Patent ID: 7221395

Claim:
A digital camera, comprising: an image pickup unit for imaging a subject to obtain second digital image data of a photographed image; an image storing unit for storing said second digital image data of said photographed image that is obtained with said image pick up unit and first digital image data of a first image to be referenced for image compositing, or display image data of said first image having a lower resolution than said first digital image data; an image display unit for displaying a second image being presently photographed which is not yet obtained as said photographed image, based on display image data which has a lower resolution than said second digital image data and which is not stored in said image storing unit and said first image based on said display image data having a lower resolution, which is obtained from said first digital image data read out of said image storing unit or which is directly read out of said image storing unit; a reference image designating unit with which one or more of partial areas in said first image that is displayed on said image display unit are selected and designated as a reference image area on said image display unit; and an image compositing unit which produces a composite image for display such that a reference image within said reference image area is displayed on said image display unit as superposed on said second image, wherein, after said composite image for display displayed on said image display unit is confirmed, said image pick up unit photographs said second image as said photographed image and obtains said second digital image data thereof, and said image storing unit stores the thus obtained second digital image data of said photographed image to which a second identification information indicating that said photographed image is to be composited is attached, as well as said image storing unit stores said first digital image data or said display image data of said first image, to which a first identification information indicating that said first image is to be composited and a designated area information indicating that said designated one or more of partial areas are said reference image area designated by said reference image designating unit.