1. An automated, computerized method for processing an image, comprising the steps of: providing an image file depicting an image defined by image locations, in a computer memory; identifying spatio-spectral information for the image, the spatio-spectral information defining spectral relationships, expressed in color bands, among contiguous image locations, and the spatial extent of the spectral relationships, as relevant to a single material and an illumination flux characteristic of the image; and utilizing the spatio-spectral information to identify spatio-spectral operators in the image, the spatio-spectral operators being constrained relative to one another as a function of the single material and the illumination flux characteristic in an operation to segregate the image into intrinsic images such that the intrinsic images each comprise a representation of one of the single material or the illumination flux, expressed as a separate, color band representation for the one of the single material or the illumination flux, independent of the other of the single material or illumination flux.