Imaging apparatus, imaging method and computer-readable recording medium

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• an imaging unit that captures an image of a subject to continuously generate electronic image data of the subject;
• an image data storing unit that stores the image data generated by the imaging unit;
• a display unit that displays the image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit;
• a shooting mode setting unit that sets one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a frame rate of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• a special effect input unit that receives information related to a special effect for the image generated at a frame rate of the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit;
• a special effect image generating unit that generates a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to information received by the special effect input unit;
• an advisability information storing unit that stores advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of a special effect which the special effect image generating unit applies to the image, and the frame rate of the shooting mode;
• and
• a display control unit that controls the display unit to display the image sequentially generated at the frame rate of the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit, in a time sequence, and which controls the display unit to display information related to the special effect which the special effect image generating unit needs to apply to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the frame rate of the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit, referring to the advisability information stored in the advisability information storing unit.

An imaging apparatus comprising:

• an imaging unit that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject;
• a display unit that can display the image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit;
• a shooting mode setting unit that sets one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a condition of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• a special effect input unit that receives information related to a special effect for the image generated by the imaging unit according to the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit;
• a special effect image generating unit that generates a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to information received by the special effect input unit;
• an advisability information storing unit that stores advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of a special effect which the special effect image generating unit applies to the image, and the shooting mode;
• and
• a display control unit that controls the display unit to display the image generated by the imaging unit according to the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit, and which controls the display unit to display information related to the special effect which the special effect image generating unit needs to apply to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the shooting mode set by the shooting mode setting unit, referring to the advisability information stored in the advisability information storing unit.

An imaging method executed by an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, includes a display unit which displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and that can apply a special effect to the image, the imaging method comprising:

• separating a subject image and a background image from the captured image;
• generating a special effect image by applying a special effect to one of the separated subject image and background image;
• generating a synthetic image by synthesizing the other one of the subject image and the background image, with the special effect image;
• and
• displaying the synthetic image, reading and referring to special effect information from a storing unit which stores the special effect information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of special effects applied to the subject image and the background image, and displaying information related to a special effect which needs to be applied to the subject image or the background image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with a special effect applied immediately before.

An imaging method executed by an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, includes a display unit which displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and that can apply a special effect to the image, the imaging method comprising:

• setting in the imaging apparatus one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a frame rate of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• receiving information related to a special effect for the image generated at a frame rate of the shooting mode;
• generating a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to the received information;
• and
• displaying the image sequentially generated at the frame rate of the shooting mode in a time sequence, reading and referring to advisability information from an advisability storing unit which stores the advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of the special effect applied to the image and the frame rate of the shooting mode, and displaying information related to the special effect which needs to be applied to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the frame rate of the shooting mode.

An imaging method executed by an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and can apply a special effect to the image, the imaging method comprising:

• setting in the imaging apparatus one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a frame rate of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• receiving an input of information related to a special effect for the image generated at a frame rate of the shooting mode;
• generating a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to the received information;
• and
• displaying the image sequentially generated at the frame rate of the shooting mode in a time sequence, reading and referring to advisability information from an advisability storing unit which stores the advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of the special effect applied to the image and the frame rate of the shooting mode, and displaying information related to the special effect which needs to be applied to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the frame rate of the shooting mode.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a processor of an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, includes a display unit which displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and that can apply a special effect to the image, to perform:

• separating a subject image and a background image from the captured image;
• generating a special effect image by applying a special effect to one of the separated subject image and background image;
• generating a synthetic image by synthesizing the other one of the subject image and the background image, with the special effect image;
• and
• displaying the synthetic image, reading and referring to special effect information from a storing unit which stores the special effect information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of special effects applied to the subject image and the background image, and displaying information related to a special effect which needs to be applied to the subject image or the background image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with a special effect applied immediately before.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a processor of an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, includes a display unit which displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and that can apply a special effect to the image, to perform:

• setting in the imaging apparatus one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a frame rate of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• receiving information related to a special effect for the image generated at a frame rate of the shooting mode;
• generating a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to the received information;
• and
• displaying the image sequentially generated at the frame rate of the shooting mode in a time sequence, reading and referring to advisability information from an advisability storing unit which stores the advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of the special effect applied to the image and the frame rate of the shooting mode, and displaying information related to the special effect which needs to be applied to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the frame rate of the shooting mode.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a processor of an imaging apparatus that captures an image of a subject to generate electronic image data of the subject, displays an image corresponding to the generated image data, and can apply a special effect to the image, to perform:

• setting in the imaging apparatus one of a plurality of shooting modes for which a frame rate of capturing suitable for each capturing scene is set in advance;
• receiving an input of information related to a special effect for the image generated at a frame rate of the shooting mode;
• generating a special effect image by applying to the image a special effect corresponding to the received information;
• and
• displaying the image sequentially generated at the frame rate of the shooting mode in a time sequence, reading and referring to advisability information from an advisability storing unit which stores the advisability information for assigning an advisability corresponding to a combination of the special effect applied to the image and the frame rate of the shooting mode, and displaying information related to the special effect which needs to be applied to the image, in order from the highest advisability corresponding to a combination with the frame rate of the shooting mode.