Image capturing system and image capturing method

An image capturing system comprising:

• an image capturing unit;
• a composition determination section for determining a composition of an image to be captured by the image capturing unit;
• a position identification section for identifying at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of a main subject based on the composition determined by the composition determination section;
• a position presentation section for presenting at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject which are identified by the position identification section;
• a position acquiring section for acquiring one of the position to which the image capturing unit is fixed and the position to which the main subject is fixed near the position presented by the position presentation section;
• a map image storage section for storing a three-dimensional map image;
• and
• a composition redetermination section for determining again a composition of the image to be captured by the image capturing unit based on the composition determined by the composition determining section, the three-dimensional map image stored in the map image storage section and the position acquired by the position acquiring section, wherein the position identification unit identifies an other of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject based on the composition determined by the composition redetermination section.

An image capturing method comprising:

• storing a plurality of compositions which identify a background image and a position in the background image of a main subject in a composition storage section;
• determining a composition desirable to a user among the plurality of compositions;
• capturing by an image capturing unit an image of the main subject having the composition determined;
• identifying at least one of the position of the image capturing unit and the position of the main subject based on the composition determined in the determining of the composition;
• and
• presenting to the user at least one of the position at which the image capturing unit is located and the position at which the main subject is located at a time that the image capturing unit captures the image, identified in the identifying of the position;
• detecting a portable unit that is held by a person, who is a main subject of an image, and is located in a predetermined region within which the image having the determined composition can be captured by the image capturing unit;
• identifying the position at which the person holding a detected portable unit is to be located when the image capturing unit captures the image having the determined composition so that the person can select a desirable composition;
• and
• when the portable unit is detected within the predetermined region, transmitting the identified position to the portable unit which presents the identified position to the person so that the person can take the image having the determined composition.