Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer-readable medium storing program using a distance measure for image correction

Claim 2

An image capturing apparatus for capturing a subject, comprising: an electric flash; an image pick-up system CPU for detecting a brightness of the subject and for determining a first flash intensity and a second flash intensity of the electric flash based on the brightness of the subject; an image pick-up unit for capturing a first image of the subject when said electric flash flashes at the first flash intensity, and for capturing a second image of the subject when said electric flash flashes at the second flash intensity; a distance judging unit for judging a distance to a first partial subject of the subject based on the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit; and an image correction unit for correcting a first partial image of the first partial subject, based on said distance to the first partial subject judged by said distance judging units, wherein said distance judging unit judges the distance to the first partial subject of the subject based on a brightness difference between the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit.

Claim 3

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs gamma correction on the first partial image using a gamma value based on the distance to the first partial subject.

Claim 4

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs gamma correction on the first partial image using a first gamma value when the distance to the first partial subject is shorter than a predetermined value, and performs gamma correction on the first partial image using a second gamma value, which is higher than the first gamma value, when the distance to the first partial subject is longer than a predetermined value.

Claim 5

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs noise rejection on the first partial image at an intensity based on the distance to the first partial subject.

Claim 6

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs noise rejection on the first partial image at a first intensity when the distance to the first partial subject is shorter than a predetermined value, and performs noise rejection on the first partial image at a second intensity, which is higher than the first intensity, when the distance to the first subject is longer than a predetermined value.

Claim 7

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs brightness correction on the first partial image at an intensity based on the distance to the first partial subject.

Claim 8

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said image correction unit performs brightness correction on the first partial image at a first intensity when the distance to the first subject is shorter than a predetermined value, and performs brightness correction on the first partial image at a second intensity, which is higher than the first intensity, when the distance to the first subject is longer than a predetermined value.

Claim 9

The image capturing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said distance judging unit further judges distance to a second partial subject out of the subject based on the first image and the second image, and said image correction unit corrects the second partial image of the second partial subject, which is a part of the first image, at a higher intensity than the first image when the distance to the second partial image is longer than the distance to the first partial image.

Claim 10

An image capturing method for capturing a subject by an image capturing apparatus with an electric flash, comprising steps of: determining a brightness of the subject; determining a first flash intensity and a second flash intensity of the electric flash based on the brightness of the subject; capturing a first image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the first flash intensity; capturing a second image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the second flash intensity; judging a distance to a first partial subject of the subject based on the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit; and correcting a first partial image of the first partial subject, based on the distance to the first partial subject judged by said distance judging step, wherein said distance judging unit judges the distance to the first partial subject of the subject based on a brightness difference between the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit.

Claim 11

An image capturing method for capturing a subject by an image capturing apparatus with an electric flash, comprising steps of: determining a brightness of the subject; determining a first flash intensity and a second flash intensity of the electric flash based on the brightness of the subject; capturing a first image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the first flash intensity; capturing a second image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the second flash intensity; judging a distance to a first partial subject of the subject based on the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit; and correcting a first partial image of the first partial subject, based on the distance to the first partial subject judged by said distance judging step, wherein said distance judging unit judges the distance to the first partial subject of the subject based on a brightness difference between the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit.

Claim 12

A computer readable medium storing thereon a program executed by a computer for an image capturing apparatus with an electric flash for capturing a subject, the program comprising: an image pick-up system module for determining a brightness of the subject and for determining a first flash intensity and a second flash intensity of the electric flash based on the brightness of the subject; an image pick-up module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to capture a first image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the first flash intensity, and a second image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the second flash intensity; a distance judging module for operating the image capturing apparatus to judge a distance to a first partial subject of the subject based on the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit; and an image correction module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to correct a first partial image of the first partial subject, based on the distance to the first partial subject judged by said distance judging module, wherein said distance judging unit judges the distance to the first partial subject of the subject based on a brightness difference between the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit.

Claim 13

A computer readable medium storing thereon a program executed by a computer for an image capturing apparatus with an electric flash for capturing a subject, the program comprising: an image pick-up system module for determining a brightness of the subject and for determining a first flash intensity and a second flash intensity of the electric flash based on the brightness of the subject; an image pick-up module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to capture a first image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the first flash intensity, and a second image of the subject when the electric flash flashes at the second flash intensity; a distance judging module for operating the image capturing apparatus to judge a distance to a first partial subject of the subject based on the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit; and an image correction module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to correct a first partial image of the first partial subject, based on the distance to the first partial subject judged by said distance judging module, wherein said distance judging unit judges the distance to the first partial subject of the subject based on a brightness difference between the first image and the second image both captured by said image pick-up unit.