Robust Face Detection integrating Novel Skin Color Matching under Variant Illumination Conditions

Integration of skin color property in face detection algorithm is a recent trend to improve accuracy. The existing skin color matching techniques are illumination condition dependent, which directly impacts the face detection algorithm. In this study, a novel illumination condition invariant skin color matching method is proposed which is a composite of two rules to balance the high and low intensity facial images by individual rule. The proposed skin color matching method is incorporated into Haar Feature based Face Detection (HFFD) algorithm for face detection and is verified on a large set of images having variety of skin colors and also varying illumination intensities. Experimental results reveal the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method outperforming other existing methods.