Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and recording medium

An image processing method comprising:

• an image acquisition step of acquiring a plurality of images;
• an object recognition step of recognizing an object of interest existing in any one of the images acquired by the image acquisition step;
• a background evaluation step of evaluating an image existing in an image area other than an image area showing the object of interest recognized in the object recognition step;
• an object evaluation step of evaluating any image existing in the image area showing the object of interest recognized in the object recognition step;
• an image selection step of selecting a plurality of images from the images in accordance with results of the evaluations performed in the background evaluation step and object evaluation step;
• and
• an image composition step of composing a new image by using the images selected by the image selection unit.

A recording medium in which an image processing program for generating a new image from a plurality of images is electronically recorded, the program describing an image acquisition process of acquiring a plurality of images;

• an object recognition process of recognizing an object of interest existing in any one of the images acquired in the image acquisition process;
• a background evaluation step of evaluating an image existing in an image area other than an image area showing the object of interest recognized in the object recognition process;
• an object evaluation process of evaluating any image existing in the image area showing the object of interest recognized in the object recognition process;
• an image selection process of selecting a plurality of images from the images in accordance with results of the evaluations performed in the background evaluation process and object evaluation process;
• and
• an image composition process of composing a new image by using the images selected in the image selection process.