Patent ID: 7787692

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for correcting an image of a subject, comprising: a first illuminated image capture unit operable to capture a first reference member image that is an image of a reference member having a plurality of normal directions taken under a first illumination condition; a second illuminated image capture unit operable to capture a second reference member image that is an image of said reference member taken under a second illumination condition, and a subject image that is an image of a given subject taken under said second illumination condition; a shape capture unit operable to capture three-dimensional shapes of said reference member and said subject; a normal direction determination unit operable to determine a normal direction of each region in said first reference member image, said second reference member image and said subject image based on said three-dimensional shapes of said reference member and said subject; a difference calculation unit operable to calculate a color difference in each region between said first and second reference member images for every normal direction; and a subject image correction unit operable to correct a color of each region in said subject image with said color difference for every normal direction.