1. A method for ranking edge regions representing objects in an image based on their immediacy with respect to a reference, the method comprising steps of: receiving an image including edge regions; determining a ranking reference in the image with respect to which ranks the edge regions; determining an edge region reference on each edge region; determining an offset of the edge region reference with respect to the ranking reference; normalizing the offset for each edge region to determine a set of normalized offsets; ranking the set of normalized offsets, whereby the ranked normalized offsets provide a ranking of the immediacy of objects represented by the edge regions.