1. A method, comprising: detecting a face region in an input image ( 24 ); assigning to the face region one or more facial recognition categories each of which is associated with a respective set of one or more different feature extraction modules ( 66 ) and a respective set of one or more different facial recognition matching modules ( 76 ); for each of the facial recognition categories assigned to the face region, processing the input image ( 24 ) with each of the feature extraction modules ( 66 ) associated with the facial recognition category to produce a respective facial region descriptor vector of facial region descriptor values characterizing the face region; and determining a recognition result ( 96 ) between the face region and a reference face image ( 28 ) based on application of the facial recognition matching modules ( 76 ) associated with the facial recognition categories assigned to the face region to the facial region descriptor vectors produced for the face region detected in the input image ( 24 ); wherein the detecting, the assigning, the processing, and the determining are performed by a computer ( 140 ).