A computer-implemented defect identifying method of identifying presence or absence of a defect on a surface of a measurement object by capturing, with an image capturing unit, an image of the surface of the measurement object irradiated with pattern illumination in which a bright portion and a dark portion having luminance lower than luminance of the bright portion are arrayed in a predetermined pattern, the method comprising: an image capturing process of acquiring a captured image by capturing, via the image capturing unit, an image of at least a part of a region of the measurement object irradiated with the pattern illumination; a defect candidate detecting process of detecting a defect candidate having a possibility to be a defect on the basis of the captured image; a shape information acquiring process of acquiring shape information that is information of a shape with respect to the image capturing unit as for a position on a surface of the measurement object where a defect candidate is detected; an identifying value acquiring process of acquiring a luminance of the captured image and a luminance contrast which is used to identify a defect of the defect candidate, wherein the luminance contrast is a change rate between luminance of the defect candidate and luminance of a periphery of the defect candidate; a correction value acquiring process of acquiring a correction value corresponding to the shape information by referring to a correction database including a correction value while using, as a shape variable, a shape of the surface of the measurement object with respect to the image capturing unit; a correcting process of correcting either the luminance contrast or a threshold value on the basis of the correction value; and an identifying process of identifying whether or not the defect candidate is a defect by comparing the corrected luminance contrast with the non-corrected threshold value or comparing the non-corrected luminance contrast with the corrected threshold value. an image capturing process of acquiring a captured image by capturing, via the image capturing unit, an image of at least a part of a region of the measurement object irradiated with the pattern illumination; a defect candidate detecting process of detecting a defect candidate having a possibility to be a defect on the basis of the captured image; a shape information acquiring process of acquiring shape information that is information of a shape with respect to the image capturing unit as for a position on a surface of the measurement object where a defect candidate is detected; an identifying value acquiring process of acquiring a luminance of the captured image and a luminance contrast which is used to identify a defect of the defect candidate, wherein the luminance contrast is a change rate between luminance of the defect candidate and luminance of a periphery of the defect candidate; a correction value acquiring process of acquiring a correction value corresponding to the shape information by referring to a correction database including a correction value while using, as a shape variable, a shape of the surface of the measurement object with respect to the image capturing unit; a correcting process of correcting either the luminance contrast or a threshold value on the basis of the correction value; and an identifying process of identifying whether or not the defect candidate is a defect by comparing the corrected luminance contrast with the non-corrected threshold value or comparing the non-corrected luminance contrast with the corrected threshold value.