1. A method for automatically determining the acceptability of an input image for a predetermined output operation, said method comprising the steps of: (a) identifying one or more important areas in the input image; (b) calculating a salient acceptability feature for each of the important areas using image data; (c) automatically determining the acceptability of the input image from the salient acceptability features of the important areas; and (d) implementing the predetermined output operation based on the acceptability of the input image determined in step (c); wherein the input image is obtained from a digital camera, steps (a)-(d) are performed in the digital camera, and the output operation implemented in step (d) includes a deletion operation, whereby an input image found to be unacceptable is deleted.