Face detection based on skin color in video images with dynamic background

Abstract

Face detection is a problem in image processing that has been extensively studied in the last decades. This fact is justified due to the innumerous applications this subject has in computer vision. In this paper we present a technique to detect a face in an image where several persons may be. The images were recorded from news broadcasts from different networks. First, a model based on normalized RGB color space was built to define a skin color model: skin regions were selected from several face images and extracted statistical characteristics. Second, each pixel of the image was classified in two categories: skin and not skin. Third, the face region was identified. A MATLAB function was created to detect faces of any size, achieving high detection rates. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.