Patent ID: 8325395

Claim:
An apparatus for processing an image, comprising: a classifying unit that classifies at least part of a plurality of pixels configuring an image into a plurality of groups, brightness and color information being defined for each of the pixels configuring the image, the classifying unit classifying each pixel in the at least part of the plurality of pixels into either one of the groups according to the brightness of the each pixel, the color information of each pixel defining a hue value of the each pixel; a representative color information determination unit determining representative color information for each of the groups based on the color information of pixels that belong to the each group, the representative color information for each group defining a representative hue value of the hue values of the pixels that belong to the each group; and a judging unit that judges whether or not to perform a white balance correction onto the image by judging whether or not the representative hue values determined for at least part of the plurality of groups are distributed within a predetermined angle width, the at least part of the plurality of groups including two or more groups, the judging unit determining not to perform the white balance correction if the representative hue values for the at least part of the groups are distributed over an angle width that is broader than the predetermined angle width.