1. An automated, computerized method for processing an image, comprising the steps of: providing an image file depicting an image, in a computer memory; assembling a feature vector for the image file, the feature vector containing information regarding a likelihood that a selected pair of regions of the image file are of a same intrinsic characteristic; providing a classifier derived from a computer learning technique; computing a classification score for the selected pair of regions of the image file, as a function of the feature vector and the classifier; and classifying the regions as being of the same intrinsic characteristic, as a function of the classification score.