Patent ID: 8570407

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: an imaging unit capturing an object image and generating image data; a selecting unit selecting either one of a first photographing mode not performing a correction on a dark part gradation of the image data and a second photographing mode performing the correction on the dark part gradation of the image data; a gradation conversion processing unit performing gradation conversion processing according to a first input-output characteristic when the first photographing mode is selected and performing the gradation conversion processing according to a second input-output characteristic when the second photographing mode is selected, the second input-output characteristic includes a characteristic achieving, for a same input level, an output level lower than the first input-output characteristic and includes a characteristic changing a contrast; a low-pass processing unit generating, when the second photographing mode is selected, a low-pass image by performing a low-pass filter on the image data to which the gradation conversion processing is performed according to the second input-output characteristic by the gradation conversion processing unit; and a correcting unit performing the correction, by using the low-pass image generated by the low-pass processing unit, to improve a lightness in the dark part gradation of the image data to which the gradation conversion processing is performed according to the second input-output characteristic by the gradation conversion processing unit.