Image pickup device, image pickup method and integrated circuit

An image pickup method that performs composition bracket photographing comprising:

• an image pickup step of picking up a subject so as to acquire a picked-up image;
• an image processing step of processing the picked-up image acquired in the image pickup step;
• and
• a recording step of recording the picked-up image processed in the image processing step, wherein
• the image processing step includes the steps of:
• designating a plurality of subject trimming images generated by respectively clipping out a plurality of subject images included in the picked-up image acquired by the image pickup section;
• setting the plurality of subject trimming images as a first trimming image;
• setting an image encompassing the plurality of subject trimming images as a second trimming image;
• calculating a data size of the first trimming image;
• calculating a data size of the second trimming image;
• comparing the data size of the first trimming image with the data size of the second trimming image;
• and
• selecting one of the first trimming image and the second trimming image to be recorded in the recording step, one of the first trimming image and the second trimming image determined by the step of comparing the data size of the first trimming image with the data size of the second trimming image that the data size of the selected image is smaller than that of the other one.

An integrated circuit integrated into an image pickup device that performs composition bracket photographing which processes a picked-up image acquired by picking up a subject and records the processed image, the integrated circuit executing functions as:

• a signal processing/AD conversion circuit for performing a noise reduction processing and a gain control on an output signal of a CCD for picking up a subject and for converting the output signal from an analog signal into a digital signal;
• a correction circuit for performing an image correction processing on the output signal of the signal processing/AD conversion circuit so as to obtain the picked-up image;
• and
• an image processing section for designating a plurality of subject trimming images generated by respectively clipping out a plurality of subject images included in the picked-up image obtained by the correction circuit so as to set the plurality of designated subject trimming images as a first trimming image, for setting an image encompassing the plurality of subject trimming images as a second trimming image, for calculating a data size of the first trimming image with a data size of the second trimming image so as to compare the data sizes of the first trimming image and the second trimming image with each other, and for selecting one of the first trimming image and the second trimming image to be recorded, whose data size is smaller than that of the other one.