Abstract: The invention relates to a method and device for the detection of changes in illumination for vision systems between a digital image of an area and a digital image of a background model of said region of study of the same size, wherein, based on such images, at least one blob of a region which reflects the differences between the background model and the current or detection image of the area is selected by segmentation techniques, the spatial correlation between the pixels of the blob in the detection image and in the background model image being found. According to the correlation with respect to a threshold value thereof, this change is associated with a change in illumination. An implementation suitable for video surveillance systems is provided together with the previous device.