Patent ID: 8294783

Claim:
An image-pickup apparatus comprising: an identification unit configured to identify acquired photographing information; a chromatic-color selection unit configured to select a predetermined chromatic color for extraction from among a plurality of chromatic colors based on a result of the identification performed by the identification unit; a first determining unit configured to determine whether a value of a white extraction area of the photographing information is greater than or equal to a first threshold value; a first white-balance control unit configured to control white balance by bringing a color of the white extraction area near to an achromatic color when the first determining unit determines that the value of the white extraction area is greater than or equal to the first threshold value; a second determining unit configured to determine whether a value of an area of the selected predetermined chromatic color is greater than or equal to a second threshold value when the first determining unit determines that the value of the white extraction area is smaller than the first threshold value; and a second white-balance control unit configured to control the white balance by bringing the value of the predetermined chromatic-color area near to a predetermined target color value when the second determining unit determines that the value of the predetermined chromatic-color area is greater than or equal to the second threshold value, wherein when the identification unit identifies a face area as the acquired photographing information, the chromatic-color selection unit selects skin color for extraction as the predetermined chromatic color and the second determining unit determines whether a value of an area of the skin color is greater than or equal to a second threshold value, and wherein when the identification unit does not identify a face but identifies a blue sky area as the acquired photographing information, the chromatic-color selection unit selects blue color as the predetermined chromatic color and the second determining unit determines whether a value of an area of the blue color is greater than or equal to a second threshold value.