Image classification is the process of finding common features in images from various classes and applying them to categorize and label them. The main problem of the image classification process is the abundance of images, the high complexity of the data, and the shortage of labeled data, presenting the key obstacles in image classification. The cornerstone of image classification is evaluating the convolutional features retrieved from deep learning models and training them with machine learning classifiers. This study proposes a new approach of “hybrid learning” by combining deep learning with machine learning for image classification based on convolutional feature extraction using the VGG-16 deep learning model and seven classifiers. A hybrid supervised learning system that takes advantage of rich intermediate features extracted from deep learning compared to traditional feature extraction to boost classification accuracy and parameters is suggested. They provide the same set of characteristics to discover and verify which classifier yields the best classification with our new proposed approach of “hybrid learning.” To achieve this, the performance of classifiers was assessed depending on a genuine dataset that was taken by our camera system. The simulation results show that the support vector machine (SVM) has a mean square error of 0.011, a total accuracy ratio of 98.80%, and an F1 score of 0.99. Moreover, the results show that the LR classifier has a mean square error of 0.035 and a total ratio of 96.42%, and an F1 score of 0.96 comes in the second place. The ANN classifier has a mean square error of 0.047 and a total ratio of 95.23%, and an F1 score of 0.94 comes in the third place. Furthermore, RF, WKNN, DT, and NB with a mean square error and an F1 score advance to the next stage with accuracy ratios of 91.66%, 90.47%, 79.76%, and 75%, respectively. As a result, the main contribution is the enhancement of the classification performance parameters with images of varying brightness and clarity using the proposed hybrid learning approach.
