A method of adjustable spatial and/or temporal compression of an image including a face includes identifying a group of pixels that correspond to a face within a digitally-acquired image. A first compression portion of the image including the group of pixels is determined. A second compression portion of the image other than the group of pixels is also determined. The first compression portion may be automatically compressed with higher-grade compression than the second compression portion to generate a compressed image including the face, or an option to provided the compressed image including the different grade compressions may be provided.