1. A system, comprising: a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory, to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions, to: receive image data representative of image forming elements of an image; determine saliency values for image forming elements by an iterative method comprising: i) computing a norm of the image data; ii) computing values of deviation from the norm of the image data of the image forming elements; iii) identifying the image forming elements corresponding to the image data having magnitudes of deviation that meet a pre-determined condition; iv) assigning saliency values to the identified image forming elements based on the values of deviation; and v) repeating (i)-(iv) using the image data of image forming elements that have no assigned saliency value; and generate a saliency map of the image based on the assigned saliency values.