Method and apparatus for image feature matching in automatic image stitching processes. Embodiments may provide a computer-implemented method for performing a portion of an automatic image stitching process where feature correspondences are established between pairs of images. In embodiments, a computer-implemented image feature matching component may use a combination of one or more of heuristic techniques, information obtained from the user, file information related to the component images, and/or information obtained from previous feature matching iterations to narrow the number of images that are in a subset of component images to be compared for any given component image, and thus to narrow the number of pairs of component images on which image feature comparisons are performed.