A method for identifying spatially extended image features that are not pixelwise contiguous in a two-dimensional digital image to be examined, having pixels arranged in a grid shape in the form of a rectangular grid, wherein each pixel of the two-dimensional digital image is assigned respectively two coordinate values (x, y) in accordance with their position in the rectangular grid of the digital image, and the respective coordinate values (x, y) of pixels located next to one another differ in each case by one pixel dimension, - wherein the individual pixels are run through in the order of a regular scan, in which pixels of consecutive lines of the rectangular grid are run through one after the other in the direction of higher y coordinates, in such a manner that in a respective line of the rectangular grid consecutive pixels are run through one after the other in the direction of higher x coordinates, - wherein the following method steps a) to d) are carried out for each of the pixels which have been run through in this manner, namely that a) the color and/or brightness values associated with the respective pixel are checked for the presence of a predetermined criterion, namely for overshooting or undershooting a predetermined threshold value, b) in the presence of this criterion, an environment surrounding the respective pixel of a predetermined size and shape is determined, wherein pixels are only added to the environment as environment pixels (P u) when these environment pixels (P u) have already been checked for marked pixels in their environment, c) at least one environment pixel (P u) is assigned to the environment of the respective pixel, wherein at least one of the coordinate values (x, y) of the environment pixel (P u) differs from the respective coordinate value (x, y) of the pixel by at least two pixel dimensions, and d) already marked environment pixels (P u) are searched for within the environment, and in the presence of a minimum number of marked environment pixels (P u) with the same marking (M 1...M n) within the environment, in particular of at least one marked environment pixel (P u), the same marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, otherwise a new, not yet allocated marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, and - subsequently, after the run-through of the pixels, those quantities of pixels which have respectively been assigned the same marking (M 1...M n) are regarded as image features. - wherein the individual pixels are run through in the order of a regular scan, in which pixels of consecutive lines of the rectangular grid are run through one after the other in the direction of higher y coordinates, in such a manner that in a respective line of the rectangular grid consecutive pixels are run through one after the other in the direction of higher x coordinates, - wherein the following method steps a) to d) are carried out for each of the pixels which have been run through in this manner, namely that a) the color and/or brightness values associated with the respective pixel are checked for the presence of a predetermined criterion, namely for overshooting or undershooting a predetermined threshold value, b) in the presence of this criterion, an environment surrounding the respective pixel of a predetermined size and shape is determined, wherein pixels are only added to the environment as environment pixels (P u) when these environment pixels (P u) have already been checked for marked pixels in their environment, c) at least one environment pixel (P u) is assigned to the environment of the respective pixel, wherein at least one of the coordinate values (x, y) of the environment pixel (P u) differs from the respective coordinate value (x, y) of the pixel by at least two pixel dimensions, and d) already marked environment pixels (P u) are searched for within the environment, and in the presence of a minimum number of marked environment pixels (P u) with the same marking (M 1...M n) within the environment, in particular of at least one marked environment pixel (P u), the same marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, otherwise a new, not yet allocated marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, and a) the color and/or brightness values associated with the respective pixel are checked for the presence of a predetermined criterion, namely for overshooting or undershooting a predetermined threshold value, b) in the presence of this criterion, an environment surrounding the respective pixel of a predetermined size and shape is determined, wherein pixels are only added to the environment as environment pixels (P u) when these environment pixels (P u) have already been checked for marked pixels in their environment, c) at least one environment pixel (P u) is assigned to the environment of the respective pixel, wherein at least one of the coordinate values (x, y) of the environment pixel (P u) differs from the respective coordinate value (x, y) of the pixel by at least two pixel dimensions, and d) already marked environment pixels (P u) are searched for within the environment, and in the presence of a minimum number of marked environment pixels (P u) with the same marking (M 1...M n) within the environment, in particular of at least one marked environment pixel (P u), the same marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, otherwise a new, not yet allocated marking (M 1...M n) is assigned to the respective pixel, and - subsequently, after the run-through of the pixels, those quantities of pixels which have respectively been assigned the same marking (M 1...M n) are regarded as image features.