A tone correcting apparatus for correcting a tone of an image, the apparatus comprising: a correction unit configured to correct a brightness of pixels in the image, a first determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined first brightness levels a focused block region corresponds to based on brightness information indicating brightness of each of the pixels included in the focused block region, wherein the focused block region is selected from among a plurality of block regions that are set to cover an entire area of the image; a second determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined second brightness levels an adjacent block region corresponds to based on brightness information indicating brightness of each of the pixels included in the adjacent block region, wherein the adjacent block region is at least one of the block regions that is adjacent to the focused block region; a third determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined third brightness levels a combination of the determined first brightness level and the second brightness level corresponds to, wherein the third brightness levels being previously defined to be more detailed than the first brightness level and the second brightness level, a first characteristic setting unit configured to set a first correction characteristic for each of the block regions, the first correction characteristic being selected from among a plurality of correction characteristics in accordance with the third brightness level determined by the third determination unit for the respective block regions; and wherein a second characteristic setting unit configured to set a second correction characteristic for the pixels included in the image, the second correction characteristic being derived from the first correction characteristic, and to set the first correction characteristic for a center pixel in each of the respective block regions and to set the second correction characteristic for the other pixels included in the image except the center pixel, the correction unit being configured to correct the brightness of pixels included in the focused block region based on the combination of the first brightness level determined by the first determination unit and the second brightness level determined by the second determination unit, by correcting the brightness of the pixels included in the image based on the correction characteristics. a correction unit configured to correct a brightness of pixels in the image, a first determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined first brightness levels a focused block region corresponds to based on brightness information indicating brightness of each of the pixels included in the focused block region, wherein the focused block region is selected from among a plurality of block regions that are set to cover an entire area of the image; a second determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined second brightness levels an adjacent block region corresponds to based on brightness information indicating brightness of each of the pixels included in the adjacent block region, wherein the adjacent block region is at least one of the block regions that is adjacent to the focused block region; a third determination unit configured to determine to which one of a plurality of previously defined third brightness levels a combination of the determined first brightness level and the second brightness level corresponds to, wherein the third brightness levels being previously defined to be more detailed than the first brightness level and the second brightness level, a first characteristic setting unit configured to set a first correction characteristic for each of the block regions, the first correction characteristic being selected from among a plurality of correction characteristics in accordance with the third brightness level determined by the third determination unit for the respective block regions; and wherein a second characteristic setting unit configured to set a second correction characteristic for the pixels included in the image, the second correction characteristic being derived from the first correction characteristic, and to set the first correction characteristic for a center pixel in each of the respective block regions and to set the second correction characteristic for the other pixels included in the image except the center pixel, the correction unit being configured to correct the brightness of pixels included in the focused block region based on the combination of the first brightness level determined by the first determination unit and the second brightness level determined by the second determination unit, by correcting the brightness of the pixels included in the image based on the correction characteristics.