in retinal images. Therefore,
although many techniques have been proposed in this field, it is
still an active field of research. A new OD localization method
is proposed in this article. The motivation behind the proposed
methodology is to develop a fast, efficient, and robust algorithm
for OD localization as a prerequisite in fundus image analysis.
In this paper, we propose an automated system to detect
OD localization. The proposed system is based on the ABC
algorithm. Firstly, image patches are taken from the OD
regions and non-OD regions of the color retinal images. The
size of these image patches is 25 × 25 pixels. These patches
are in the RGB color space. Therefore, each patch is actu-
ally represented by a size of 25 × 25 pixels matrix. Here, the
third dimension represents the three color channels of the
color space. Secondly, the matrix is created from the color
pixel values of the image patches obtained from the OD and
non-OD regions. This matrix is called the feature matrix.
This matrix is obtained with a total of 500 image patches.
Thirdly, a size of 3 × 3 pixels matrix is created. This matrix
is called the conversion matrix. The initial values of this
matrix are randomly generated. The conversion matrix is
optimized using the ABC algorithm (more detailed explana-
tions are given in the rest of the paper). In the ABC algo-
rithm, the K-means clustering algorithm is used as an error
Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319 305

Table 1  Frequently used terms with together retina images

Name of terms Meaning

Fundus image The fundus image, of the retina expose anatomical structures. These structures are optic disc, fovea, blood vessel,
macula, and lesions
Optic Disc Optic Disc is a circular area. This area is located where the optic nerve connects to the retina. Also, its other name
is the optic nerve head
Optic Cup Optic Cup presents a central area inside the optic disc which is usually brighter than the rest of the disc
Fovea Fovea is located at the center of the macula. The fovea region is darkest with a lack of vasculature [16]
Macula Macula is the area of different and detailed vision. Thus, any abnormality state in this area may affect the quality
of vision. Also, macula is the central region in retina and approximation 3–4 mm in diameter [28]
Exudates Exudates are the most famous symptom of diabetic retinopathy. These symptoms belong to a class of lipid fundus
lesion visible through retinal imaging. They are varied in color from white to yellow with different patterns,
shapes, size, and contrast [29]
Microaneurysms (MAs) Exudates are the most famous symptom of diabetic retinopathy. These symptoms belong to a class of lipid fundus
lesion visible through retinal imaging. They are varied in color from white to yellow with different patterns,
shapes, size, and contrast [30]
Hemorrhages Hemorrhages are one of the earliest symptoms of diabetic retinopathy [31]. If these symptoms are severe, they
may damage retinal tissue and impair vision [32]
Cotton wool spots (CWS) CWS is a lesion. These lesions are present in inner retinal layers. They are white in color and with feathery edges.
They can occur in any disease that affective the arteriolar circulation to the inner retinal layers [33]
Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NDPR) NDPR is an early stage of diabetic retinopathy
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) PDR is an advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy
Glaucoma Glaucoma is one of the major causes of vision loss. The increase of inner pressure inside the eye is adopted the
main of glaucoma [34]
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) ARMD is an eye disease
Neuroretinal Rim Neuroretinal Rim is used in defining the field of the optic disc. It contains the neural elements and is found
between the edge of the optic disc and the optic cup

function. Fourthly, the color fundus images are multiplied
by the optimized conversion matrix. Thus, color fundus
images are moved from RGB space to a new space. Fifthly,
a thresholding method is applied to the images in the new
space. An eigenvalue-based method is used as the thresh-
olding method. Morphological operations are applied to the
result of the thresholding process. Ultimately, the OD local-
ization is determined. The proposed algorithm was tested
in three publicly available datasets to obtain a competitive
performance according to other state-of-the-art methods.
These datasets are DRIVE, MESSIDOR and DRIONS.
The main contributions of the proposed study are.

• Promising success has also been achieved with the MESSI-

DOR datasets, although all image patches were created
and imported from the DRIVE and DRIONS datasets
• In this study, the OD localization region was found. This
region has critical importance in retinal image analysis.
If the OD region is known, other retinal components such
as the macula, fovea, and exudates are found more easily.
• The ABC algorithm introduces a new enhanced color
space for retinal images.
• Contrary to most approaches in the literature, it is not an
application that only operates on the green channel.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Firstly, the

material and method are explained. In this section, the data-
sets used in the proposed method, related work, and the pro-
posed method are presented. Then, the experimental setup
of the proposed approach is given. In this section, the main
stages of the study are explained. Later, results and discussion
are given. In this section, a comparison and discussion of the
experimental results with other literature studies are made.
Fig. 1  Some terms given in Table 1 [27]

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Lastly, the conclusion is given. In this section, the shortcom-
ings and contributions of the method are explained. In addi-
tion, solid research directions for the future are mentioned in
this section.
Materials and Methods
This section includes the dataset used and the related work
behind the proposed method. Each related work is detailed
in the subsequent subsections.
Dataset Used
The proposed method has been tested on three public
datasets. The first of these datasets is the DRIVE dataset.
The DRIVE (Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extrac-
tion) dataset is publicly available. This dataset includes
40 fundus images. Each image is 8-bits per RGB chan-
nel of resolution 768 × 564 pixels. Also, all images have
been JPG compressed and captured by a Canon CR5 non-
mydriatic 3CCD camera with a 45-degree field of view
(FOV). This dataset includes two sets as a test and a train.
Algorithm 1 ABC Algorithm
Initialization:
Initialization a group of food sources.
Determine values to the control parameters.
Repeat
Employed Bee Step:
Produce new food sources and assign all employed bees.
Apply greedy selection process
Onlooker Bee Step:
Choice a solution by probability values and assign onlooker bees.
Apply greedy selection process between food sources
Scout Bee Step:
Keep mind the best food source found so far
Find an abandoned solution for the scout bee
Until Maximum cycle number is arrived
Each set includes 20 images. Both sets have blood vessel
ground-truth images [35]. The MESSIDOR dataset is pub-
licly available. This database includes 1200 fundus images.
Each image was captured using 24-bit RGB at the reso-
lution of 1440 × 960, 2240 × 1448, or 2304 × 1536 pixel.
Also, these images were acquired by three ophthalmol-
ogy departments. Persons in this department use a color
video 3CCD camera. This camera consists of a Topcon
TRC NW6 non-mydriatic retinography with a field-of-view
[36]. The DRIONS dataset is publicly available. This data-
set includes 110 retinal fundus images. Each image has a
resolution of 600 × 400 pixels [37].
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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
ABC Algorithm
The artificial bee colony is an algorithm modeled based on the
behavior of a bee swarm in an environment [38]. ABC algorithm
is an iterative algorithm just like other swarm-based algorithms.
In each iteration, both employed bee and onlooker bees update
potential solutions and calculate the fitness of the new solution.
If the fitness value of this new solution is better than the original
one, then the employed bee uses the new solution. This algo-
rithm contains three base groups of bees. The first group is that
of employee bees’ group which finds food sources. The second
group is onlooker bees which wait in the dance area and make
the decision to choose a food source. The last group is scouts
bees which carry out the stochastic search. The calculation of
the food source mentioned in the algorithm is given in Eq. (1):
xi,j = xjmin + rand(0, 1)(xjmin − xjmax ) (1)
where i = 1, 2,…,SN and SN parameter represents the number
of food sources and j = 1,2,…,D and D parameter represents the
dimensionality of the search space. Also, rand (0,1) is the ran-
dom variable uniformly distributed between (0,1). xjmax and xjmin
are predefined minimum and maximum values of parameter j.
ABC algorithm is given in Algorithm 1 [39].
K‑Means Clustering Algorithm
The K-means algorithm is a clustering algorithm. This
algorithm is an unsupervised algorithm and one of the
classical and most popular used clustering algorithms.
The aim is to find k clustering from the data based on the
objective function Distance(x,y) given in Eq. (2):
√
∑N ( )2
Distance(x, y) = xi − yi (2)
i=1
where Distance(x,y) parameter is the squared Euclidean distance,
and i represents cluster centroid and j represents data point. N
Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319 307

Algorithm 2 K-Means algorithm

Input: D, training users; k, the number of clustering
Output: {c1,c2,…,c3}, k centroids
Initialization:
Step1: Randomly determine the k cluster centroids.
Step2: Choose the k users at random from D, as the initial points.
Step3: Send each point to the group with the closest cluster centroid.
Step4: By using the Euclidean distance, measure the minimum distance between the data object and each
cluster centroid point. Then, calculate the mean values of all clusters and update centroid value to the mean
value of that cluster.
Repeat step2 until the centroids do not change anymore in the predefined number of iteration or a maximum
number of iterations have been reached.

represents the total number. Depending on the distance, the
points are assigned to the cluster at a minimum distance to the
center. Then, the data points are clustered. In the next step, the
mean of all points relating to the cluster is found. This mean value
is set as the new cluster centroid for the subsequent iteration. This
process is repeated until the centroid achieved is the same as that
of the previous iteration. The error function reduces as a result of
the K-meaning clustering algorithm. This algorithm is known for
using big datasets and its speedy convergence to local optimal.
The K-means algorithm is mentioned in Algorithm 2.
Proposed Methodology
The proposed method has been designed with inspiration
from the previous study [40, 41]. However, this method
based on the ABC algorithm is applied for the first time
on fundus images. A flow chart of the method proposed in
Fig. 2 is given. The algorithm of the method given in the
second step in Fig. 2 is as given in Algorithm 3.
The parameter values used in the ABC algorithm are
available in Table 2.
Obtaining a Feature Matrix
Fundus images are in RGB color space. Image patches
are obtained from the OD and non-OD regions of the
fundus images. The size of these patches is 25 × 25 × 3.
Here, the third dimension represents the R, G, and B
channels in the RGB color space. In fundus images, ran-
dom image patches are selected from non-OD regions.
With this random selection, different variations of
image patches are obtained and thus contributed to the
enlargement of the sampling space. Image patches of
both OD and non-OD regions are resized and made two-
dimensional. The size of the two-dimensional matrix
is 625 × 3. The purpose of reducing from three dimen-
sions to two dimensions is that the conversion matrix is
two-dimensional. The color pixel values of these image
patches obtained from two different regions are merged.

Algorithm 3 Pseudo Code Of Proposed ABC Algorithm [40]

Initialization:
Generate the first population randomly
Start employee bee phase
In this phase, produce new food sources based on neighborhood relations
Calculate the cost function for the new food source
If the new food source is better than the current food source, update the food source position (updated W)
Calculate the selection possibilities
Start the onlooker bee phase
Determine the food sources according to the selection possibilities
Head for to the best food sources based on neighborhood relationships
Calculate the cost function for the new food source
If the food source you find is better than the previous food source, update the food source position (updated
W)
Increase the abandon counter by 1 if the food sources are not better
Start the scout bee phase
If the abandon count is greater than the limit value
Forget everything and create a new population
Reset the abandon count
Memorize the best food source position (solution) and exit

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Fig. 2  Flow chart

Thus, a 1250 × 3 matrix is created. This matrix is called other. That is, if the first half of the matrix belongs to
the feature matrix. Merging is the process of adding the the OD region, the other half belongs to the non-OD
color pixel values of the image patches one after the region. The image patches obtain to create the feature

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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
Table 2  Used parameters for ABC algorithm
Parameters Values
Values of decision variables 9
Number of colony 5
Lower limit −10
Upper limit 10
Maximum cycle number of iterations 50
The upper limit of the acceleration coefficient 0.5
matrix are shown in Fig. 3. The feature matrix is built
with 500 image patches.
Obtaining a Conversion Matrix
The initial values of the conversion matrix are generated
randomly. This matrix is a 3 × 3 matrix. The reason for
choosing this dimension is that the original fundus images
are of size mxnx3. The conversion matrix was chosen in
3 × 3 so that the size of the original fundus image does
not change as a result of the transformation. This matrix,
whose initial values are randomly generated, is updated
with the ABC algorithm and becomes optimal when it
reaches the stop criteria. In the proposed method, the con-
version matrix corresponds to the food source position
update of the bee. (See Algorithm 3.) The optimal conver-
sion matrix obtained in Eq. (3) is given:
⎛ −5.2802 −5.9726 −1.1628 ⎞
W = ⎜ 6.4346 −4.6705 −1.0061 ⎟
⎜ ⎟
⎝ 10.5515 −7.9098 −3.7971 ⎠
Error Calculation
The purpose of this stage is to calculate the error value that
occurs when pixel values belonging to both OD and non-
OD images are clustered. In this stage, the K-means cluster-
ing algorithm is used for three color channels of the feature
matrix. Euclidean distance is used to calculate the distance
between data points and cluster centers. For each color chan-
nel, the error values e1 and e2 are calculated by Eq. (4):
Fig. 3  First row is represented OD patch; second row is represented non-OD patch
309
∑k=625 ∑k=1250
e1 =
i=1
ei , e2 =
i=626
ei (4)
where e1 parameter and e2 represent the number of misclassi-
fied pixels. e1 occurs in the first half and e2 in the second half.
These pixels are taken from the converted feature matrix.
The evaluated e1 and e2 values for each channel are summed
as in Eq. (5):
∑3
E= e
i=1 1i
+ e2i (5)
where E is the total number of the misclassified pixels.
Moving to New Space
With the optimal conversion matrix, the preprocessed data-
set image is linearly multiplied to move the image into a new
space. The contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization
(CLAHE) method is used in the pre-processing phase. This
method has been used as a pre-processing method in many
studies [4, 42, 43]. This method is applied to increase the
contrast of the images. The CLAHE method works on small
image regions. These small regions are called tiles. The
CLAHE method works on this small region instead of the
whole image. The size of tiles, the limitation of contrast
increase, and the number of bins used for the histogram
is set respectively, 8 × 8 0.001, 256. The histogram shape
used for the image tiles is “uniform” [43]. In this study,
the CLAHE method was applied to each channel of color
fundus image separately. Since each channel has a different
(3) contrast, the CLAHE method is applied to each channel
separately. The outputs of this operation on the three chan-
nels are shown in Fig. 4.
Each preprocessed channel is vectorized. By com-
bining these channels, the enhanced image vector is
obtained. The image vector is MN × 3 in size. (i.e.,
MN = m × n). The conversion matrix is then linearly
multiplied by this enhanced image vector. As a result
of the multiplication, the images move to a new color
space. These images in the new space are used to normal-
ize. This transformation is visually given in Fig. 5. The
purpose of normalization is to express the image pixel
values in a certain range. Normalization was carried
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310 Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319

Fig. 4  Pre-processed image. a Original fundus image, CLAHE applied to R, G and B channels respectively (b, c, d)

( )
out between 0 and 255. The mathematical expression chi − minnorm
of the normalization process in a channel is expressed NormY_chi = (6)
maxnorm − minnorm
in Eq. (6). The image in the new normalized space is
reshaping to the original size as (MN × 3 → m × n × 3). where the minnorm parameter represents the minimum-valued
These operations are given in Algorithm 4: pixel value of the corresponding channel and the maxnorm

Fig. 5  Channel reshape

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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
Fig. 6  The first row shows the original image. The second row shows
the images in the new color space, the third row shows the first chan-
nel images in the new space, the fourth row shows the second channel
parameter represents the maximum-valued pixel value of
the corresponding channel. The parameter NormY_chi rep-
resents a normalized channel. The parameter chi represents
the i’th channel. The i parameter can take the value 1,2,3
respectively.
The normalized image matrix in the new space is given
in Eq.  (7). The parameter k represents the minimum-
valued pixel value of the corresponding channel:
⎡ NormYch1 ⎤
NormY2D = ⎢ NormYch2 ⎥ × 255 (7)
⎢ ⎥
⎣ NormY ch3 ⎦MNx3
where NormY_2D parameter represents the MN × 3 dimen-
sional image in the normalized new color space.
In Fig. 6, the results of the transformation of two ran-
domly selected images belonging to the data set [35–37]
311
images in the new space, the fifth row shows the third channel images
in the new space. Images of a, b DRIVE datasets. c, d Images of the
MESSİDOR database. e, f are images of the DRIONS dataset
in the new color space are shown. In addition, this figure
shows all three channels of data set images in the new
space. When the images are examined carefully, it is seen
that the OD region is very clear and the vascular struc-
tures are clearly seen. Another point to note in this figure
is that the color pixel values of the fundus image are
very close to each other in the RGB color space. The OD
region has bright color pixels. However, it contains blood
vessels. For this reason, it has taken its share of the red
hue throughout the image. The color pixel values of the
OD region are separated from the rest of the image with
the ABC algorithm. Therefore, the OD region showed
itself with a dominant hue in the new color space. Here,
the ABC algorithm aimed to reach the optimal result
by using the color pixel values (i.e., feature matrix) of
the image patches taken from two different regions. In
the most optimal result, the conversion matrix that will
13
312
separate the color pixels in the new color space has been
reached.
Experimental Setup
Thresholding is performed on fundus images in the
new space to obtain OD localization. This thresholding
process is based on eigenvalues. After this process, a
morphological procedure is applied, and candidate OD
regions are found. In the thresholding process, the eigen-
values of the two-dimensional image in the new space
are obtained. The two-dimensional image in the new
space is represented by the parameter Y_2D. This image
has three eigenvalues (λ_1, λ_2, λ_3). A maximum
eigenvalue is calculated for each image. The threshold
image is obtained by multiplying the current channel
of the image by the maximum eigenvalue. With this
thresholding process, OD candidate regions are found.
Figure 7 shows the threshold results of various images
of the datasets [35–37]. In fact, what this paper tries to
present here is to show that the OD region is segmented
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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
by applying a threshold method to an image in the new
color space. Then, the thresholded images are converted
into black and white images, and morphological opera-
tions are applied. The morphological operations consist
of four steps. All objects smaller than 300 pixels are first
deleted from the image. Then a circular structure with a
radius of 15 pixels is created. In the third step, the dila-
tion operator is applied. Dilation and Erosion processes
are given in Eq. (8). In the last step of the morphological
operations, the circular value is checked. Finally, the
OD region is marked on the morphologically processed
images. The operations given at this stage are given in
Algorithm 5.
[ ]
I_bw2 = I_bw1 ⊕ se θse (8)
where the parameter se represents the structural element.
The parameter I_bw 1 represents latest the black-white
image. Dilation operation is denoted by ⊕ . Erosion opera-
tion denote by Ɵ. The parameter I_bw2 represents a mor-
phological operation applied image.
Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319 313

Fig. 7  Thresholding results of images in new color space. a, b represent images of the DRIVE dataset. c, d represent views of the DRIONS data-
set. e, f represent images of the MESSIDOR database

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314 Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319

Fig. 8  DRIVE dataset. First row shows the first five images belonging to the test set. Second row is show first five image belong to train set

The circularity value of each candidate is examined in where the CV parameter represents the circularity value.
order to obtain the estimated result among the candidate
OD regions. Considering the geometric structure of the
OD, it actually has a circular structure. Candidate regions
Result and Discussion
are expected to be circular or close to circular in shape. For
this, objects that do not fit the circular structure and are
Three publicly available datasets were used: DRIVE [35],
smaller than 0.35 are removed from the candidate region.
MESSIDOR [36], and DRIONS [37]. Figures 8, 9 and 10
Here, the parameter 0.35 is a parameter found with experi-
show some examples of the detected OD from each dataset.
mental results and represented circularity. In other words,
The blue sign presents the detected optic disc location for
it was observed on approximately 100 images that objects
each image. When the blue sign intersects the marked OD
smaller than 0.35 are not OD regions. For the remaining
region (green circle), it is accepted as a correct location.
candidate regions, the object meeting the maximum round-
This proposed method has moved fundus images from
ness criterion is selected as the OD region. The circularity
RGB color space to a new color space. The advantage of
value of an object is calculated as given in Eq. (9):
this new color space is that the OD region can be easily
( )
CV = (4 × Area × 𝜋)∕ Perimeter 2 (9) obtained with a threshold value. In this section, we have
compared the proposed method with other state-of-the-art

Fig. 9  First ten images of belong to Base31 folder in Messidor dataset

13
Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319 315

Fig. 10  DRIONS dataset images 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, and 101, respectively

methods examined in the literature to validate its accuracy
and robustness. Table 3 presents the performance of the OD
localization compared with other state-of-the-art methods
examined in the literature. In this table, only the detection
of OD localization is emphasized. The success rate of the
method is measured to evaluate the algorithm. The suc-
cess rate is the ratio of the number of OD localizations we
marked in the fundus images to the number of images in all
datasets. In other words, if the OD region is marked cor-
rectly in the image, it is a success. For example, the OD
localization of the 40 fundus images for the DRIVE dataset
is correctly marked. Therefore, the success rate is 100%.
Since we examined the success of localization detection and
not the segmentation of the OD, we only considered the
success rate.
There are four images that fail in the DRIONS database.
These images are image_065, image_084, image_102, and
image_110 named images. The image_084 failed because
the OD candidate regions are lower than the circularity value
(see Algorithm 5).
At least two candidate regions have emerged in the
images of image_065, image_102, and image_110. Of these
candidate regions, the region with the maximum circularity
value is marked as the OD region. In these images, candidate
region selection was chosen incorrectly in the morphologi-
cal processing step (Fig. 11). OD candidate regions in the
image named image_065 are shown in white. These results
show that the morphological processing steps affect the suc-
cess rate.
There are unsuccessful results in the MESSIDOR dataset.
This is due to two main problems. The MESSIDOR dataset
contains images with many different color tones. Therefore,
there are images in this dataset with almost no OD region.
This is the first problem. This problem negatively affects
the success rate. Because, the OD region is not different
from the rest of the fundus image. Figure 12 shows some of
these images. The second problem is that the images in the
dataset have different colors and intensities. This proposed
method is created independent of the dataset. However, the
feature matrix is limited to the color pixel values of 500
image patches. Therefore, the color pixel separation of the
OD region of the MESSIDOR dataset images in the new
color space has become difficult. However, the proposed
method achieved satisfactory success even with this varied
dataset. The color variation of the MESSIDOR dataset is
presented in Fig. 13 with a few images.

Table 3  Comparison of the performance of proposed method against other state-of-the-art studies

Author Method Dataset(s) used Performance measure

Toman et al. [44] Weighted majority voting in OD detection MESSIDOR 98%

Yu et al. [19] Directional Matched Filtering and Level Sets MESSIDOR 99.1%
Lupascu et al. [45] Texture descriptors and a regression based a method DRIVE 95%
Rodrigues and Marengoni [46] Wavelets, mathematical morphology and Hessian-based DRIVE 94.65%
multi-scale filtering
Naqvi et al. [18] Used the variational active contour model DRIONS 96.72%
MESSIDOR 98.60%
Rangayyan et al. [47] Gabor filters and phase portrait analysis method DRIVE 100%
Zhu et al. [48] Hough Transform DRIVE 90%-95%
Proposed Method DRIVE 100%
MESSIDOR 94.42%
DRIONS 96.37%

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Fig. 11  An OD region eliminated as a result of morphological processes
Fig. 12  OD region unclear images
Fig. 13  Fundus images with different intensity and color
Due to the problems caused by the images presented in
Figs. 12 and 13, the MESSIDOR dataset showed a competi-
tive performance compared to the state-of-the-art methods.
Experimental results were obtained from fundus images of
a new color space that was created with a limited number
of images independent of the dataset. What these results
show is the performance of the new color space. Therefore,
unlike the state-of-the-art methods, fundus images have
been moved from the RGB color space. The new space can
change when the number and variety of images of the feature
matrix are increased. A limited number of image patches
are used in this article. In these conditions, it is promising
that the method will perform competitively. When result
for the DRIONS dataset is compared with the results of the
state-of-the-art methods, there is a hard competition. This
hard competition has arisen as the morphological correction
process is applied since a standard procedure to every image
for each dataset, for the reason that the morphological post-
processing reduces the performance of the proposed method
in the DRIONS dataset.
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Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
Conclusion
In this article, a method that detects the OD localization is
proposed. Firstly, patches are taken from OD and non-OD
regions. These patches are of size 25 × 25 × 3 pixels. Here,
the expression ×3 represents three channels of the RGB color
space. Therefore, patches can also be expressed in the size of
625 × 3 pixels. The color pixels of the patches are combined
one after another. (OD at top, non-OD at bottom, or vice
versa). The combined matrix is called the feature matrix.
This matrix is a matrix size of 1250 × 3 pixels. Then, a 3 × 3
matrix of randomly generated initial values is created. This
matrix is called the conversion matrix. This matrix is opti-
mized using the ABC algorithm with the feature matrix. In
the ABC algorithm, K-means clustering is used as the error
function. Images are moved to new color space when the
optimized conversion matrix is applied to fundus images.
The threshold value is applied to images moved to the new
space. The eigenvalue is used during the thresholding phase.
OD localization is obtained by performing morphological
Journal of Digital Imaging (2022) 35:302–319
processing on the thresholded images. Success rate obtained
with the proposed method for OD localization determination
is 100% for DRIVE, 96.37% for DRIONS, and 94.42% for
MESSIDOR. This algorithm has been tested on three public
databases.
The limitations of this proposed method are that it cannot
always accurately detect OD localization in retinal images
which dark region OD. In this case, variable results can be
obtained on dark dataset images. Therefore, we can focus on
improving the proposed algorithm to overcome this short-
coming in the future.
The scope of the proposed method is to pioneer computer-
aided diagnostic systems on retinal images. These systems
may be systems that offer OD segmentation, detection of the
macula, fovea, and retinal lesions. These systems make it
easier for the diagnosis of various retinal diseases. This pro-
posed method for the detection of OD localization presents a
preliminary stage for computer-assisted diagnosis of retinal
diseases. Thus, when the OD localization is marked on fun-
dus images, the retinal blood vessels spread from there can
be used. This information provides segmentation of retinal
blood vessels. The macula and fovea area are located at a
certain distance from the OD localization. Knowing the OD
localization makes it easier for the detection of these retinal
components. The mentioned retinal components enable the
detection of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma,
and high blood pressure. Moreover, this proposed system can
be used to mark OD localization in the treatment and methods
of retinal examinations. The average results of the proposed
method show a competitive performance when compared to
the state-of-the-art studies in all databases. The proposed
method is promising in terms of quantitative measurements.
The reliable results of the new color space proposed in this
method encourage the application of analysis of retinal com-
ponents, which is the subject of our future research.
In the future, segmentation of the most important reti-
nal component, OD, is our first goal. Therefore, we aim
to detect OD in the proposed new color space as robust
and reliable. Since we know the OD localization, it will
save time to reach the exact shape of the OD. The OD
region is important in achieving glaucoma disease. In
other words, knowing the localization of OD is a pre-
liminary study for glaucoma disease that we will study
in the future.
Funding  This study was funded by the Inonu university sci-
entific research and coordination unit with the Project number
FDK-2020–2109.
Declarations  images. Biomed. Signal Process. Control. 31: 483–498, 2017.
Ethical Approval  This article does not contain any studies with human
participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
317
Consent to Participate  Not applicable.
Consent for Publication  Not applicable.
Conflict of Interest  The authors declare no competing interests.
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