Patent ID: 7808555

Claim:
An image display method of adding a special effect to a plurality of still images, changing the plurality of still images in time series, and sequentially displaying the plurality of still images by a slide show, comprising the following steps executed by an image display apparatus: a detection step of detecting a face area from a still image which is subjected to display by the slide show; a determination step of determining a content of the special effect used for a still image of which the face area is detected in said detection step on the basis of (a) a number of the detected face area and (b) a special effect used for a still image to be displayed by the slide show prior to the still image of which the face area is detected; and a display control step of displaying, with the use of the determined special effect, the still image of which the face area is detected, wherein in said determination step, when the number of the face area detected in said detection step from a first still image is one, (1) the special effect is determined to use zoom-in to the face area of the first still image if the special effect used for a second still image to be displayed by the slide show prior to the first still image is zoom-out from the face area of the second still image and (2) the special effect is determined to use zoom-out from the face area of the first still image if the special effect used for the second still image to be displayed by the slide show prior to the first still image is either (i) zoom-in to the face area of the second still image or (ii) panning between a plurality of face areas.