Image processing apparatus and method, and program to generate high-quality image using normalized image

An image processing method, comprising:

• obtaining, by an ambient-light image obtaining section, an ambient-light image in a first time range, the ambient-light image being an image of an object captured with a predetermined exposure time;
• generating, by a cumulative image generation section, a cumulative image in a second time range after the first time range, the cumulative image being obtained by cumulative addition of each pixel value in a plurality of images, the plurality of images being of the object captured one by one with the predetermined exposure time;
• and
• generating, by a high-quality image generation section, a high-quality image, the high-quality image being obtained by subtracting a pixel value in the ambient-light image from a corresponding pixel value in a normalized image, the normalized image being the cumulative image normalized based on a total sum of the exposure time.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon, a set of computer-executable instructions causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

• obtaining an ambient-light image in a first time range, the ambient-light image being an image of an object captured with a predetermined exposure time;
• generating a cumulative image in a second time range after the first time range, the cumulative image being obtained by cumulative addition of each pixel value in a plurality of images, the plurality of images being of the object captured one by one with the predetermined exposure time;
• and
• generating a high-quality image, the high-quality image being obtained by subtracting a pixel value in the ambient-light image from a corresponding pixel value in a normalized image, the normalized image being the cumulative image normalized based on a total sum of the exposure time.