a method and apparatus for image processing to detect changes in a scene includes compressing by computing a wavelet transform of an image corresponding to the scene , thresholding coefficients associated with the transform , and comparing a subset of coefficients with values to detect and indicate a change in the image . values such as averages and a standard deviation therefrom can be generated during training by processing n training images . determining whether a change has occurred includes determining the value of image sets , standard deviation and training sets , and comparing these , based on the type of change to be ascertained , to statistical information .