1. A method for matching images, comprising the steps of: providing a template image and an input image; computing a Laplacian-of-Gaussian filtered log (LOG-log) image function with respect to the template image and the input image to obtain a Laplacian-of-Gaussian filtered template image and a Laplacian-of-Gaussian filtered input image, respectively; minimizing an energy function formed by weighting non-linear least squared differences of data constraints corresponding to locations of both the Laplacian-of-Gaussian filtered template image and the Laplacian-of-Gaussian filtered input image to determine estimated geometric transformation parameters and estimated photometric parameters for the input image with respect to the template image; and outputting the estimated geometric transformation parameters and the estimated photometric parameters for further processing.