Patent ID: 7633532

Claim:
An image processing method for controlling white balance of image data obtained by an image pickup apparatus according to image data of the image shot by the image pickup apparatus having pixels of a plurality of colors, the image processing method comprising: shooting an image as a first exposure value by the image pickup apparatus; calculating a brightness of the first exposure value for each of divided regions that the image pickup apparatus shot and divided an image into a plurality of regions according to image data by the first exposure value; shooting an image as a second exposure value different from the first exposure value by the image pickup apparatus; calculating a brightness for the second exposure value for each of the divided regions according to image data by the second exposure value; evaluating saturated brightness region that brightness is saturated among the divided regions according to the brightness for the first exposure value and the brightness for the second exposure value; and controlling white balance according to image data of non-saturated brightness region excluding the saturated brightness region among the divided regions.