Detection of small object - aphids on plants - python-3.x

Question

I'm currently trying to create a detector of aphids (green and rose) on plants but only using "classic" image processing technique (no neural network).
Here are an image I'm working on:
'aphids.jpg'
I'm working on a code (see below). If you apply it on the image you should have the plants alone. My problem is that I want to isolate the aphids that can be seen on the plants. There are a lot of them but I just want to detect the biggest or the more obvious.
On the code there is an "edges_detect" function I'm currently working on. One of the problem I have is that I can detect some of the aphids as contour but it will also take simple lines...
I tried to drop those line using the hierarchy of contour but it seems those line have inner contour so I can't easily delete them.
I also tried the adjust_gamma and contrast, but it doesn't give that much result.
I'm looking for more ideas. What would you try ?
Thank you in advance !
Here is the code:
import cv2
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
def adjust_gamma(image, gamma=1.0):
# build a lookup table mapping the pixel values [0, 255] to
# their adjusted gamma values
invGamma = 1.0 / gamma
table = np.array([((i / 255.0) ** invGamma) * 255
for i in np.arange(0, 256)]).astype("uint8")
# apply gamma correction using the lookup table
return cv2.LUT(image, table)
def adjust_contrast(image,alpha=1.0,beta=0):
new = np.zeros(image.shape,image.dtype)
for y in range(image.shape[0]):
for x in range(image.shape[1]):
for c in range(image.shape[2]):
new[y,x,c] = np.clip(alpha*image[y,x,c]+beta,0,255)
return(new)
def img_process(img):
(h1, w1) = img.shape[:2]
center = (w1 / 2, h1 / 2)
blur = cv2.GaussianBlur(img.copy(),(5,5),0)
hsv = cv2.cvtColor(blur,cv2.COLOR_BGR2HSV)
#image = img.copy()
#Boundaries to separate plants from the image
l_bound = np.array([20,0,0])
h_bound = np.array([90,250,170])#green
mask = cv2.inRange(hsv,l_bound,h_bound)
res = cv2.bitwise_and(img,img,mask=mask)
#Find contour plants
cnt,_ = cv2.findContours(mask,cv2.RETR_TREE,cv2.CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE)
sort_cnt = sorted(cnt,key=cv2.contourArea,reverse=True)
cnt = [sort_cnt[i] for i in range(len(sort_cnt)) if cv2.contourArea(sort_cnt[i])>300]
cv2.drawContours(res, cnt, -1, (0,255,0), -1)
#Inverse mask to have only the plant in the image
mask2 = cv2.inRange(res,np.array([0,0,0]),np.array([250,250,250]))
mask2 = cv2.bitwise_not(mask2)
res2 = cv2.bitwise_and(img,img,mask=mask2)
#Augment bright/contrast
res2=res2*1.45
res2=res2.astype('uint8')
#Crop
res2 = res2[:-50,int(center[0]-300):int(center[0]+550)]
return res2
def edge_detec(img):
(h1, w1) = img.shape[:2]
center = (w1 / 2, h1 / 2)
blur = cv2.GaussianBlur(img.copy(),(5,5),0)
gray = cv2.cvtColor(blur,cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)
edges = cv2.Canny(gray,30,70,apertureSize = 3)
edges = edges[:-50,int(center[0]-300):int(center[0]+550)]
#kernel = cv2.getStructuringElement(cv2.MORPH_ELLIPSE,(3,3))
#edges = cv2.morphologyEx(edges, cv2.MORPH_GRADIENT, kernel)
cnt,hierarchy = cv2.findContours(edges,cv2.RETR_EXTERNAL,cv2.CHAIN_APPROX_SIMPLE)
cnt = sorted(cnt,key=cv2.contourArea,reverse=True)
listArea = list(map(cv2.contourArea,cnt))
sort_cnt = [x for x in cnt if cv2.contourArea(x)>10]
cv2.drawContours(edges, sort_cnt, -1, (0,255,0), -1)
return edges,center,img
### Debut programme
img = cv2.imread('051.jpg')
while True:
##Put processing function here
img_mod = img_process(img)
cv2.imshow('img',img_mod)
if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == 27:
break
cv2.destroyAllWindows()