Improved adaptive image retrieval with the use of shadowed sets.

•The underlying originality of the proposed method relies on the application of the shadowed sets theory in image retrieval, which is a first involving shadowed sets in category of problems.•Techniques of automatic parameter selection are developed for automatically obtaining shadowed regions by combining saliency detection and edge detection.•A three-way division approach of images is presented to automatically split an image into three regions: salient regions, non-salient regions, and shadowed regions.•The salient regions and the shadowed regions are jointly used as the correctly detected regions to improve performance of segmentation and accuracy of retrieval.