I've researched a lot and could not find a definitive answer. What kind of image color is most used for pHash input to generate the hash/fingerprint.
For example I have a target image that I'm looking for within a source image, but the target can have many colors and shades, but the shape is always the same (ex: tulips). I have experimented with the image as is, turned gray scale and threshold (pure black and white). I know most pHash libraries will gray scale the input first before the hash is made.
But before I move forward is pre-processing the image color worthwhile? (ignoring size and rotation, and assuming source and target are the same for both)