1. Within an image acquisition system comprising a non-linear, wide-angled lens and an imaging sensor, a method of enhancing a scene containing one or more off-center peripheral regions, the method comprising: acquiring, using a nonlinear, wide-angled lens and an imaging sensor, an initial distorted image with a large field of view; generating a reconstructed image from the initial distorted image, wherein the reconstructed image includes a plurality of reconstructed regions; wherein each reconstructed region of the plurality of reconstructed regions has a corresponding region quality; wherein the region quality of each reconstructed region of the plurality of reconstructed regions is based on reconstruction factors of reconstructed pixels within the reconstructed region; wherein the reconstruction factor for a reconstructed pixel reflects how much data, from the image sensor, the reconstructed pixel was extrapolated based on; based on the region qualities of said plurality of reconstructed regions, determining one or more reduced quality regions within said plurality of reconstructed regions; determining whether any undetected faces below a size threshold are likely to exist in the one or more reduced quality regions; and in response to determining that any undetected faces below the size threshold are likely to exist in the one or more reduced quality regions, performing the steps of: generating one or more enhanced regions of interest that correspond to the one or more reduced quality regions; and applying face detecting or tracking, or both, to the one or more enhanced regions of interest to confirm presence of a face below the size threshold.