Face detection in complex environments from color images

The detection of faces in color images is important for many multimedia applications. It is the first step for face recognition and it can be used for classifying specific shots such as anchorperson and talk show shots. In this paper, we present an algorithm for the detection of faces in color images. The algorithm works by first detecting areas of skin color, then it applies a top-down and a bottom-up analysis to the skin colored areas. The algorithm has been tested on images from news clips and other television programs. The results show that the algorithm is robust and works even for cases where there are objects in the background that have colors similar to the skin.