1. A method, for classifying an image of an individual, comprising: receiving, at a server, from a computing device a photo containing an unknown facial image of the individual; wherein the server includes a plurality of stored reference photos comprising identified facial images of individuals and, for each of a plurality of identified facial images, an identity of the individual and at least one corresponding reference feature vector generated from the identified facial images to provide a plurality of stored reference feature vectors; determining, by the server, a set of variables with respect to facial features of the unknown facial image in the photo that are of interest for classification, wherein the set of variables comprises at least a distance between the center of the eyes to a chin; processing, by the server, the unknown facial image of the individual in the photo to generate a subject feature vector for the individual in the photo based on the set of variables; classifying, by the server, an identity of the unknown facial image, wherein the classifying comprises comparing the subject feature vector to one or more stored reference feature vectors to determine a match to a stored reference feature vector corresponding to the identity of the individual; and sending, by the server, an identifier for the individual to the computing device.