JPS62115432A - Method for indicating principal object - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily indicate the position of a principal object by illuminating the principal object with a spot light to measure the light of each picture element of a negative illuminated with only a white light source and discriminating picture elements different in photometric value as picture elements of the principal object. CONSTITUTION:A principal object 28 recorded on a negative 13a is illuminated with a spot light 27 in the state different from illumination with the white light source, and the light of each picture element of the negative is measured by an image sensor in this illumination state. The light of each picture element of the negative 13a illuminated with only the white light source is measured, and two obtained photometric results are compared with each other to discriminate the picture element different in photometric value as a picture element of the principal object. The principal object is irradiated with the spot light emitted from a principal object indicating light source like an LED 29.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for indicating the position of the main subject of an original image, which is used in a photographic printing device, a preliminary negative verification device for printing, etc. It is.

[Conventional technology]

In general, original images such as color negative film and color positive film have frames with an underexposed negative image in addition to frames with an appropriate exposure amount for the negative image.

This includes overexposed negative image frames, negative image frames with high contrast, etc. Even if such a negative image is improperly exposed, it is sometimes necessary to increase the amount of blue exposure and green exposure so that the resulting printed photograph has the correct color balance and density.

The amount of red exposure is corrected. This exposure amount correction is performed based on the Ehands principle described in US Pat. No. 2,571,697. That is,
In a negative image photographed of a general subject, the proportions of the blue component, green component, and red component of the SA light are approximately equal, so that the integral of the entire transmitted light becomes gray or a constant hue close to gray. This gray or a hue close to it is blue.

This can be obtained by making the exposure amounts of green and red almost equal,
Exposure correction is performed using this exposure amount as a target value.
This is called the LATD method.

By the way, even if the main subject of a negative image has a proper density, if the background is dark or light, the printing time is controlled depending on the density of the background, so the above-mentioned LATD
This method will not be able to accurately reproduce the main subject. Such negative images are referred to as subject-feria negatives, which include density-feria negatives in which the density of the main subject is inappropriate, and color-feria negatives in which the main subject's colors are inappropriate. The former type of density ferrier negative includes a negative image of the darkest image under backlight, a negative image of a person photographed using a strobe at night, and a negative image of a person photographed at a ski resort. The latter color ferrier negative is a negative image in which a specific color is distributed over a wide area, and includes 1 negative image taken with a red hack, 1 negative image taken with a lawn as a background, and a negative image taken with the sea as a bank. There are negative images etc.

For the above-mentioned sub-image negatives, we perform a negative inspection before printing, find out the characteristics of the pattern of the negative image, judge the amount of correction based on the operator's experience, and operate the color key and density correction key. The amount of correction is specified. This negative verification is carried out immediately before printing the original image using a photographic printing device, and is also carried out separately from printing using a negative verification device in large-scale photofinishing laboratories.

This type of negative verification is laborious and requires a skilled operator. Therefore, the main subject is automatically determined and the three-color density of this main subject is used as characteristic information to control the exposure amount. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known an exposure control method that allows the main subject on a printed photograph to be finished with proper density and good color balance. This exposure control method is
This is based on the empirical rule that most of the main subjects are people, and if you print the person's face well, you will end up with a satisfying pudding.

To this end, each pixel of the negative image is subjected to three-color separation photometry, a portion with a skin-tone hue is extracted, and this portion is determined to be the main subject.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the main subject determination method described above, skin-colored areas are determined to be the main subject, but since the negative image may contain objects with a hue close to skin color, such as walls, this is not possible. may be mistakenly recognized as the main subject, leading to incorrect exposure control.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides that, for an original image illuminated with a white light source, the main image recorded on the original image in a state different from that of the illumination by the white light source. The subject is illuminated spot-wise, and each pixel of the original image is photometered using an image sensor under this illumination condition, and each pixel of the original image that is illuminated only with a white light source is photometered, resulting in two photometry results. By comparing these values, pixels with different photometric values are determined to be pixels of the main subject.

The spot illumination is carried out by irradiating the original image illuminated with a white light source with spot light emitted from a light source for indicating the main subject, such as an LED, and by using an ND filter or an ND filter between the original image and the white light source. There is a method of dimming the light in spots by inserting the name of the liquid crystal, etc.

As the image sensor, an area sensor or a line sensor is used. When using a line sensor, it is necessary to move either the line sensor or the original image during photometry.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example of a photo printing apparatus for carrying out the present invention. The white light emitted from 1ruo of white light is
After being diffused in a diffusion tube 11, the image passes through a half mirror 12 and reaches an original image, for example, a color negative film 13, which has been printed, and is illuminated from behind. The diffusion tube 11 is composed of a rectangular tube 14 whose inner surface is formed into a mirror surface, and two diffusion plates 15 fixed to both open ends of the rectangular tube 14. Between this diffusion tube 11 and the white light source lO,
a yellow filter 16 for ending blue exposure;
a magenta filter 17 for ending green exposure;
A cyan filter 18 for terminating red exposure is arranged, and is inserted into the optical path 20 by a filter drive section 19. Note that the yellow filter 17 is inserted into the optical path 20 to show the operation of the filter.

A base plate 22 in which an opening 22a is formed is arranged on the half mirror 12.

A negative carrier 23 is arranged on this base plate 22, and the color negative film 13 is transferred frame by frame. The color negative film 13 located on the negative carrier 23 is sometimes pressed down from above by a mask 24 driven by a solenoid (not shown) during photographic printing.

A spot light 27 emitted from a spot light generating section 26 is made incident on the half mirror 12, and the incident spot light 27 is reflected toward the color negative film 13. When specifying the main subject, the spotlight 27 is moved in two dimensions so as to coincide with the main subject 28 of the frame 13a set in the printing position, as shown in FIG. Since the color negative film 13 is illuminated by the white light source 10 even during negative verification, the spot light 27 may become difficult to see. In order to eliminate this difficulty in viewing, use colored light as the spot light and use a white light source 1.
It is better to dim 0. In this embodiment, red color is used as the spot light. In addition, in photo printing, if the half mirror 12 remains inserted in the optical path 20, the light from the white light source 10 cannot be used effectively. Good.

The spot light generating section 26 is an LED that emits red light.
29, and a collimator lens system 30 that turns the red light emitted from the LED 29 into a spot light. When the main subject 28 is large, changing the size of the spotlight 27 accordingly increases the density information of the main subject, making it possible to perform exposure control with high precision. Therefore, in this collimator lens system 30, a part of the constituent lenses is moved in the optical axis direction by a motor 31, and the size of the spot light 27 can be changed to correspond to the size of the main subject 28. can.

The spot light generating section 26 is moved in the X and Y directions by the xy moving mechanism 32, thereby moving the spot light 27 in two-dimensional directions on the frame 13a. This x
The y-moving mechanism 32 includes an X-direction pulse motor 33. It is moved in the X direction and the Y direction by the Y direction pulse motor 34, respectively. These pulse motors 33 and 34 are
By the controller 37 via the drivers 35, 36,
The direction and amount of rotation are controlled.

The keyboard 40 includes a movement key 41 for moving the spotlight generator 26 in the XY direction, a switch key 42 for turning ON/OFF the LED 29 that emits the spotlight 27, and a switch key 42 for changing the size of the spotlight 27. It consists of a size designation key 43. The movement key 4
1 has 4 keys corresponding to 4 directions,
By moving the XY moving mechanism 32 in two-dimensional directions,
The spotlight 27 can be moved in the direction of the arrow formed on the top surface of each key. Note that the movement key 41 may be a mechanical stick consisting of one operating lever and four microsinches that detect the direction in which the operating lever is tilted. The switch key 42 is turned on when there is a possibility that the main subject will not be printed well in the LATD automatic exposure. This switch key 42
When turned on, a light emission signal is sent to the AND circuit 44. Furthermore, since a light emission signal from a microcomputer 67, which will be described later, is also input to this AND circuit 44,
When the switch key 42 is turned on, the output of the AND circuit 44 becomes "H". The output of this AND circuit 44 is rHJ
Then, the driver 45 energizes the LED 29 to cause it to emit light, and indicates the position of the main subject 28 on the frame 13a with the red spot light 27. The size specification key 43 is
It consists of three types of keys: small size "S", medium size rMJ, and large size rLJ, and when any one of these keys is pressed, a rotation command is sent to the driver 46. This driver 46 rotates the pulse motor 31 to
The size of the spot light 27 is changed in three stages by adjusting the collimator lens system 30.

A lens 48 is arranged above the negative carrier 23, and a negative image is formed on the color photographic paper 50 while the shutter 49 is open. The opening and closing of this shutter 49 is controlled by a shank drive section 51. Further, when printing of one frame of the color photographic paper 50 is completed, the color photographic paper 50 is wound around the take-up reel 52 for one frame, and the unexposed portion is pulled out from the supply reel 53.

A mirror 56 that rotates about a shaft 55 is arranged between the lens 48 and the shutter 49. This mirror 56 is previously inserted into the optical path 20 obliquely as shown by the solid line, and is sometimes moved to a position evacuated from the optical path 20 as shown by the two-dot chain line. . When the mirror 56 is inserted into the optical path 20, the light from the lens 48 is reflected toward the transmission screen 57. This screen 57 has a white light source lO
Since a negative image illuminated by the camera is projected, the operator's eyes 58 confirm the main subject.

In addition, for printing, place a TV camera diagonally above the position,
If the negative image obtained by the television camera is displayed on a monitor CRT, the mirror 56 and screen 57 can be omitted.

Further, a sensor unit 60 for photometrically measuring each pixel of the negative image is arranged diagonally above the printing position.

This sensor unit 60 is composed of an imaging lens 61 and an image area sensor 63 such as a CCD type or MOS type with a BGR mosaic filter or BGR stripe filter 62 attached to the front surface, and detects each pixel of a negative image. It reads and outputs a time-series signal that is a mix of blue, green, and red signals. This time series signal is A
The signal is converted into a digital signal by the /D converter 64, and then sent to the logarithmic converter 65, where it is logarithmically converted. The obtained blue density, green density, and red density signals are taken into the microcomputer 67 via the factory/○ port 66, separated for each color, and written into the RAM 68. As is well known, this microcomputer 67 includes an I10 board 66, a CPU 69. 'RAM68. It is composed of a ROM 70, and performs calculations of the exposure amount (time for printing), which will be described later, and controls each part. The calculated printing time for each color is measured by a timer 71 from the time when the shutter 49 is opened, and determines the timing for starting the operation of the filter drive unit 19.

The keyboard 74 includes numeric keys 75, a channel key 76 for specifying a channel, a weighting key 77 for setting a coefficient for weighting the main subject, and a photometry start key 78 for starting density measurement. A burn start key 79 is used to start the burn, and a display 80 is used to monitor and display input channels or weighting coefficients.

In the exposure calculation formula described later, the coefficients and constants in the calculation formula change depending on the combination of the type of color negative film (sensitivity, size), the type of color photographic paper (sensitivity), enlargement magnification, etc. Channels that are a combination of these are prepared in advance, and coefficients and constants are written in each channel. These channels are specified using channel keys 76 and numeric keys 75.

When the photometry start key 78 is pressed by the operator, the first photometry starts with the frame 13a being illuminated with the dimmed white light 10 and the main subject 28 being illuminated with the red spot light 27. be done. Next, the second photometry is performed with the red spora 1 light 27 irradiation stopped and only the white light source 10 illuminated, and these two photometry values are compared to determine the pixels whose output has changed. By doing so,
The position of the main subject is detected. The obtained positional information of the main subject is used as characteristic information when calculating the exposure amount (time for printing). In this way, since photometry is carried out twice in succession, there is no change over time (drift) in the light source or electric circuit.

For printing, when the start key 79 is pressed, the mirror 56 is moved to the optical path 2.
0, the white light source 10 emits full light, and then the shutter 49 is opened to start photo printing. Incidentally, the start key 79 may be omitted for this printing, and all the steps described above may be performed in sequence when the photometry start key 78 is operated.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the XY movement mechanism.

The elevating plate 85 includes a plurality of guide rods 86.8, for example two guide rods.
7 and a feed screw shaft 88, it is held movably in the X direction. A gear 89 is fixed to the feed screw shaft 88, and the gear 9 is driven by the pulse smoke 33 mentioned above.
It meshes with 0.

Two guide rods 93 and 94 are installed on the elevating plate 85, and a lateral moving plate 95 is held by these so as to be movable in the Y direction. This lateral movement plate 95 is connected to a belt 97 via a connecting fitting 96. This belt 97 is placed around a pair of pulleys 98 and 99, and when the pulley 98 is rotated by the pulse motor 34, the belt 97 moves the lateral movement plate 95 in the Y direction.

A lens barrel 100 holding an LED 29 and a collimator lens system 30 is attached to the lateral movement plate 95. This lens barrel 100 is equipped with a gear ring 101, similar to the zoom mechanism, and is connected to the pulse motor 3.
The gear 102 rotated at 1 is in mesh.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. 3, which shows the functions of the microcomputer.

When starting photo printing, first turn on the power, press the channel key 76, and then operate the numeric keys 75 to specify a channel according to the printing conditions. By specifying this channel, coefficients and constants necessary for an exposure calculation formula to be described later are read out from the memory 105, and the printing data is sent to the time calculation unit 106.

For the weighting, by operating the key 77 and then operating the numeric keys 75, a weighting coefficient to be multiplied by the density of the main subject is set, and this is stored in the memory 107. This weighting coefficient may be set for each frame.

Before printing starts, each of the color filters 16 to 18 is evacuated from the optical path 20, and the white light source 10 is in a dimmed state. The white light emitted from the white light source 10 is sufficiently diffused when passing through the interior of the diffusion tube 11, and then passes through the opening 22a of the base plate 22 and the opening 23a of the negative carrier 23.
The color negative film 13 is illuminated from below. The light transmitted through this color negative film 13 passes through a lens 48 and a mirror 56 before reaching a screen 57.
A negative image of the frame 13a is projected onto this screen 57.

At the time of negative inspection, frame 13 projected on the screen 57
Observe the negative image of a. Based on the characteristics of this negative image, if it is predicted that the main subject will not be properly finished with automatic exposure using the LATD method, the switch key 42 is turned on, and sufficient print photos can be obtained using the LATD method. If it is determined that the main subject can be determined, or if the main subject cannot be determined, the switch key 42 is turned OFF. When this switch key 42 is turned on, a light emission signal is output from the keyboard 4o and sent to the AND circuit 44. . In addition, since the microcomputer 67 outputs a light emission signal except during the second photometry and photo printing, the output of the AND circuit 44 becomes rHJ, and the LED 29 is energized via the driver 45 to cause it to emit light. let The red light emitted from this LED 29 is converted into a spot light 6 by a collimator lens system 30.
2 and is reflected upward by the half mirror 12, illuminating the frame 13a in a spot shape as shown in FIG. In this case, since the white light source 10 is dimmed, the spot light 27 can be easily identified.

The illumination state by the spotlight 27 is the same as that of the screen 57.
This screen 57 can be observed by
While viewing the screen, operate the movement key 41 to turn the spotlight 27
The image of the main subject 28 is made to coincide with the main subject 28. This movement key 41
When is operated, the controller 37 sends a pulse to the driver 35 corresponding to the direction of the movement key 41 while the movement key 41 is being pressed. At the same time, the controller 37 generates signals indicating the rotational directions of the pulse motors 33 and 34 and sends them to the drivers 35 and 36, respectively. Each driver 35,36 is connected to a pulse motor 33
, 34 to move the vertically moving plate 85 in the X direction and the horizontally moving plate 95 in the Y direction. This results in
Since the spot light generating section 426 moves within the vertical plane, the spot light 27 emitted from it also moves in two-dimensional directions on the surface of the frame 13a.

By moving the spot light 27 in two-dimensional direction, frame 1
3a to match the main subject 28. In general, in frames in which a person is photographed, the person is most often the main subject, and in the case of a portrait, the finish of the face is most important, so the spotlight 27 is made to match the face. Furthermore, if the size of the main subject 28 and the spot light 27 do not match, by operating the size designation key 43, the pulse smoke 31 will rotate and the amount of extension of the lens barrel 100 will be adjusted. is resized.

When the metering start key 78 is pressed after specifying the main subject, the entire negative image is illuminated with white light [10], and only the main subject 28 is illuminated with red spot light 27, and the negative image is transferred to the sensor unit. It is photometered at 60. That is,
Since a negative image is formed on the image area sensor 63 by the imaging lens 61, when the first measurement is started, the image area sensor 63 outputs a time series signal obtained by photoelectrically converting each pixel of the negative image. do. Since this time-series signal uses the BGR stripe filter 62, it is a mixture of a blue signal, a green signal, and a red signal.

The time-series signal output from the image area sensor 63 is sequentially subjected to digital conversion and logarithmic conversion, and is then taken into the microcomputer 67 as a density signal. The microcomputer 67 separates the density signals for each color, and then extracts the density signal of the same color as the spotlight 27.

In this embodiment, since the spotlight 27 is red, the red density is extracted and written into the memory 108.

After writing to the memory 108, the microcomputer 67 stops generating the light emission signal, so the AND circuit 4
The output of 4 becomes rLJ. As a result, the driver 45 stops the LED 29 from emitting light, and the second photometry is performed in this state. This second photometry is normal photometry, in which the mixed density signals are separated for each color and then written into the memories 109 to 111, respectively. After writing this,
The mismatched pixel detection unit 113 compares the density signals in the memories 108 and 109 and detects mismatched pixels. That is, in the first photometry, the main subject 28 is irradiated with the red spot light 27, so the densities of the designated pixels of the main subject do not match. The position of this mismatched pixel is extracted as position information of the main subject, and the memory 11
4 to be memorized.

Note that when the switch key 42 is in the FF position, no data is written to the memory 114 because there are no mismatched pixels.

After the second photometry, each color is separated and stored in the memory 109.
The density of each pixel written in sections 115 to 111, weighted for each color, is sent to sections 115 to 117, respectively.

These weighting units 115 to 117 input the weighting coefficient from the memory 107 and the position information of the main subject from the memory 114, so that the weighting units 115 to 117 calculate the density of a plurality of pixels corresponding to the position of the main subject. The weight is multiplied by a coefficient. Generally, a value larger than 1 is used for this weighting coefficient, but if this value is extremely large, it becomes sub-7 metering, and the exposure is controlled according to the density of the main subject. .

After weighting the density of the main subject in units 115 to 117, the weighting is sent to LA and TD (large area average transmission density) calculation units 118 to 120 provided for each color, where each pixel's density is weighted. The arithmetic mean of the concentrations is calculated. The obtained arithmetic mean is used as LATD, and the burn-in is performed by the time calculation unit 10.
6, and the printing time for each color is Ti (i is blue, green) using the following formula.

(representing any one of the red colors) is calculated.

logTi=αi (Di-DNi) +Ki where each symbol is as follows.

αi: Coefficient Di: LATD (Large Area Average Transmission Density) DNi: Standard negative color with equal proportions of three color components TD Ki: Printing time required to print a standard negative These αi, DNi, and Ki are the channels It is read out from the memory 105 according to the specification. The obtained printing time Ti is sent to a timer 71.

Next, when the printing start key 79 is pressed, the white light source 10 emits full light, the mirror 56 is retracted from the optical path 20, and then the shutter 49 is opened and printing is started. The filter driving unit 19 maintains the filters 16 to 18 in a state where they are retracted from the optical path 20, and when a signal indicating that the blue printing time Tb has elapsed is input from the timer 71, the yellow filter 16 is moved from the optical path. 20 to complete the blue exposure. Similarly, for green printing, when the time Tg has elapsed, the magenta filter 17 is inserted into the optical path 20 to complete the green exposure, and for red printing, the cyan filter 18 is inserted when the time Tr has elapsed.

When sufficient time has elapsed to expose one frame, the shutter 49 is closed, and then the filter drive unit 19 retracts each of the filters 16 to 18 from the optical path 2o. At the same time, the take-up reel 52 holds the exposed color photographic paper 50 one by one.
The frame is wound up, and unexposed color photographic paper is pulled out from the supply reel 53 and set at the exposure position. Also, after lifting the mask 24 a little, the color negative film 13 is transferred by one frame, and a new frame is transferred to the negative carrier 1.
3 and press it again with the mask 24 from above. Furthermore, the mirror 56 is inserted into the optical path 20 as shown by the solid line, and at the same time the LED 29 starts emitting light again.
Prepare to specify the main subject for this new frame.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same members as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, a handy spot light generator 127 consisting of an LED 125 and a lens 126 is used to irradiate the emitted spot light toward the main subject, and the first photometry is performed during this irradiation. This is how it was done. Note that since the second photometry must be started after manual spot light irradiation is stopped, it is necessary to provide a key for starting the second photometry.

FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment. An LED 130 is fixed to a transparent lever 129 that is manually operated, and the LED 130 is moved directly under the negative carrier 23, and the spotlight emitted from the LED 130 indicates the main subject.

Before starting the second photometry, the lever 129 is retracted from under the negative carrier 23.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which an ND filter is used to indicate the main subject. In this example,
An ND filter 133 is attached to the tip of a transparent lever 132. By manually moving the transparent lever 132,
The ND filter 133 is aligned with the main subject, the first photometry is performed in this state, and the second photometry is performed after the lever 132 is retracted. Since the ND filter 133 reduces the amount of transmitted light from the white light source 10, a shadow appears in the area that matches the ND filter 133.

It is also possible to use a large ND filter with only the central part transparent by forming an aperture, etc., and move the ND filter two-dimensionally so that the central transparent part matches the main subject. can.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an embodiment in which a light emitting diode that emits a spot light is moved in two-dimensional directions by an XY moving mechanism. An X-direction pulse motor 141 is attached to the fixed plate 140, and a pulley 142 is fixed to the rotating shaft of the X-direction pulse motor 141. Additionally, an L-shaped bracket 143 is provided on the fixed plate 140.
is fixed to the bracket 143, and the pulley 14 is attached to this bracket 143.
4 is installed. These pulleys 142 and 14
4 is hung with a heald h 145, and a part of the X-direction moving table 146 is fixed to this heald 145.

A guide shaft 147 extending in the X direction is also provided on the fixed plate 140.
is installed, and an X-direction moving table 146 is slidably fitted to this guide shaft 147.

The X-direction moving table 146 has a temporary 150 extending in the Y-direction.
is attached, and a Y-direction pulse motor 1 is mounted on top of this.
51 is fixed. This Y direction pulse motor 151
The pulley 152 attached to the rotating shaft of the bracket 15
A heald 155 is hung on a pulley 154 attached to 3. A Y-direction moving table 157 fitted on a guide shaft 156 is connected to the health pads 1 to 155.

A transparent arm 158 is attached to the Y-direction moving table 157. This transparent arm 158 has a light emitting diode 159 attached to its tip, and is inserted between the base plate 22 and the diffusion tube 11.

In this embodiment, when the movement key is operated to rotate the X-direction pulse smoke 141, the X-direction moving stage 146 moves, and therefore the light-emitting diode 159 moves in the X-direction under the head plate 22. In addition, the Y direction pulse motor 15
1, the Y-direction moving table 157 moves, and therefore the light-emitting diode 159 moves in the Y-direction. As a result, the light emitting diode 159 can be moved in two dimensions just below the negative film ISO, and the light emitting diode 159 can be aligned with the main subject.

Although each of the above-mentioned embodiments is a photographic printing apparatus, the present invention may also be applied to a negative inspection apparatus. In this case, the mirror 56 and screen 57 may be omitted because the user can look into the verification position. Then, a report indicating the position of the main subject specified at the time of negative inspection is output onto a tape or floppy disk, and this is loaded into the photoprinting device.

In the above embodiment, the photographic printing device was explained.
This invention can also be applied in a similar manner when an image recorded on an original is transferred to a storage medium such as a magnetic tape, an optical disk, or a magnetic disk film.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily indicate the position of the main subject on the screen, and compared to the conventional method of determining the main subject from the hue of skin color. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent judgment errors from occurring. Furthermore, since certification printing sometimes only requires specifying the main subject, even a trained operator can perform the work with high efficiency.Furthermore, the present invention allows Since the subject is directly indicated, no positional deviation occurs on the image sensor compared to a method in which the main subject is indirectly indicated with respect to the original image displayed on the display.Furthermore, the present invention There is no need for a detection unit that detects the position of the light emitting diode, etc. that indicates the subject, and the accuracy of the movement mechanism for moving the light emitting diode, etc. does not need to be low, so the structure is
Not only is this simple, but the cost can also be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a photo printing apparatus for carrying out the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the XY movement mechanism of the spot light generating device. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the microcomputer shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment in which the spotlight is manually directed toward the main subject. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a main part of an embodiment in which an LED for indicating the main subject is manually moved directly below the negative carrier. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment using an ND filter. FIGS. 7 and 8 are a plan view and a front view showing another embodiment in which a light emitting diode is moved in two dimensions. 10... White light source 11... Diffusion cylinder 12... Half mirror 13... Color negative film 13a... Frame 16... Yellow filter 17... Magenta filter 18... Cyan filter 22... Negative carrier 26... Spot light generating section 27... Spot light 28... Main subject 29... LED for indicating main subject 30... Collimator lens system 41... Movement key 42... Switch key 43... Size specification key 50... Color photographic paper 55... Mirror 57...Screen 63...Image area sensor 77...Key 78 for weighting...Start metering key 79...Start key 85 for baking...Elevating plate 95...Laterally moving plate 127...Spot light generating section 130... -LED 133...ND filter 146...X direction moving table 157...Y direction moving table 159...Light emitting diode. Figure 7

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) For an original image illuminated with a white light source, the main subject recorded in the original image is illuminated in a spot manner under conditions different from the illumination by the white light source, and each pixel of the original image is illuminated under this illumination condition. By measuring the light with the image sensor and each pixel of the original image illuminated only with a white light source, and comparing the two photometric results, it is determined that the pixels with different photometric values are the pixels of the main subject. A method for indicating a main subject. (2) A method for specifying a main subject according to claim 1, characterized in that the main subject is illuminated with a spotlight. (3) A method for specifying a main subject according to claim 1, characterized in that an ND filter is inserted under the original image to dim the light of the main subject in spots. (4) The main subject according to claim 1, characterized in that an ND filter with only the central part transparent is inserted under the original image to reduce light in parts other than the main subject. Instruction method.