An image processing apparatus , comprising: an extraction color region determination unit which performs a process of automatically determining at least one extraction color region of a first region of an image using color information of the image; and an image processing unit which performs image processing on at least one of: the at least one extraction color region of the image determined by the extraction color region determination unit; and the remaining region of the image excluding the at least one extraction color region, to obtain an output image; wherein the extraction color region determination unit performs a process of assigning every pixel or every block including a predetermined number of pixels in the first region to any one of a plurality of color regions, and determines the at least one extraction color region on the basis of the number of assignments of each of the plurality of color regions; wherein when the extraction color region determination unit determines that there is only one of the plurality of color regions for which the number of assignments exceeds a threshold value, the extraction color region determination unit is configured to identify the one of the plurality of color regions as the at least one extraction color region; and when the extraction color region determination unit determines that there are two or more of the plurality of color regions for which the number of assignments exceeds a threshold value, the extraction color region determination unit is configured to identify a predetermined number of color regions in order of decreasing number of assignments as the at least one extraction color region. an extraction color region determination unit which performs a process of automatically determining at least one extraction color region of a first region of an image using color information of the image; and an image processing unit which performs image processing on at least one of: the at least one extraction color region of the image determined by the extraction color region determination unit; and the remaining region of the image excluding the at least one extraction color region, to obtain an output image; the at least one extraction color region of the image determined by the extraction color region determination unit; and the remaining region of the image excluding the at least one extraction color region, to obtain an output image; wherein the extraction color region determination unit performs a process of assigning every pixel or every block including a predetermined number of pixels in the first region to any one of a plurality of color regions, and determines the at least one extraction color region on the basis of the number of assignments of each of the plurality of color regions; wherein when the extraction color region determination unit determines that there is only one of the plurality of color regions for which the number of assignments exceeds a threshold value, the extraction color region determination unit is configured to identify the one of the plurality of color regions as the at least one extraction color region; and when the extraction color region determination unit determines that there are two or more of the plurality of color regions for which the number of assignments exceeds a threshold value, the extraction color region determination unit is configured to identify a predetermined number of color regions in order of decreasing number of assignments as the at least one extraction color region. <EOS>