1. A face prototype synthesis method performed by an automated image processing system, the method comprising: providing an image of a person's face to the automated image processing system, said image of the person's face comprising a plurality of pixels, said image of the person's face including pixels corresponding to a first eye and pixels corresponding to a second eye on the person's face; automatically creating a plurality of cropped images based upon said image of the person's face in accordance with a plurality of predetermined facial positions for a center position of the first eye and a plurality of predetermined facial positions for a center position of the second eye, each cropped image within the plurality of cropped images including pixels corresponding to the first eye and pixels corresponding to the second eye, each cropped image within the plurality of cropped images corresponding to a different facial position for at least one of a center position of the first eye and a center position of the second eye with respect to another cropped image within the plurality of cropped images; automatically creating a plurality of face prototype images by applying a set of lighting masks and a set of warping masks to each cropped image within the plurality of cropped images, each face prototype image within the plurality of face prototype images including pixels corresponding to the first eye and pixels corresponding to the second eye, each face prototype image within the plurality of face prototype images representing a possible appearance of the person's face; and storing the plurality of face prototype images for later analysis and comparison with a captured image to be recognised or verified, wherein creating the plurality of cropped images, creating the plurality of face prototype images, and storing the plurality of face prototype images are performed by the automated image processing system.