JP2008312057A - Photographing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photographing method and apparatus, which easily provides an image in a composition intended by a photographer, in which red eyes are indistinctive or reliably corrected. <P>SOLUTION: A face is detected before photographing. When the face is detected, the amount of emission of flash is gradually reduced from an appropriate amount of emission, and flash photographing is performed more than once. When the face is not detected, the flash photographing is performed once with an appropriate amount of emission. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a photographing method and apparatus for preventing the occurrence of red eyes during flash photography for a person.

  Red eye refers to a phenomenon in which the human eye shines red, and is generated when flash light is reflected by the capillaries of the subject's retina and returns to the lens of the camera.

  As one method of reducing this red-eye phenomenon, a method of pre-flashing a flash before actual photographing is known. In this method, the pupil of the subject is closed in advance by pre-flashing the flash before the main shooting, thereby preventing red eyes from occurring during the main shooting.

  However, the time from the pre-flash to the closing of the subject's pupil has individual and environmental differences, and there is a drawback that red-eye cannot always be prevented.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 proposes a method of capturing an image without a red eye by performing main photographing a plurality of times at a predetermined time interval after a predetermined time elapses after the flash is pre-flashed.

Patent Document 2 proposes a method of detecting red eyes from an actually captured image and repeatedly executing the actual imaging until no red eyes are detected.
JP-A-2005-39715 JP 2005-65079 A

  In the method of Patent Document 1, it is important to set the shooting interval. However, fine setting of the shooting interval cannot be performed due to restrictions on CCD exposure and readout time, and there is a possibility that proper shooting cannot be performed.

  Further, in the method of Patent Document 2, since red-eye detection processing is performed every time photographing is performed, the photographing interval becomes longer by the amount of the processing, and the subject may move during that time. For this reason, there is a possibility that the photograph of the composition intended by the photographer cannot be taken.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging method and apparatus capable of easily obtaining an image in which the red-eye is not conspicuous or reliably corrected with the composition intended by the photographer. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 obtains an appropriate flash amount at the time of main shooting in advance when shooting with the flash fired at the time of main shooting, and uses the flash with the determined appropriate flash amount. There is provided a photographing method for performing main photographing a plurality of times by reducing the light emission amount of a flash stepwise from an appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually reducing the flash light emission amount from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step. Red-eye is a phenomenon that occurs when flash light is reflected back to the capillaries of the subject's retina and returns to the camera lens, so it is reduced by reducing the amount of reflected light, that is, by reducing the amount of flash emitted. Can be made. Therefore, by reducing the amount of light emitted step by step and performing flash photography a plurality of times, it is possible to easily obtain an image in which the red eye is inconspicuous. At this time, the difference step to be decreased can be appropriately set by setting, for example, according to the appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance. In other words, the red eye appears more prominently as the flash light intensity increases, so the larger the appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance, the larger the difference step, the appropriate light emission amount can be set each time. No image can be obtained efficiently and easily. The difference step to be decreased can be set to a constant value.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 2 shoots an image before the main shooting, detects the subject's face from the obtained image, and only detects the subject's face when the subject's face is detected. The photographing method according to claim 1, wherein the photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually reducing the light emission amount from the appropriate light emission amount.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, an image is photographed before the actual photographing, the face of the subject is detected from the obtained image, and the flash emission amount is set to the appropriate emission amount only when the subject face is detected. Reduce the number of shots step by step and take multiple shots. In other words, red eyes cannot occur when the subject does not include a face, such as in landscape photography.In this case, the flash is not emitted multiple times and the flash is emitted as usual. Take a real shot only once. Thereby, useless light emission and photography can be prevented.

  The invention according to claim 3 provides the imaging method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, in order to achieve the object, the difference step is obtained based on a dimming result.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the difference step is obtained based on the dimming result. For example, the flash is pre-flashed before the actual shooting, the appropriate light emission amount is obtained based on the obtained image, and set according to the obtained appropriate light emission amount (so that the difference step increases as the appropriate light emission amount increases). Set.) Thereby, the red-eye reduction effect by pre-light emission can also be acquired, and generation | occurrence | production of red eyes can be prevented efficiently.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 4 obtains an appropriate flash amount at the time of main shooting in advance when shooting with the flash fired at the time of main shooting, and uses the flash with the determined appropriate flash amount. In a photographing method for performing main photographing with light emission, at least one of photographing sensitivity or a photographing aperture is gradually shifted from the proper photographing sensitivity or the proper photographing aperture to the under side in a predetermined difference step, and plural photographing is performed. Provide a shooting method.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the photographing sensitivity and the photographing aperture is gradually shifted from the proper photographing sensitivity or the proper photographing aperture to the under side in a difference step corresponding to the appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance (the photographing sensitivity). Is shifted in a stepwise direction from the appropriate shooting sensitivity, or the shooting aperture is shifted in a stepped direction from the proper shooting aperture), and the multiple shooting is performed. As described above, red eye is a phenomenon that occurs when flash light is reflected by capillaries of the subject's retina and returns to the lens of the camera. This can be mitigated by shifting gradually from the photographing aperture to the under side. Therefore, it is possible to easily obtain an image in which the red eye is inconspicuous by performing flash photography a plurality of times by shifting at least one of the imaging sensitivity and the imaging aperture gradually from the appropriate imaging sensitivity or the appropriate imaging aperture to the under side. At this time, the difference step to be shifted can be appropriately set, for example, by setting according to the appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance. That is, the red eye appears more prominently as the flash emission amount is larger, so the larger the appropriate emission amount obtained in advance, the larger the difference step, the appropriate shooting sensitivity or shooting aperture can be set each time, It is possible to efficiently and easily obtain an image with inconspicuous red eyes. The difference step to be decreased can be set to a constant value.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 5 shoots an image before actual shooting, detects the subject's face from the obtained image, and only when the subject's face is detected, the shooting sensitivity. Alternatively, the photographing method according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the photographing apertures is shifted gradually from the appropriate photographing sensitivity or the appropriate photographing aperture to the under side in a stepwise manner, and the photographing is performed a plurality of times.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the photographing sensitivity and the photographing aperture is taken only when an image is photographed before the main photographing, the face of the subject is detected from the obtained image, and the face of the subject is detected. Is gradually shifted from the appropriate shooting sensitivity or the appropriate shooting aperture to the under side in order to perform multiple shooting. In other words, red eyes cannot occur when the subject does not include a face, such as in landscape photography.In this case, the flash is not emitted multiple times and the flash is emitted as usual. Take a real shot only once. Thereby, useless light emission and photography can be prevented.

  The invention according to claim 6 provides the imaging method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, in order to achieve the object, the difference step is obtained based on a dimming result.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 6, a difference step is calculated | required based on the light control result. For example, the flash is pre-flashed before the actual shooting, the appropriate light emission amount is obtained based on the obtained image, and set according to the obtained appropriate light emission amount (so that the difference step increases as the appropriate light emission amount increases). Set.) Thereby, the red-eye reduction effect by pre-light emission can also be acquired, and generation | occurrence | production of red eyes can be prevented efficiently.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 7 obtains an appropriate flash amount of the flash at the time of the main shooting in advance when shooting with the flash fired at the time of the main shooting. In the shooting method of shooting with flash, the flash amount is gradually increased from the appropriate flash amount in a predetermined difference step, and multiple shots are taken, and red eyes are detected from each image obtained by the shot, Provided is a photographing method characterized in that red-eye correction is performed by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually increasing the light emission amount of the flash from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing. When red-eye is detected from a photographed image and red-eye correction is performed by image processing, the red-eye is easier to detect as the area is larger, and the hue is also easier to detect as the difference from when no red-eye is generated. On the other hand, red eyes become more noticeable as the reflected light from the flash increases. Therefore, by increasing the amount of light emission stepwise and performing flash photography a plurality of times, an image in which red eyes are easily detected is obtained, and red-eye correction is appropriately performed. At this time, the difference step to be increased is set according to, for example, a fixed value or an appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance. In addition, when it sets according to the appropriate light emission amount calculated | required in advance, it can set more appropriately. In other words, the red eye appears more prominently as the flash light intensity increases, so the larger the appropriate light intensity obtained in advance, the larger the difference step, the more appropriate the light intensity can be set each time, and the red eye is detected. Images that are easy to do can be obtained efficiently and easily.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 8 detects the face of the subject from each image obtained by the actual photographing, and records only the red-eye corrected image for the image from which the subject's face is detected. An imaging method according to claim 7 is provided.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the face of the subject is detected from each image obtained by the actual photographing, and only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected. As a result, it is possible to reliably record only the red-eye-corrected image and prevent the useless image from being recorded (the storage medium can be prevented from being compressed).

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 9 obtains an evaluation value of redness for an image in which red eyes are detected, and when there is an image corrected for red eyes, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. An imaging method according to claim 7 is provided.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and when there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye, and to prevent useless images from being recorded.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 10 obtains the appropriate flash amount of the flash at the time of the main shooting in advance when shooting with the flash fired at the time of the main shooting. In the shooting method for actual shooting with light emission, at least one of shooting sensitivity or shooting aperture is gradually shifted from the appropriate shooting sensitivity or the appropriate shooting aperture to the over side by a predetermined difference step, and multiple shooting is performed. Provided is a photographing method characterized in that red eyes are detected from each obtained image, and red-eye correction is performed by image processing on an image from which red eyes are detected.

  According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually shifting the exposure from the proper exposure to the over side in a predetermined difference step. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing. Red eye becomes more prominent as the amount of reflected light from the flash increases. By taking multiple flash shots with the exposure gradually shifted to the over side, an image that is easy to detect red eyes is obtained, and red-eye correction is performed appropriately. be able to. At this time, the difference step to be increased is set according to, for example, a fixed value or an appropriate light emission amount obtained in advance. In addition, when it sets according to the appropriate light emission amount calculated | required in advance, it can set more appropriately. In other words, the red eye appears more prominently as the flash light intensity increases, so the larger the appropriate light intensity obtained in advance, the larger the difference step, the more appropriate the light intensity can be set each time, and the red eye is detected. Images that are easy to do can be obtained efficiently and easily.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the face of the subject is detected from each image obtained by the actual photographing, and only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected. The imaging method according to claim 10 is provided.

  According to the eleventh aspect of the invention, the face of the subject is detected from each image obtained by the actual photographing, and only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye, and to prevent useless images from being recorded.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 12 obtains an evaluation value of redness for an image in which red eyes are detected, and when there is an image corrected for red eyes, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. The imaging method according to claim 10 is provided.

  According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and when there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye, and to prevent useless images from being recorded.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in a photographing method in which a flash is fired, a red-eye reduction flash photographing in which a flash is pre-flashed immediately before photographing in one photographing instruction. In addition, the normal flash shooting is performed twice without taking the flash pre-flash immediately before shooting, and red eyes are detected from each image obtained by shooting, and image processing is performed on the images in which red eyes are detected. The present invention provides a photographing method characterized by red-eye correction.

  According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, two shootings of red-eye reduction flash shooting and normal flash shooting are performed with one shooting instruction. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing. The red-eye reduction flash image can suppress the occurrence of red-eye, but when red-eye detection is performed for this and red-eye correction is performed by image processing, Since the difference in size and color is smaller than that of red eyes that normally occur during flash photography, red eyes are difficult to detect and appropriate correction may not be possible. Therefore, an appropriate image can be obtained by performing red-eye reduction flash shooting and normal flash shooting twice with a single shooting instruction, and performing red-eye correction on any shot image.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 14 detects the face of the subject from each image obtained by shooting, and records only the red-eye corrected image from which the face of the subject is detected. An imaging method according to claim 13 is provided.

  According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the face of the subject is detected from each image obtained by the main photographing, and only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye, and to prevent useless images from being recorded.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 15 obtains an evaluation value of redness likeness for an image in which red-eye is detected, and when there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. The imaging method according to claim 13 is provided.

  According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and when there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye, and to prevent useless images from being recorded.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the case of shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, an appropriate flash amount of the flash at the time of actual shooting is obtained in advance, and the flash is used with the determined appropriate flash amount. In a photographing device that emits light and performs main photographing, photographing control means for executing a plurality of main photographing processes in which the amount of flash light is changed by one photographing instruction, and the amount of light emitted by the flash at a predetermined difference step are set to an appropriate light amount. And a flash light emission amount setting means for setting the light emission amount of each flash so as to decrease step by step.

  According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, as in the first aspect of the present invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually reducing the flash light emission amount from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 17 includes face detection means for detecting the face of a subject from an image obtained by photographing, and the photographing control means is configured to detect an image taken before the actual photographing. 17. The photographing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the main photographing process with the flash emission amount changed is executed a plurality of times only when the face of the subject is detected by the face detecting means.

  According to the invention of claim 17, as in the invention of claim 2, the main shooting is performed a plurality of times only when the face of the subject is detected before the main shooting.

  The invention according to claim 18 is provided with a difference step calculating means for calculating the difference step based on a dimming result in order to achieve the object. I will provide a.

  According to the invention of claim 18, as in the invention of claim 3, the difference step is calculated based on the dimming result.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the nineteenth aspect of the present invention, in the case of shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, an appropriate flash amount of the flash at the time of actual shooting is obtained in advance, and the flash is used with the determined appropriate flash amount. In a photographing apparatus that performs main photographing with light emission, photographing control means for executing a plurality of main photographing processes in which at least one of photographing sensitivity or photographing aperture is changed by one photographing instruction, and photographing sensitivity or photographing at a predetermined difference step. There is provided a photographing apparatus comprising: a setting means for setting a photographing sensitivity or a photographing aperture for each time so that at least one of the diaphragms is shifted to an underside in a stepwise manner from the appropriate photographing sensitivity or the appropriate photographing aperture. .

  According to the nineteenth aspect of the present invention, as in the fourth aspect, at least one of the photographing sensitivity or the photographing diaphragm is gradually shifted from the appropriate photographing sensitivity or the suitable photographing aperture to the under side in stages to perform the plural photographing. Is done.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 20 includes face detection means for detecting a face of a subject from an image obtained by photographing, and the photographing control means is configured to detect an image taken before the actual photographing. 20. The photographing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein only when the face of the subject is detected by the face detection unit, the main photographing process is performed a plurality of times while changing at least one of the photographing sensitivity and the photographing aperture. provide.

  According to the twentieth aspect of the present invention, as in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times only when the face of the subject is detected before the main photographing.

  The invention according to claim 21 is provided with a difference step calculating means for calculating the difference step based on a dimming result in order to achieve the object. I will provide a.

  According to the invention of claim 21, as in the invention of claim 6, the difference step is calculated based on the dimming result.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 22 is to obtain an appropriate flash amount at the time of actual shooting in advance when shooting with the flash being fired at the time of actual shooting, and to use the flash with the determined appropriate flash amount. In a photographing device that emits light and performs main photographing, photographing control means for executing a plurality of main photographing processes in which the amount of flash light is changed by one photographing instruction, and the amount of light emitted by the flash at a predetermined difference step are set to an appropriate light amount. The flash light amount setting means for setting the light emission amount of each flash so as to increase step by step, the red eye detection means for detecting red eyes from an image obtained by photographing, and the red eye is detected by the red eye detection means There is provided a photographing apparatus including a red-eye correcting unit that corrects red-eye for an image by image processing.

  According to the twenty-second aspect of the invention, as in the seventh aspect of the invention, the main photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually increasing the flash light emission amount from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing.

  According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a face detection unit that detects a face of a subject from an image obtained by photographing, and an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection unit, 23. The photographing apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye detection unit.

  According to the twenty-third aspect of the invention, as in the eighth aspect of the invention, only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected.

  According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the object, the red-eye correction is performed by the evaluation value calculating unit that calculates the evaluation value of the red-eyeness for the image in which the red eye is detected by the red-eye detecting unit, and the red-eye correcting unit. 23. The photographing apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image.

  According to the twenty-fourth aspect, as in the ninth aspect, when there is a red-eye corrected image, only the image determined to be most likely red-eye at the time of detection is recorded.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 25 is to obtain an appropriate flash amount at the time of main shooting in advance when shooting with the flash being fired at the time of actual shooting, and to use the flash with the determined appropriate flash amount. In a photographing apparatus that performs main photographing with light emission, photographing control means for executing a plurality of main photographing processes in which at least one of photographing sensitivity or photographing aperture is changed by one photographing instruction, and photographing sensitivity or photographing at a predetermined difference step. Setting means for setting the photographing sensitivity or the photographing aperture at each time so that at least one of the diaphragms shifts gradually from the photographing sensitivity to the appropriate photographing sensitivity, or the red-eye detecting means for detecting red eyes from the image obtained by photographing And a red-eye correction unit that corrects red-eye by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected by the red-eye detection unit. Subjected to.

  According to the invention of claim 25, as in the case of claim 10, at least one of the imaging sensitivity and the imaging aperture is shifted from the appropriate imaging sensitivity or the appropriate imaging aperture to the over side step by step in a predetermined difference step. Real shooting is performed. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing.

  According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a face detection unit that detects a face of a subject from an image obtained by photographing, and an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection unit, 26. The photographing apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye detection unit.

  According to the twenty-sixth aspect of the invention, as in the eleventh aspect of the invention, only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image in which the face of the subject is detected.

  According to a twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the red-eye correction is performed by the evaluation value calculating unit that calculates an evaluation value of redness for the image in which the red eye is detected by the red-eye detecting unit, and the red-eye correcting unit. 26. The photographing apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image.

  According to the twenty-seventh aspect of the invention, as in the twelfth aspect of the invention, when there is an image that has been corrected for red-eye, only the image that is determined to be most likely red-eye at the time of detection is recorded.

  According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in a photographing apparatus that shoots with a flash, a red-eye reduction flash shoot in which a flash is pre-flashed immediately before shooting in one shooting instruction. A shooting control unit that performs two shootings of normal flash shooting without flashing immediately before shooting, a red-eye detection unit that detects red-eye from each image obtained by shooting, and the red-eye detection There is provided a photographing apparatus comprising: red-eye correction means for correcting red-eye by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected by the means.

  According to the invention of claim 28, as with the invention of claim 13, two shootings of red-eye reduction flash shooting and normal flash shooting are performed with one shooting instruction. Then, red-eye is detected from each image obtained by photographing, and red-eye correction is performed on the image from which red-eye is detected by image processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 29 relates to a face detection unit that detects a face of a subject from an image obtained by photographing, and an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection unit. 29. The photographing apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye detection unit.

  According to the invention of claim 29, as in the invention of claim 14, only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image from which the face of the subject is detected.

  According to a thirty-sixth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the red-eye correction is performed by the evaluation value calculating unit that calculates the evaluation value of the red-eyeness for the image in which the red eye is detected by the red-eye detecting unit, and the red-eye correcting unit. 29. The photographing apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising: a recording control unit that records only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image.

  According to the thirty-third aspect, as in the fifteenth aspect, when there is an image that has been corrected for red-eye, only the image that is determined to be most likely red-eye at the time of detection is recorded.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily capture an image without red eyes in a composition intended by the photographer.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out an imaging method and apparatus according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of a photographing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

  The photographing apparatus 10 is configured as a digital camera that picks up an image with an image pickup device and records the image as digital data. The photographing optical system 12, the image pickup device 14, an analog signal processing unit 16, a digital signal processing unit 18, and a storage The apparatus includes a medium 20, an operation unit 22, a liquid crystal monitor (LCD) 24, a power source 26, a flash 28, and the like.

  The overall operation of the photographing apparatus 10 is comprehensively controlled by the CPU 30 provided in the digital signal processing unit 18, and the CPU 30 controls the operation of each part of the apparatus by operating according to a predetermined control program. A flash ROM 34 connected to the CPU 30 via the bus 32 records a control program executed by the CPU 30 and various data necessary for control. The CPU 30 loads the control program recorded in the flash ROM 34 onto the SDRAM 36 and controls the operation of the entire apparatus by sequentially executing the loaded control program while using the SDRAM 36 as a work area.

  The photographing optical system 12 is configured by a so-called AF zoom lens, and includes a zoom lens 12z, a focus lens 12f, an iris diaphragm 12i, a mechanical shutter 12s, and the like.

  The zoom lens 12z is moved back and forth on the optical axis by being driven by a zoom motor (not shown) to change the focal length, and the focus lens 12f is driven on the optical axis by being driven by a focus motor (not shown). Move back and forth to change the focal position. Further, the iris diaphragm 12i is driven by an iris motor (not shown) to change the opening amount thereof to adjust the amount of light incident on the image sensor 14, and the shutter 12s is driven by a shutter motor (not shown). The image sensor 14 is exposed / light-shielded by opening and closing.

  The CPU 30 controls the operations of the zoom lens 12z, the focus lens 12f, the iris diaphragm 12i, and the shutter 12s by controlling the driving of the zoom motor, the focus motor, the iris motor, and the shutter motor via the lens driving circuit 38.

  The image sensor 14 is composed of a single-plate color CCD, and converts light incident through the photographing optical system 12 into an electrical signal (image signal). The image sensor 14 operates according to a drive signal supplied from a timing generator (TG) 40 provided in the analog signal processing unit 16, and the CPU 30 controls the operation of the image sensor 14 by controlling the timing generator 40. To do. In the present embodiment, a single-plate color CCD is used for the image sensor 14. However, the image sensor to be used is not limited to this, and an image sensor having another configuration such as a CMOS is used. You can also

  The analog signal processing unit 16 performs various analog signal processing on the image signal output from the image sensor 14, converts the image signal into a digital signal, and outputs the digital signal. The analog signal processing unit 16 includes a timing generator 40, a correlated double sampling circuit (CDS) 42, an auto gain control (AGC) circuit 44, an A / D converter 46, and the like.

  The timing generator 40 outputs a drive signal to the image sensor 14 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30 as described above. The image sensor 14 operates according to the drive signal supplied from the timing generator 40 and outputs an image signal.

  The correlated double sampling circuit 42 performs correlated double sampling processing on the image signal obtained from the image sensor 14 and removes reset noise included in the image signal.

  The auto gain control circuit 44 amplifies the image signal that has been subjected to the correlated double sampling process, and controls it to a certain level.

  The A / D converter 46 converts the amplified analog image signal into a digital image signal and outputs the digital image signal to the digital signal processing unit 18.

  The digital signal processing unit 18 takes in the digital image signal output from the analog signal processing unit 16, performs various signal processing, and forms an image signal composed of a luminance signal (Y signal) and a color difference signal (Cr, Cb signal). (YC signal) is generated. Then, the generated image signal is compressed and recorded in the storage medium 20. Further, the compressed image data recorded in the storage medium 20 is decompressed to generate a compressed image signal, which is output to the liquid crystal monitor 24. If necessary, a human face is detected from the captured image, red eyes are detected, and red eyes are corrected.

  The digital signal processing unit 18 includes the CPU 30, the image buffer 50, the YC processing circuit 52, the compression / decompression processing circuit 54, the media controller 56, the AE detection circuit 58, the AF detection circuit 60, the face detection circuit 62, the red-eye detection / detection circuit 54. A correction circuit 64, a flash emission time calculation circuit 68, an encoder 70, and the like are provided.

  The image buffer 50 stores the image signal for one screen output from the A / D converter 46 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30.

  The YC processing circuit 52 takes in an image signal for one screen stored in the image buffer 50 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30, performs various signal processing, and outputs a luminance signal (Y) and a color difference signal (Cr signal, Cb signal). An image signal (YC signal) is generated.

  The compression / decompression processing circuit 54 performs compression processing on the input YC data in accordance with a command from the CPU 30 to generate compressed image data. Further, in accordance with a command from the CPU 30, the input compressed image data is decompressed to generate uncompressed YC data.

  The media controller 56 accesses the storage medium 20 according to a command from the CPU 30 and records and reads data. The storage medium 20 may be a built-in type or a removable type like a memory card. In this embodiment, a removable memory card is used.

  The AE detection circuit 58 calculates an integrated value necessary for AE control from the image signal for one screen stored in the image buffer 50 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30. Here, one screen is divided into a plurality of areas (for example, 16 × 16), and an integrated value of R, G, and B image signals is calculated for each divided area. The CPU 30 detects (photometric) the brightness of the shooting scene based on the integrated value obtained from the AE detection circuit 58, and calculates an exposure value (EV value) suitable for shooting based on the result. Then, an appropriate shooting sensitivity is set based on the obtained exposure value (if the shooting sensitivity is specified by the user, the specified shooting sensitivity is set to the appropriate shooting sensitivity), and according to a predetermined program diagram. Proper exposure (shooting aperture and proper shutter speed) is determined.

  The AF detection circuit 60 calculates an integrated value necessary for AF control from an image signal for one screen stored in the image buffer 50 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30. Here, the imaging apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment performs AF control based on image contrast (so-called contrast AF), and the AF detection circuit 60 determines a focus evaluation value indicating the sharpness of the image from the input image signal. (For example, an integrated value of high-frequency components of the G signal in a predetermined focus area) is calculated. The CPU 30 moves the focus lens 12f from the closest distance to infinity, calculates a focus evaluation value at each point, and searches for a position where the focus evaluation value is maximized. Then, the focus lens 12f is moved to the position where the focus evaluation value is maximized as the focus position.

  The face detection circuit 62 extracts a face area in the image from the image signal generated by the YC processing circuit 52 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30. A known method can be used for this face area extraction process. For example, a face detection method based on edge detection or shape pattern detection, a face detection method based on hue extraction or skin color extraction, a candidate area is extracted, and the candidate area is extracted. Is divided into small areas, the feature quantity of each area is compared with a preset face area pattern, and a face area is extracted from the accuracy (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-137788), and a face candidate area is extracted. A method of extracting the face area by evaluating the accuracy from the overlapping degree of each candidate area (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-149018), and extracting the face candidate area, and the density of each candidate area is a predetermined threshold value A body candidate region is extracted, the accuracy is evaluated using the density and saturation contrast of the face and the body candidate region, and a face region is extracted (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-148). 80 No. see Japanese) or the like can be used.

  The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 extracts a red-eye region in the image from the image signal generated by the YC processing circuit 52 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30, and corrects the extracted red-eye region by image processing.

  As for the red-eye region extraction process, a known method can be used in the same manner as the face region extraction process. For example, edge detection, shape pattern detection, and the like from the face region detected by the face detection circuit 62 can be performed. A pupil extraction using position information or hue information, etc., a method for detecting red eyes from hue, etc., an eye detection using edge detection, shape pattern detection or position information, etc., and a luminance histogram of the image data of this eye A low luminance region is extracted from the image, and the extracted low luminance region is contracted to extract a pupil region, and the red eye is detected from the hue, etc., and the hue is used for each pixel with the face region as the xy plane. A method of obtaining an image feature amount z, setting a three-dimensional space of xyz, dividing an xy plane from a mountain distribution of z values, and detecting red eyes from shape information, statistical image feature amounts, etc. Open 2000 And the like can be used see Japanese Patent 76427).

  Similarly, a known method can be used for the extracted red-eye correction method, for example, a method of correcting red eye by color conversion or saturation reduction of the extracted red-eye region, A method of correcting the saturation or lightness of all other pixels so as to be close to the pixels (see JP 2000-76427 A) can be used.

  The flash light emission time calculation circuit calculates the light emission time (t (1), t (2),..., T (n_max)) of the flash 28 at each time when the flash photography is performed a plurality of times during the main photographing. Calculate from This point will be described in detail later.

  The encoder 70 converts the image signal generated by the YC processing circuit 52 into a signal for displaying on the liquid crystal monitor 24 in accordance with a command from the CPU 30. The signal converted by the encoder 70 is output to the liquid crystal monitor 24 via the LCD drive circuit 72, whereby an image is reproduced and displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24.

  The operation unit 22 is various operation means of the photographing apparatus 10, and includes a shutter button for instructing photographing, a mode dial for setting various photographing / playback modes, and a zoom button for instructing tele / wide zoom. , A menu button for instructing to display a menu screen, an execution button for instructing execution / determination of an operation, a cancel button for instructing to cancel the operation, a cross button for instructing movement of the cursor, a flash for setting a flash mode, etc. A button, a power button, and the like are included, and a signal corresponding to an operation is output to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 executes processing according to the instruction input from the operation unit 22 and controls each unit.

  In the present apparatus, various settings are made on a menu screen displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24. That is, when the menu button is used to instruct the display of the menu screen, the menu screen is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24, and various settings are made on this menu screen. For example, shooting sensitivity settings (auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, etc.), image size settings (1M, 3M, 6M, etc.), white balance settings (auto, manual, clear sky, cloudy, fluorescent lamp) , Incandescent lamp, etc.), metering method setting (multi, spot, center weight, etc.), AE method setting (auto, aperture priority, shutter speed priority, manual, scene program, etc.), AF method setting (center fixed AF, Face detection AF, manual focus), and self-timer setting (ON / OFF) can be performed on the menu screen.

  In addition, various operation instructions are also made using the display on the liquid crystal monitor 24 as necessary. For example, an image selection or deletion instruction can be performed according to the display on the screen.

  The power of the power supply 26 is supplied to each unit by a power supply control circuit (not shown). The CPU 30 controls the power supply control circuit to control power supply to each unit.

  The flash 28 is composed of a xenon tube, and light emission is controlled by a flash light emission control circuit 74. The flash light emission control circuit 74 adjusts the light emission amount by controlling the light emission time by causing the flash 28 to emit light in synchronization with photographing in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 30. In the present embodiment, the flash 28 is composed of a xenon tube, but it can also be composed of other light sources such as LEDs.

  Next, the operation of the imaging apparatus 10 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

  First, an outline of a processing procedure when an image is taken without causing the flash 28 to emit light will be described.

  When the mode of the photographing apparatus 10 is set to the photographing mode and the power is turned on, driving of the image sensor 14 is started, and an image captured by the image sensor 14 is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24 as a through display. That is, images are continuously captured by the image sensor 14, and the obtained image signals are continuously processed and output to the liquid crystal monitor 24.

  At this time, a human face is detected at the same time. When a face is detected, a frame is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24 so as to surround the detected face. Note that face detection is performed as follows. In other words, the image signal captured by the digital signal processing unit 18 from the image sensor 14 via the analog signal processing unit 16 is converted into a YC signal by the YC processing circuit 52 and applied to the face detection circuit 62. The face detection circuit 62 detects a human face area in the image from the obtained YC signal, and outputs the detection result to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 displays a frame on the liquid crystal monitor 24 based on the acquired face area information.

  The photographer determines the composition by looking at the image displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24, presses the shutter button, and instructs the photographing. In response to the shooting instruction, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, and measures the subject to determine the appropriate shooting sensitivity and the appropriate exposure. Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject. Then, after focusing, the image sensor 14 is exposed with the imaging sensitivity and exposure obtained by the AE process, and an image for recording is captured.

  The recording image signal output from the image sensor 14 is subjected to required signal processing by the analog signal processing unit 16 to be converted into a digital image signal, and then taken into the digital signal processing unit 18 to be digital signal processing unit. 18 image buffers 50 are accumulated.

  The image signal stored in the image buffer 50 is added to the YC processing circuit 52 under the control of the CPU 30 and subjected to predetermined signal processing to generate a YC signal composed of a luminance signal and a color difference signal. The generated YC signal is applied to the compression / decompression processing circuit 54, subjected to a predetermined compression process, and then recorded on the storage medium 20 via the media controller 56.

  Next, a processing procedure for shooting with the flash 28 emitted will be described.

  In the photographing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, when photographing with a flash, first, the subject is photographed by pre-flashing the flash 28 with a predetermined amount of light prior to the actual photographing (recording image photographing). Based on the brightness, an appropriate light emission amount (appropriate light emission time) of the flash 28 at the time of actual photographing is determined. Then, the number of times of actual photographing is determined based on the presence or absence of the face, and the light emission amount (light emission time) at each time is determined based on the appropriate light emission amount. That is, when a face is detected, red eyes may occur. Therefore, the number of times of actual photographing is set to a plurality of times (three times in this embodiment), and the light emission amount at each time is set to an appropriate light emission amount. (If no face is detected, red eyes cannot occur, so the number of times of actual photographing is set to one, and the flash 28 is emitted with an appropriate light emission amount to perform actual photographing.) At this time, the light emission amount at each time is set so as to decrease stepwise from the appropriate light emission amount at a predetermined difference step, and the difference step is determined based on the appropriate light emission amount. That is, as the appropriate light emission amount increases, the red eye becomes more conspicuous. Therefore, the difference step is determined to increase as the appropriate light emission amount increases. Then, flash shooting is performed with the number of shootings and the amount of light emission determined as described above.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment.

  When an instruction for actual photographing is issued by pressing the shutter button, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, and measures the subject to set proper photographing sensitivity and proper exposure (step S10). Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject (step S11).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 outputs a command to the flash light emission control circuit 74 to cause the flash 28 to perform pre-light emission with a predetermined light emission amount (light emission time) (step S12). Then, an appropriate light emission amount (appropriate light emission time) is calculated based on the image captured by the image sensor 14 during the pre-light emission. That is, the image signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 during pre-emission is added to the AE detection circuit 58, and the integrated value of the R, G, B image signals for each divided area is calculated (step S13). Then, an appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated based on the integrated value obtained from the AE detection circuit 58 (step S14).

  The calculation of the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is performed as follows. That is, first, from the integrated value during pre-flash (ipre), integrated value during live view (ith), and target integrated value (iob), the following equation [ΔEV = log (iob / (ipre-ith)) / EV2] to calculate the ΔEV value (log is the common logarithm). Then, using the predetermined conversion table shown in FIG. 5, the ΔEV value is converted into the flash emission time, and the appropriate emission time (t_flash) is calculated.

  This conversion table is a correspondence table between the ΔEV value and the flash emission time. When the flash is emitted for the emission time corresponding to the ΔEV value, the emission becomes a target integrated value when integrated.

  In this way, when the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) of the flash 28 is calculated, the CPU 30 executes a process of setting the number of times of actual photographing (n_max) (step S15).

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure for setting the number of times of photographing (n_max).

  First, a YC signal of an image captured by the image sensor 14 at the time of pre-emission is added to the face detection circuit 62 to detect a face area in the image. The face determination result is stored in the SDRAM 36, and the CPU 30 determines the presence or absence of a face based on the face detection result (step S30).

  As a result of this determination, if it is determined that there is a face, the CPU 30 sets the number of actual photographing (n_max) to 3 (step S31). (Step S32). That is, when there is no face, red eyes cannot occur, so the number of times of actual photographing is set to one time, and only when there is a face, the main photographing is set to be performed a plurality of times (three times in this embodiment). Thereby, useless flash photography can be prevented, and power consumption and compression of the storage medium 20 can be prevented. Information on the set number of times of main shooting (n_max) is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  In this example, the number of times of actual photographing is set based on the result of face detection at the time of pre-flash, but the timing of face detection is not limited to this. You may make it set the frequency | count of imaging | photography based on the result of the face detection of the image obtained before or after that.

  When the number of times of photographing at the time of main photographing is set as described above, the CPU 30 then causes the flash light emitting time calculating circuit 68 to actually emit the flash 28 at each time (t (1), t ( 2)... T (n_max)) is calculated (step S16).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the actual flash 28 flash time calculation process by the flash flash time calculation circuit 68.

  First, information on the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S40). Then, the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) using the predetermined conversion table shown in FIG. 5 (step S41), and the converted ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) is compared with the threshold (step S42). .

  Then, a difference step (ΔEV_delta) is set in comparison with the threshold. That is, if it is determined that the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value, ΔEV_delta1 is set in the difference step (ΔEV_delta) (step S43). On the other hand, when it is determined that the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, ΔEV_delta2 is set to the difference step (ΔEV_delta) (step S44).

  Here, the difference step (ΔEV_delta1) set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value is set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is equal to or less than the threshold value. Is set smaller than the difference step (ΔEV_delta2) to be performed (ΔEV_delta1> ΔEV_delta2). This is because, when the appropriate light emission time is long (the light emission amount is large), it is considered that the possibility of red-eye generation is large, and accordingly, an appropriate light emission amount (light emission time) can be set each time. .

  In this way, after setting the difference step (ΔEV_delta), information on the number of photographing (n_max) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S45), and the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the set difference step (ΔEV_delta) and the appropriate light emission time. Based on the above, the actual light emission time (t (1), t (2),... T (n_max)) at each photographing time is calculated (steps S46 to S50). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S46), and the following formula [ΔEV (n) = ΔEV_flash− (n−1) * ΔEV_delta] (Expression 1) (1)) is calculated (step S47). Then, the ΔEV value (ΔEV (1)) is converted into the light emission time (t (1)) using a predetermined conversion table (see FIG. 5) (step S48). In addition, the light emission time at the time of the first photographing is set to an appropriate light emission time (t_flash).

  Thereafter, 1 is added to the variable n (step S49), and it is determined whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S50).

  As described above, the actual flash time (light emission amount) of the flash 28 in each shooting time is set. Information on the actual flash emission time at each set shooting time is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  In the photographing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, when the face is not detected, the number of photographing (n_max) is set to 1. In this case, the light emission time at the time of actual photographing is the appropriate light emission time (t_flash). Set to

  On the other hand, when the face is detected, the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to 3, so the light emission time for 3 times is set. In this case, from the above equation 1, the first ΔEV value is ΔEV (1) = ΔEV_flash, the second ΔEV value is ΔEV (2) = ΔEV_flash−ΔEV_delta, and the third ΔEV value is ΔEV (3) = ΔEV_flash − 2 * ΔEV_delta. That is, it decreases in steps at the set difference step. As a result, the actual light emission time (t (1), (t (2)), (t (3))) is also set to decrease stepwise from the appropriate light emission time (t_flash).

  As described above, when the actual flash time (light emission amount) of the flash 28 is set at each shooting time, the CPU 30 performs the processing of the main shooting at the set number of shooting times (n_max) as shown in FIG. Is executed (steps S17 to S22). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S17), the light emission time t (1) of the flash 28 for the first shooting is set (step S18), and the shooting sensitivity and exposure are set to the appropriate shooting sensitivity and exposure. (Step S19), the first flash photography is performed (step S20).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S21), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S22), and the processing of the above steps S18 to S21 until it exceeds. repeat.

  That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the photographing is finished once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is three. If the time is set, the flash photography is performed three times, and the photographing process is terminated. In this case, the first time is the flash time t (1) (= appropriate flash time (t_flash)), the second time is the flash time t (2), and the third time is the flash time t (3). Shooting is performed (t (1)> t (2)> t (3)). That is, the image is taken with the light amount reduced step by step.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, when performing flash photography, the number of times of photographing is determined based on the presence or absence of a face, and when photographing multiple times, the light emission amount (light emission time) is gradually reduced. Take multiple shots. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain an image with inconspicuous red eyes. In addition, since the interval from the shooting instruction is not increased, the subject can be shot with the composition intended by the photographer.

  Note that an image captured a plurality of times by the image capturing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment darkens in a stepwise manner, but the user can select a preferable image based on the balance between red-eye and image brightness by capturing a plurality of images. it can. Therefore, when a plurality of shots are taken, all the images obtained by the shots are recorded in the storage medium 20, and the user deletes unnecessary images later. Note that an image obtained by photographing before recording may be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24, and an image to be recorded may be selected by the user and recorded on the storage medium 20. In addition, the user may be able to select these processing methods.

  In addition, since the photographing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 that detects and automatically corrects red-eye, the image is automatically corrected and recorded in the storage medium 20. You may do it. Further, if necessary, the user may instruct red-eye correction, and red-eye correction processing may be performed on the captured image.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the flash 28 is pre-flashed to obtain the appropriate flash time of the flash 28 at the time of actual shooting, but the method of calculating the proper flash time is not limited to this, For example, the distance to the subject may be detected and calculated based on the distance information and the aperture value information. Note that, as in the present embodiment, the flash 28 is pre-lighted and the appropriate light emission time is obtained, whereby the red-eye reduction action by the pre-light emission can be obtained, and the generation of red eyes can be more effectively suppressed.

  Also, in this embodiment, face detection is performed, and multiple shots are taken only when a face is detected. However, multiple shots are taken regardless of whether or not a face is detected. Also good. It should be noted that useless photographing can be prevented by performing face detection as in the present embodiment and photographing multiple times only when a face is detected.

  In the present embodiment, the light emission amount of the flash 28 is controlled by the light emission time, but the light emission amount may be controlled by changing the intensity of the light source.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is set, it is set in two stages in the comparison between the appropriate light emission time and the threshold, but it may be set in more detail. For example, the appropriate light emission time may be divided into a plurality of sections, a difference step may be set for each section, and the difference step may be set depending on which section the calculated appropriate light emission time belongs to. Further, the difference step may be set in proportion to the calculated appropriate light emission time. Further, the difference step may be set by a function according to the calculated appropriate light emission time. In either case, the difference step is set to increase as the appropriate light emission amount increases.

  In the present embodiment, the difference step is set based on the appropriate light emission amount of the flash, but the difference step may be constant regardless of the appropriate light emission amount. However, when the difference step is set according to the appropriate light emission amount of the flash as in this embodiment, the occurrence of red eyes can be more effectively suppressed.

  Further, when the difference step is set based on the appropriate light emission amount, the difference step may be set so as to increase as the appropriate light emission amount increases, and the value is not particularly limited. It is set in consideration so that an image in which red eyes are reliably reduced including a threshold value can be obtained.

  Considering this point, it is preferable to set so that photographing is always performed so that the ΔEV value is 2 or less. For example, when the number of times of shooting (n_max) is set to 2, assuming that ΔEV_delta1 = 2 and ΔEV_delta2 = 1, if the threshold value is 2.5 and ΔEV_flash> 2.5, then ΔEV_delta1 = 2 Since ΔEV does not exceed 4.5 from the conversion table, photographing with a ΔEV value below 2 is always performed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when shooting a plurality of times, the number of times of shooting (n_max) is set to 3 times, but the number of times of shooting is not limited to this, and may be set by increasing or decreasing appropriately. You can also. Moreover, you may enable it to set arbitrarily by a user.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the second embodiment of the photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

  In the photographing apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment described above, the amount of flash emission (light emission time) is reduced stepwise at the time of flash photography with face detection, and the flash photography is performed a plurality of times. In the apparatus 100, the shooting sensitivity is decreased in stages during flash shooting with face detection, and flash shooting is performed a plurality of times.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the photographing sensitivity is changed in steps, the first embodiment described above is provided in that the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102 for setting the photographing sensitivity for each time is provided. (The imaging sensitivity calculation circuit 102 is provided instead of the flash emission time calculation circuit 68). Accordingly, the other components are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the imaging device 10 of the first embodiment described above, and the description thereof is omitted.

  The photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102 sets the photographing sensitivity at each time based on the appropriate light emission time of the flash 28. Specifically, as in the imaging device 10 of the first embodiment, the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into a ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash), and the converted ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) is compared with a threshold value. Then, a difference step (ΔSV) is set in comparison with the threshold. That is, when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value, a large difference step is set, and when it is equal to or less than the threshold value, a small difference step is set. Then, from the obtained difference step (ΔSV) and appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash), the actual shooting sensitivity at each time is calculated by the following equation [SV (n) = SV_flash− (n−1) * ΔSV] (Equation 2). Set.

  Hereinafter, a procedure of processing operation at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment.

  When an instruction for actual photographing is issued by pressing the shutter button, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, measures the subject, and sets appropriate photographing sensitivity and proper exposure (proper aperture, proper shutter speed) (step) S110). Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject (step S111).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 outputs a command to the flash emission control circuit 74, and causes the flash 28 to pre-emit for a predetermined emission time (step S112). Then, the divided photometry is performed on the image obtained during the pre-flash (step S113), and an appropriate flash time (t_flash) is calculated (step S114).

  When the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated, the CPU 30 executes a process of setting the number of times of actual photographing (n_max) (step S115). That is, as in the first embodiment, the number of times of shooting is set according to the presence or absence of a face. In the present embodiment, the number of times of actual photographing (n_max) is set to 3 when there is a face, and the number of times of actual photographing (n_max) is set to 1 when there is no face. Information on the set number of times of main shooting (n_max) is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  When the number of times of photographing at the time of main photographing is set as described above, the CPU 30 then causes the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102 to take photographing sensitivity (SV (1), SV (2),... SV ( n_max)) is performed (step S116).

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure of actual photographing sensitivity calculation processing by the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102.

  First, information on the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S40). Then, the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) using the predetermined conversion table shown in FIG. 5 (step S121), and the converted ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) is compared with the threshold (step S122). .

  Then, a difference step (ΔSV) is set in comparison with the threshold. That is, if it is determined that the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value, ΔSV1 is set to the difference step (ΔSV) (step S123). On the other hand, if it is determined that the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, ΔSV2 is set to the difference step (ΔSV) (step S124).

  Here, the difference step (ΔSV1) set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value is set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is less than or equal to the threshold value. The difference step (ΔSV2) is set to be smaller (ΔSV1> ΔSV2). This is because, when the appropriate light emission time is long (when the light emission amount is large), it is considered that the possibility of occurrence of red-eye is high, and thus it is possible to set an appropriate photographing sensitivity each time.

  In this way, after setting the difference step (ΔSV), information on the number of shootings (n_max) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S125), and information on the appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash) is acquired (step S126). Based on the acquired appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash) information and the set difference step (ΔSV) information, the actual shooting sensitivity (SV (1), SV (2),... SV ( n_max)) is calculated (steps S127 to S131). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S127), and the following formula [SV (n) = SV_flash− (n−1) * ΔSV] (Expression 2) is used. 1) is calculated (step S128). Note that the shooting sensitivity SV (1) in the first shooting is set to an appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash).

  Thereafter, 1 is added to the variable n (step S130), it is determined whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S131), and the processing of steps S128 to S131 is repeated until the variable n is exceeded.

  As described above, the actual photographing sensitivity at each photographing time is set. Information of actual photographing sensitivity at each set photographing time is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  In the photographing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, when the face is not detected, the number of photographing (n_max) is set to 1. In this case, the actual photographing sensitivity SV (1) is the appropriate photographing sensitivity (SV_flash). ).

  On the other hand, when the face is detected, the number of times of shooting (n_max) is set to 3, so the shooting sensitivity for 3 times is set. In this case, from the above equation 2, the first imaging sensitivity SV (1) is set to the appropriate imaging sensitivity SV_flash, and the second imaging sensitivity SV (2) is set to SV_flash−ΔSV. The third imaging sensitivity SV (3) is set to SV_flash-2ΔSV. That is, it is dropped step by step at the set difference step.

  When the actual shooting sensitivity SV (n) at each shooting time is set as described above, the CPU 30 executes the main shooting process at the set number of shooting times (n_max) as shown in FIG. (Steps S117 to S122). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S117), the light emission time (appropriate light emission time) of the flash 28 for the first photographing is set (step S118), and the photographing sensitivity and exposure are set (step S119). ). At this time, as the shooting sensitivity, the first shooting sensitivity SV (1) set in step S116 (the first shooting sensitivity is appropriate) is set. Then, the first flash shooting is performed with the shooting sensitivity and exposure set in this way (step S120).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S121), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S122), and the processing of the above steps S118 to S121 until it exceeds. repeat.

  That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the photographing is finished once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is three. If the time is set, the flash photography is performed three times, and the photographing process is terminated. In this case, the first shot has a shooting sensitivity of SV (1) (= appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash)), the second shooting has a shooting sensitivity of SV (2), and the third shooting has a shooting sensitivity of SV (3 ) And flash shooting is performed for each (SV (1)> SV (2)> SV (3)). That is, the shooting sensitivity is shifted in a direction that gradually decreases from the appropriate shooting sensitivity.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when performing flash photography, the number of times of photographing is determined based on the presence or absence of a face, and when photographing a plurality of times, the photographing sensitivity is gradually reduced from the appropriate photographing sensitivity. Multiple times. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain an image with inconspicuous red eyes. In addition, since the interval from the shooting instruction is not increased, the subject can be shot with the composition intended by the photographer.

  In the photographing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the photographed image is gradually darkened, but by photographing a plurality of images, the user can select a preferable image based on the balance between the red eye and the brightness of the image. . Therefore, when a plurality of shots are taken, all the images obtained by the shots are recorded in the storage medium 20, and the user deletes unnecessary images later. Note that an image obtained by photographing before recording may be displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24, and an image to be recorded may be selected by the user and recorded on the storage medium 20. In addition, the user may be able to select these processing methods.

  In addition, since the photographing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 that detects red eyes and automatically corrects them, the red-eye correction is automatically performed on each image and recorded in the storage medium 20. You may do it. Further, if necessary, the user may instruct red-eye correction, and red-eye correction processing may be performed on the captured image.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the flash 28 is pre-flashed to obtain the appropriate flash time of the flash 28 at the time of actual shooting, but the method of calculating the proper flash time is not limited to this, For example, the distance to the subject may be detected and calculated based on the distance information and the aperture value information.

  Also, in this embodiment, face detection is performed, and multiple shots are taken only when a face is detected. However, multiple shots are taken regardless of whether or not a face is detected. Also good. It should be noted that useless photographing can be prevented by performing face detection as in the present embodiment and photographing multiple times only when a face is detected.

  In the present embodiment, when the difference step (ΔSV) is set, it is set in two stages in the comparison between the appropriate light emission time and the threshold, but it may be set in more detail. For example, the appropriate light emission time may be divided into a plurality of sections, a difference step may be set for each section, and the difference step may be set depending on which section the calculated appropriate light emission time belongs to. Further, the difference step may be set in proportion to the calculated appropriate light emission time. Further, the difference step may be set by a function according to the calculated appropriate light emission time. In either case, the difference step is set to increase as the appropriate light emission amount increases.

  In the present embodiment, the difference step is set based on the appropriate light emission amount of the flash, but the difference step may be constant regardless of the appropriate light emission amount. However, when the difference step is set according to the appropriate light emission amount of the flash as in this embodiment, the occurrence of red eyes can be more effectively suppressed.

  Further, when the difference step is set based on the appropriate light emission amount, the difference step may be set so as to increase as the appropriate light emission amount increases, and the value is not particularly limited. It is set in consideration so that an image in which red eyes are reliably reduced including a threshold value can be obtained. For example, when the number of times of shooting (n_max) is set to 2, ΔSV1 = 2, ΔSV2 = 1, and the threshold value is 2.5.

  In the above embodiment, the shooting sensitivity is lowered from the appropriate shooting sensitivity step by step and shot multiple times. However, the shooting aperture is shifted from the appropriate shooting aperture in a stepwise manner and shot multiple times. May be. Further, it is possible to shoot a plurality of times by adjusting both the shooting sensitivity and the shooting aperture.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when shooting a plurality of times, the number of times of shooting is set to three, but the number of times of shooting is not limited to this, and can be set by appropriately increasing or decreasing. Moreover, you may enable it to set arbitrarily by a user.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the third embodiment of the photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

  In the photographing apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment described above, flash photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually reducing the flash emission amount at the time of flash photographing with face detection. However, in the photographing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment. During flash shooting with face detection, the flash emission amount is increased step by step and flash shooting is performed a plurality of times, and red-eye detection / correction processing is performed for each image, and only red-eye corrected images are recorded. That is, by intentionally emphasizing the red eye, it is easy to detect the red eye, and an image in which the red eye is reliably corrected is acquired.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the red-eye is corrected and only the image is recorded, the image recording determination circuit 202 that determines whether or not image recording is necessary is provided. This is different from the photographing apparatus 10. Accordingly, the other components are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the imaging device 10 of the first embodiment described above, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, flash photographing is performed a plurality of times by gradually increasing the flash emission amount during face-detected flash photographing. The image data of each photographed image is added to the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 to detect red eyes. And about the image from which the red eye was detected, the correction process is performed. The image recording determination circuit 202 determines the necessity of image recording based on the detection / correction result of the red eye by the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 and the result of the face detection by the face detection circuit 62. That is, it is determined that image recording is necessary for an image in which no face is detected (normal flash photographed image) and an image in which a face is detected and red-eye is detected and corrected (recording determination). On the other hand, it is determined that image recording is unnecessary for an image in which a face is detected but red-eye is not detected or corrected (erase determination). The CPU 30 performs an image recording process based on the determination result of the image recording determination circuit 202.

  Hereinafter, the procedure of the processing operation at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment.

  When an instruction for actual shooting is issued by pressing the shutter button, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, and measures the subject to set the appropriate shooting sensitivity and the appropriate exposure (step S210). Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject (step S211).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 outputs a command to the flash light emission control circuit 74 to cause the flash 28 to perform pre-light emission with a predetermined light emission amount (light emission time) (step S212). Then, an appropriate light emission amount (appropriate light emission time) is calculated based on the image captured by the image sensor 14 during the pre-light emission. That is, the image signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 during pre-emission is added to the AE detection circuit 58, and the integrated value of the R, G, B image signals for each divided area is calculated (step S213). Then, an appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated based on the integrated value obtained from the AE detection circuit 58 (step S214).

  When the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated, the CPU 30 executes a process of setting the number of times of actual shooting (n_max) (step S215). That is, the YC signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 during pre-emission is added to the face detection circuit 62 to detect a face area in the image. As a result of the face detection by the face detection circuit 62, when it is determined that there is a face, the number of times of actual shooting (n_max) is set to 3, and when it is determined that there is no face, the number of times of shooting of actual shooting (n_max) is set to 1. Set (see FIG. 3). Information on the set number of times of main shooting (n_max) is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  When the number of times of photographing at the time of the main photographing is set, the CPU 30 then causes the flash light emitting time calculating circuit 68 to execute the actual light emitting time (t (1), t (2),. (n_max)) is calculated (step S216).

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the actual flash 28 flashing time calculation process by the flash flashing time calculation circuit 68.

  First, information on the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S240). Then, the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) using the predetermined conversion table shown in FIG. 5 (step S241).

  Next, information on the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S242). Here, the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is stored in the flash ROM 34 as a constant value, and the CPU 30 adds the information of the difference step (ΔEV_delta) stored in the flash ROM 34 to the flash emission time calculation circuit 68.

  Next, information on the number of times of photographing (n_max) is obtained from the CPU 30 (step S243), and actual light emission at each photographing time is based on the difference step (ΔEV_delta) obtained in advance and the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time. Time (t (1), t (2),... T (n_max)) is calculated (steps S244 to S248). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S244), and the following expression [ΔEV (n) = ΔEV_flash + (n−1) * ΔEV_delta] (Expression 3) (1)) is calculated (step S245). Then, the ΔEV value (ΔEV (1)) is converted into the light emission time (t (1)) using a predetermined conversion table (see FIG. 5) (step S246). In addition, the light emission time at the time of the first photographing is set to an appropriate light emission time (t_flash).

  Thereafter, 1 is added to the variable n (step S247), it is determined whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S248), and the processes of steps S245 to S248 are repeated until the variable n is exceeded.

  As described above, the actual flash time (light emission amount) of the flash 28 in each shooting time is set. Information on the actual flash emission time at each set shooting time is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  Note that in the photographing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, when the face is not detected, the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to 1, and in this case, the light emission time during actual photographing is the appropriate light emission time (t_flash). Set to

  On the other hand, when the face is detected, the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to 3, so the light emission time for 3 times is set. In this case, from Equation 3, the first ΔEV value is ΔEV (1) = ΔEV_flash (appropriate light emission time), the second ΔEV value is ΔEV (2) = ΔEV_flash + ΔEV_delta, and the third ΔEV value is ΔEV (3) = ΔEV_flash + 2 * ΔEV_delta. That is, it increases step by step at the set difference step. As a result, the actual light emission time (t (1), (t (2)), (t (3))) is also set to increase stepwise from the appropriate light emission time (t_flash).

  As described above, when the actual flash time (light emission amount) of the flash 28 at each shooting time is set, the CPU 30 performs the process of the main shooting at the set shooting number (n_max) as shown in FIG. Are executed (steps S217 to S222). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S217), the light emission time t (1) of the flash 28 for the first shooting is set (step S218), and the shooting sensitivity and exposure are set to the appropriate shooting sensitivity and exposure. (Step S219), the first flash photography is performed (step S220).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S221), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S222), and the processing of the above steps S18 to S21 until it exceeds. repeat.

  That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the photographing is finished once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is three. If the time is set, the flash photography is performed three times, and the photographing process is terminated. In this case, the first time is the flash time t (1) (= appropriate flash time (t_flash)), the second time is the flash time t (2), and the third time is the flash time t (3). Shooting is performed (t (1) <t (2) <t (3)). In other words, the amount of light emitted from the flash 28 is increased stepwise to take a picture.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, the number of photographing times of the main photographing is determined based on the presence or absence of the face when flash photography is performed. Increase the amount in steps) and take multiple flash shots. Thereby, it is possible to easily obtain an image that is easy to detect red-eye. The obtained image is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 36.

  When flash photography is performed as described above, as shown in FIG. 10, the CPU 30 executes red-eye detection / correction processing on an image obtained by photography.

  First, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S223), the first captured image is selected as the processing target image (step S224), and red-eye detection processing is performed on the image (step S225). That is, image data of an image obtained by the first shooting is added to the face detection circuit 62, and face detection is performed. Then, the image data of the image whose face is detected by the face detection circuit 62 is added to the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64, and a red-eye detection process is performed. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 detects red eyes for the input image data and outputs the detection result to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 determines the presence / absence of a red eye based on the detection result of the red eye by the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 (step S226), and outputs a red eye correction instruction to the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 when the red eye is detected. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 performs red-eye correction processing by image processing on an image obtained by photographing in accordance with the instruction from the CPU 30 (step S227). The image data of the red-eye corrected image is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with face detection information and red-eye correction information.

  When the red-eye detection / correction processing for the first captured image is completed, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S228), and determines whether the variable n exceeds the number of times of capturing (n_max). (Step S229), and the processes of Steps S224 to S228 are repeated until it exceeds. That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the red-eye detection / correction process is completed once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing is detected. When (n_max) is set to 3 times, the red eye detection / correction process is performed 3 times (when the red eye detection / correction of the image taken on the first day is completed, the image taken the second time) When the red-eye detection / correction is performed and the red-eye detection / correction of the second image is completed, the red-eye detection / correction of the third image is performed).

  If it is determined in step S225 that no red eye has been detected and no red eye has been detected in step S226, the red eye correction process is not performed on the image, and is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with information indicating no red eye correction.

  Of course, red-eye does not occur for an image in which a face is not detected in the through image, and the image data of the image is stored in the SDRAM 36 as it is.

  As described above, when the red-eye detection / correction processing for the image obtained by photographing is completed, the CPU 30 performs image recording determination processing and performs image recording processing (step S230). That is, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines whether or not image recording is necessary, and performs an image recording process based on the determination result.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure of this photographed image recording process.

  First, information on the number of photographing times (n_max) of the main photographing is acquired (step S260). Then, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S261), and the first captured image is selected as the processing target image (step S262).

  The CPU 30 adds the face detection information and red-eye correction information of the image obtained by the first shooting to the image recording determination circuit 202, and determines whether or not image recording is necessary.

  First, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines whether or not a face is detected based on the face detection result of the image (step S263). If it is determined that the face is not detected as a result of the determination, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines that image recording is necessary, and performs recording determination. That is, in this case, since the main shooting is a normal shooting only once, the recording process is performed as it is. The CPU 30 executes the recording process of the image according to the determination result of the recording determination by the image recording determination circuit 202 (step S265). That is, the image is subjected to a required compression process (uncompressed as necessary) and recorded in the storage medium 20.

  If it is determined in step S263 that a face has been detected, it is determined whether red-eye correction has been performed based on the result of red-eye correction (step S264). If it is determined that red-eye correction has been performed as a result of this determination, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines that image recording is necessary, and performs recording determination. The CPU 30 executes the recording process of the image according to the determination result of the recording determination by the image recording determination circuit 202 (step S265).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S264 that red-eye correction has not been performed, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines that image recording is unnecessary and performs erasure determination. The CPU 30 executes an erasing process for the image according to the determination result of the erasure determination by the image recording determination circuit 202 (step S266). That is, it is not recorded on the storage medium 20.

  As described above, only when the face is not detected in the photographed image, and when the face is detected and the red-eye correction is performed, the image is recorded on the storage medium 20 and the face is detected. However, if red-eye correction has not been performed, it is deleted. As a result, an image on which red-eye correction has been performed can be recorded reliably.

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S267), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S268), and the processing of the above steps S262 to S267 until it exceeds. repeat.

  As described above, the image capturing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment performs flash image capturing a plurality of times by gradually increasing the flash emission amount during flash image capturing, performs red-eye detection / correction processing on each image, and performs red eye detection. Only images that have been detected and corrected are recorded. As a result, it is possible to reliably record an image with corrected red eyes on the storage medium 20.

  In the above embodiment, whether or not image recording is necessary is determined based on the detection result of face detection of the actually captured image at the time of image recording determination. The necessity of image recording may be determined based on the detection result of the face detection of the image at the time of light emission).

  In addition, when a face is not detected in the through image and it is clear that red eyes do not occur when the main shooting is performed only once, the red-eye detection / correction processing (steps S223 to S229) is not performed and is performed as it is. It may be recorded.

  Also in the present embodiment, the flash 28 is pre-flashed to obtain the appropriate flash time for the flash 28 at the time of actual shooting, but the method for calculating the proper flash time is not limited to this. .

  Also, in this embodiment, face detection is performed, and multiple shots are taken only when a face is detected. However, multiple shots are taken regardless of whether or not a face is detected. Also good.

  In the present embodiment, the light emission amount of the flash 28 is controlled by the light emission time, but the light emission amount may be controlled by changing the intensity of the light source.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is set, it is set in two stages in the comparison between the appropriate light emission time and the threshold, but it may be set in more detail. For example, the appropriate light emission time may be divided into a plurality of sections, a difference step may be set for each section, and the difference step may be set depending on which section the calculated appropriate light emission time belongs to. Further, the difference step may be set in proportion to the calculated appropriate light emission time. Further, the difference step may be set by a function according to the calculated appropriate light emission time. In either case, the difference step is set to decrease as the appropriate light emission amount increases.

  In the present embodiment, the difference step is constant, but the difference step may be set according to the appropriate amount of light emitted from the flash.

  For example, after the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) in step S241, the converted ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) is compared with the threshold value to set the difference step (ΔEV_delta). Good. That is, if the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value, the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is set to ΔEV_delta1, and if it is equal to or less than the threshold value, the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is set to ΔEV_delta2. Here, the difference step (ΔEV_delta1) set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value is set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is equal to or less than the threshold value. It is set larger than the difference step (ΔEV_delta2) (ΔEV_delta1 <ΔEV_delta2). This is because it is considered that red eyes are less likely to occur when the appropriate light emission time is shorter (the light emission amount is smaller). That is, when the appropriate light emission time is short and red eyes are difficult to occur, the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is increased to facilitate detection of red eyes. On the other hand, if the appropriate light emission time is long and red eyes are likely to occur, the difference step (ΔEV_delta) is reduced so that red eyes are easily detected within a range where whiteout or the like does not occur.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when the flash photography is performed a plurality of times, all the red-eye corrected images are recorded on the storage medium 20. However, before recording, the images are displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24 to determine whether or not recording is necessary. The user may be inquired. In this case, when there are a plurality of red-eye corrected images, the user may individually select an image to be recorded.

  Furthermore, it is also possible to automatically detect the most red-eye image among images taken a plurality of times and record only the image data after the red-eye correction of the image.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the recorded image recording process when only the most red-eye image is recorded.

  First, information on the number of times of actual photographing (n_max) is acquired (step S280). The recorded image times n_rec is set to n_rec = 0, the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n) is set to REV (0) = 0 (step S281), the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S282), and 1 is added to the image to be processed. The second captured image is selected (step S283).

  The CPU 30 adds the red-eye correction information of the image obtained by the first shooting to the image recording determination circuit 202, and determines whether or not image recording is necessary.

  Here, the red-eye correction information applied to the image recording determination circuit 202 includes information on whether or not red-eye correction has been performed on the image, and information on the evaluation value of red-eyeness (red-eye detection evaluation value) when red-eye is detected. Therefore, in the case of this example, the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 detects red-eye from the photographed image and also calculates an evaluation value of the redness of the image.

  The red-eye detection evaluation value can be calculated using a known method. For example, it can be calculated by the following method. First, a feature quantity that represents the redness of a prior art and a score corresponding to the value of the feature quantity are defined. For example, if the value of the pixel is a value representing red, it can be one basis for determining that the eye has red eyes. Therefore, the value of the pixel can be a feature amount representing redness. In this case, for example, a high score is obtained for a pixel value representing a color that can be recognized by anyone's eyes as red, and a low value is represented for a pixel value representing a color that is red but may be judged brown depending on the viewer. The association between the feature quantity and the score is defined so that the score is obtained. On the other hand, the correspondence between the feature quantity and the score is defined so that a pixel value that clearly represents a color that is not red (for example, yellow) has a zero or negative score. Then, a feature amount is calculated for each pixel in the region detected as red-eye, and the feature amount is converted into a score to obtain a red-eye detection evaluation value.

  Depending on the red-eye detection method used, a red-eye detection evaluation value (red-eye likelihood score) can be obtained in the red-eye detection process (red-eye detection is performed based on the red-eye detection evaluation value). You may use the red-eye detection evaluation value calculated | required in the detection process.

  The image recording determination circuit 202 determines the presence / absence of red-eye correction based on the acquired red-eye correction information (step S284). As a result of this determination, if it is determined that red-eye correction is performed, the image recording determination circuit 202 acquires information on the red-eye detection evaluation value of the image (step S285). In this case, since this is the first captured image, information on the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (1) of the first captured image is acquired. On the other hand, if it is determined that the red-eye correction is not performed, the image recording determination circuit 202 sets the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n) of the image to 0 (step S286).

  Thereafter, the image recording determination circuit 202 compares the acquired red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n) with the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n-1) of the previously captured image, and acquires the acquired red-eye detection evaluation value. It is determined whether REV (n) is larger than the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n-1) of the previously captured image (step S287).

  This time, since the first image is taken as an object, the red eye detection evaluation value REV (1) of the first image is compared with the red eye detection evaluation value REV (0) = 0. It is determined whether or not the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (1) of the photographed image is larger than the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (0) = 0.

  Then, when it is determined that the acquired red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n) is larger than the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n-1) of the previously captured image, the recorded image time n_rec is set to the imaging time ( Step S288).

  This time, the image taken for the first time is targeted, so if the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (1) of the image taken for the first time is determined to be greater than the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (0) = 0, recording is performed. Set image times n_rec to 1.

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S289), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S290), and the processing of steps S283 to S289 is performed until the variable n is exceeded. repeat.

  That is, by repeating the above steps S283 to S289 ten times, the image with the highest red-eye detection evaluation value REV (n) is selected from the captured images at each shooting time, and the selected shooting time value is recorded. Set to image times n_rec. For example, when the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (2) of the second captured image is the highest, 2 is set in the recorded image time n_rec, and the red-eye detection evaluation value REV (2) of the third captured image is the highest. In this case, 3 is set to the recorded image time n_rec. On the other hand, when red-eye correction has not been performed for all images, the recorded image count n_rec is set to zero.

  When the comparison of the red-eye detection evaluation values for all the images is completed, the CPU 30 determines whether or not the recording image number n_rec is set to 0 based on the setting result of the recording image number n_rec by the image recording determination circuit 202. Determination is made (step S291).

  If it is determined that the recorded image count n_rec is not set to 0 as a result of this determination, the set recorded image count image is recorded in the storage medium 20 (step S292). That is, compression processing is performed as necessary, and recording is performed on the storage medium 20 via the media controller 56. For example, when the recorded image time n_rec is set to 2, the image data of the image taken for the second time is recorded in the storage medium 20, and when the recorded image time n_rec is set to 3, the third time. The image data of the captured image is recorded in the storage medium 20. As a result, only the image that has undergone red-eye correction is recorded in the storage medium 20 as the most red-eye image.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S291 that the recorded image count n_rec is set to 0, all images are recorded in the storage medium 20 (step S293). For example, if a face is detected and flash photography is performed a plurality of times, but no red-eye is detected for any image and no red-eye correction is performed, all images are recorded in the storage medium 20. If no face is detected and flash photography is performed only once as usual, red-eye correction is not performed, and the face is recorded as it is in the storage medium 20.

  As described above, when red-eye correction is performed, by recording only the most red-eye-like image on the storage medium 20, it is possible to reliably record the red-eye corrected image. That is, the most red-eye image can be corrected with the most accurate red-eye correction, so that the most preferable image can be recorded as the red-eye corrected image. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the storage medium 20 from being squeezed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when shooting a plurality of times, the number of times of shooting is set to three, but the number of times of shooting is not limited to this, and can be set by appropriately increasing or decreasing. Moreover, you may enable it to set arbitrarily by a user.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the fourth embodiment of the photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

  In the photographing apparatus 200 according to the third embodiment described above, the flash emission amount is increased stepwise at the time of flash photography with face detection, and multiple flash photography is performed, and red-eye detection / correction processing is performed on each image. In this case, the image capturing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment has a recording sensitivity level at the time of flash shooting with face detection as in the image capturing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment. Raise the target and take multiple flash shots. Then, red-eye detection / correction processing is performed on each image, and only the image with the red-eye corrected is recorded.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the red-eye is corrected and only the image is recorded, the image recording determination circuit 302 that determines whether or not image recording is necessary is provided. This is different from the photographing apparatus 100. Therefore, the other components are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the imaging device 100 of the second embodiment described above, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, the photographing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment performs flash photographing a plurality of times by gradually increasing the photographing sensitivity during face-detected flash photographing. The image data of each photographed image is added to the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 to detect red eyes. And about the image from which the red eye was detected, the correction process is performed. The image recording determination circuit 302 determines the necessity of image recording based on the detection / correction result of the red eye by the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 and the result of the face detection by the face detection circuit 62. That is, it is determined that image recording is necessary for an image in which no face is detected (normal flash photographed image) and an image in which a face is detected and red-eye is detected and corrected (recording determination). On the other hand, it is determined that image recording is unnecessary for an image in which a face is detected but red-eye is not detected or corrected (erase determination). The CPU 30 performs an image recording process based on the determination result of the image recording determination circuit 302.

  Hereinafter, a procedure of processing operation at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 300 of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 300 of the present embodiment.

  When an instruction for actual photographing is issued by pressing the shutter button, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, and measures the subject to set proper photographing sensitivity and proper exposure (step S310). Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject (step S311).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 outputs a command to the flash light emission control circuit 74 to cause the flash 28 to perform pre-light emission with a predetermined light emission amount (light emission time) (step S312). Then, an appropriate light emission amount (appropriate light emission time) is calculated based on the image captured by the image sensor 14 during the pre-light emission. That is, the image signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 during pre-emission is added to the AE detection circuit 58, and the integrated value of the R, G, B image signals for each divided area is calculated (step S313). Then, an appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated based on the integrated value obtained from the AE detection circuit 58 (step S314).

  When the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is calculated, the CPU 30 executes a process of setting the number of times of actual shooting (n_max) (step S315). That is, the YC signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 at the time of pre-emission is added to the face detection circuit 62 to detect the face area in the image. As a result of the face detection by the face detection circuit 62, if it is determined that there is a face, the number of times of actual shooting (n_max) is set to 3, and if it is determined that there is no face, the number of times of shooting of actual shooting (n_max) is set to 1. Set (see FIG. 3). Information on the set number of times of main shooting (n_max) is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  Once the number of times of photographing at the time of actual photographing is set, the CPU 30 then causes the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102 to perform actual photographing sensitivity at each time (SV (1), SV (2),... SV (n_max)). Is calculated (step S316).

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a procedure of actual photographing sensitivity calculation processing by the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102.

  First, information on the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S350). Then, the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) using the predetermined conversion table shown in FIG. 5 (step S351).

  Next, information on the difference step (ΔSV) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S342). Here, the difference step (ΔSV) is stored in the flash ROM 34 as a constant value, and the CPU 30 adds the information of the difference step (ΔSV) stored in the flash ROM 34 to the photographing sensitivity calculation circuit 102.

  Next, information on the number of times of shooting (n_max) is acquired from the CPU 30 (step S343), and the actual shooting sensitivity (SV ( 1), SV (2),... SV (n_max)) are calculated (steps S344 to S347). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S344), and the following sensitivity [SV (n) = SV_flash + (n-1) * ΔSV] (Expression 4) 1) is calculated (step S345). Note that the shooting sensitivity ΔSV (1) of the first shooting is set to an appropriate shooting sensitivity (SV_flash).

  Thereafter, 1 is added to the variable n (step S346), it is determined whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S347), and the processing of steps S345 to S247 is repeated until the variable n is exceeded.

  As described above, the actual photographing sensitivity at each photographing time is set. Information of actual photographing sensitivity at each set photographing time is stored in the SDRAM 36.

  In the photographing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, when the face is not detected, the number of photographing (n_max) is set to 1. In this case, the actual photographing sensitivity (SV (1)) is the appropriate photographing sensitivity. Set to (SV_flash).

  On the other hand, when the face is detected, the number of times of shooting (n_max) is set to 3, so the shooting sensitivity for 3 times is set. In this case, from the above equation 4, the shooting sensitivity SV (1) for the first shooting is SV_flash (appropriate shooting sensitivity), the shooting sensitivity SV (2) for the second shooting is SV_flash + ΔSV, The shooting sensitivity SV (3) is SV_flash + 2 * ΔSV. That is, it is set so that the photographing sensitivity increases step by step at the set difference step.

  As described above, when the actual shooting sensitivity at each shooting time is set, the CPU 30 executes the main shooting process at the set number of shooting times (n_max) as shown in FIG. 15 (steps S317 to S317). S322). That is, first, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S317), and the light emission time t (1) (= appropriate light emission time) of the first photographing flash 28 is set (step S318), and the photographing sensitivity and exposure are set. Setting is made (step S319). At this time, the shooting sensitivity SV is set to the first shooting sensitivity SV (1) (the first shooting is the appropriate shooting sensitivity) set in step S316. Then, the first flash photographing is executed with the photographing sensitivity and exposure set in this way (step S320).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S321), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S322), and the processing of the above steps S318 to S321 is performed until it exceeds. repeat.

  That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the photographing is finished once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is three. If the time is set, the flash photography is performed three times, and the photographing process is terminated. In this case, for the first shooting, the shooting sensitivity is SV (1) (= appropriate light emission sensitivity (SV_flash)), for the second shooting, the shooting sensitivity is SV (2), and for the third shooting, the shooting sensitivity is SV (3 ) And flash shooting is performed for each (SV (1)> SV (2)> SV (3)). In other words, the shooting sensitivity is gradually shifted in the direction of increasing from the appropriate shooting sensitivity.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment, when performing flash photographing, the number of photographing times of main photographing is determined based on the presence or absence of a face. Take a picture. Thereby, it is possible to easily obtain an image that is easy to detect red-eye. The obtained image is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 36.

  When flash shooting is performed as described above, as shown in FIG. 15, the CPU 30 executes red-eye detection / correction processing on an image obtained by shooting.

  First, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S323), the first captured image is selected as the processing target image (step S324), and red-eye detection processing is performed on the image (step S325). That is, image data of an image obtained by the first shooting is added to the face detection circuit 62, and face detection is performed. Then, the image data of the image whose face is detected by the face detection circuit 62 is added to the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64, and a red-eye detection process is performed. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 detects red eyes for the input image data and outputs the detection result to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 determines the presence or absence of a red eye based on the detection result of the red eye by the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 (step S326), and outputs a red eye correction instruction to the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 when the red eye is detected. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 performs red-eye correction processing by image processing on an image obtained by photographing in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 30 (step S327). The image data of the red-eye corrected image is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with face detection information and red-eye correction information.

  When the red-eye detection / correction processing for the first photographed image ends, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S328), and determines whether n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max). (Step S329), the processes of Steps S324 to S328 are repeated until it exceeds. That is, when a face is not detected in the through image and the number of times of photographing (n_max) is set to one, the red-eye detection / correction process is completed once, the face is detected, and the number of times of photographing is detected. When (n_max) is set to 3 times, the red eye detection / correction process is performed 3 times (when the red eye detection / correction of the image taken on the first day is completed, the image taken the second time) When the red-eye detection / correction is performed and the red-eye detection / correction of the second image is completed, the red-eye detection / correction of the third image is performed).

  If it is determined in step S325 that no red eye has been detected and no red eye has been detected in step S326, the red eye correction process is not performed on the image, and is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with information indicating no red eye correction.

  As described above, when the red-eye detection / correction processing for the image obtained by photographing is completed, the CPU 30 performs image recording determination processing and performs image recording processing (step S330). That is, the image recording determination circuit 202 determines whether or not image recording is necessary, and performs an image recording process based on the determination result.

  This image recording process is the same as the image recording process (step S230) in the photographing apparatus 200 of the third embodiment. That is, when the flash photography is performed a plurality of times, the image obtained by photographing only the red-eye corrected image is recorded in the storage medium 20 (see FIG. 12). As a result, it is possible to record only a preferable image that has undergone red-eye correction.

  As described above, in the photographing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment, the photographing sensitivity is increased stepwise at the time of flash photographing and the flash photographing is performed a plurality of times, and the red-eye detection / correction processing is automatically performed on each image to correct the red-eye. Only the recorded image is recorded in the storage medium 20. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye. In addition, since the interval from the shooting instruction is not increased, the subject can be shot with the composition intended by the photographer.

    In the embodiment described above, the flash 28 is pre-flashed to obtain the appropriate flash time for the flash 28 at the time of actual shooting. However, the method for calculating the proper flash time is not limited to this. .

  Also, in this embodiment, face detection is performed, and multiple shots are taken only when a face is detected. However, multiple shots are taken regardless of whether or not a face is detected. Also good.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the difference step is made constant, but the difference step may be set according to the appropriate light emission amount of the flash. For example, after the appropriate light emission time (t_flash) is converted into the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) in step S341, the converted ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) is compared with the threshold value to set the difference step (ΔSV). Good. That is, if the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value, the difference step (ΔSV) is set to ΔSV1, and if it is equal to or less than the threshold value, the difference step (ΔSV) is set to ΔSV2. Here, the difference step (ΔSV1) set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time exceeds the threshold value is set when the ΔEV value (ΔEV_flash) converted from the appropriate light emission time is equal to or less than the threshold value. It is set larger than the difference step (ΔSV2) (ΔSV1 <ΔSV2). This is because it is considered that red eyes are less likely to occur when the appropriate light emission time is shorter (the light emission amount is smaller). That is, when the appropriate light emission time is short and red eyes are difficult to occur, the sensitivity difference step (ΔSV) is increased to facilitate detection of red eyes. On the other hand, if the proper light emission time is long and red eyes are likely to occur, the sensitivity difference step (ΔSV) is reduced to make it easier to detect red eyes in a range where whiteout or the like does not occur.

  In the above embodiment, the shooting sensitivity is stepped up from the appropriate shooting sensitivity and shot multiple times. However, the shooting aperture is shifted from the appropriate shooting aperture in a stepwise opening direction and shot multiple times. May be. Further, it is possible to shoot a plurality of times by adjusting both the shooting sensitivity and the shooting aperture.

  In this embodiment, when the sensitivity difference step (ΔSV) is set, it is set in two stages in the comparison between the appropriate light emission time and the threshold, but it may be set in more detail. Good. For example, the appropriate light emission time may be divided into a plurality of sections, a sensitivity minute step may be set for each section, and a sensitivity difference step may be set depending on which section the calculated appropriate light emission time belongs to. . Further, the difference step may be set in proportion to the calculated appropriate light emission time. Further, the difference step may be set in proportion to the calculated appropriate light emission time. Further, the difference step may be set by a function according to the calculated appropriate light emission time. In either case, the difference step is set to decrease as the appropriate light emission amount increases.

  Further, in the above embodiment, when the flash photography is performed a plurality of times, all the red-eye corrected images are recorded on the storage medium 20. However, before recording, the images are displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24 to determine whether or not recording is necessary. The user may be inquired.

  Further, when there are a plurality of red-eye corrected images, the user may select an image to be recorded.

  Furthermore, it is also possible to automatically detect the most red-eye image among images taken a plurality of times and record only the image data after the red-eye correction of the image (see FIG. 13).

  Further, in the present embodiment, when shooting a plurality of times, the number of times of shooting is set to three, but the number of times of shooting is not limited to this, and can be set by appropriately increasing or decreasing. Moreover, you may enable it to set arbitrarily by a user.

  FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the fifth embodiment of the photographing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The photographing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment performs two photographings of normal flash photographing and red-eye reduction flash photographing with one photographing instruction at the time of flash photographing, and performs red-eye detection / correction processing for each obtained image. Record an image.

  Here, normal flash photography refers to shooting with the appropriate flash amount (appropriate flash duration) under appropriate exposure, and flash shooting with red-eye reduction. Shooting with light emission.

  In the case of a digital camera that records an image as digital data, even if red eyes are generated at the shooting stage, it can be corrected by image processing. However, it is considered difficult to easily correct any subject without a sense of incongruity due to the difference in the color of the eyes depending on the race. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce red eyes as much as possible at the shooting stage by performing red-eye reduction flash photography, and to correct the red eyes that still occur in post-processing.

  However, the red-eye that occurs in red-eye reduction flash photography has the disadvantage that even if it is at a level that should be corrected, the difference in size and color is smaller than red-eye that normally occurs during flash photography, making it difficult to detect red-eye. There is. As a result, there is a problem that some red-eye detection methods cannot be detected and cannot be appropriately corrected.

  Therefore, the photographing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment performs two photographings of a normal flash photographing and a red-eye reduction flash photographing in response to one photographing instruction at the time of flash photographing, and performs red-eye detection / correction processing for each obtained image. Go to record the image.

  The basic configuration of the apparatus is the same as that of the photographing apparatus 10 of the first embodiment described above, and is different in that the flash light emission time calculation circuit 68 is not provided and the image recording determination circuit 402 is provided.

  Similar to the image recording determination circuit 202 in the image capturing apparatus 200 of the third embodiment, the image recording determination circuit 402 is based on the red-eye correction result and the face detection result of two images obtained by flash shooting. The necessity of image recording is determined. That is, it is determined that image recording is necessary for an image in which no face is detected and an image in which a face is detected and red-eye is detected and corrected (recording determination). On the other hand, it is determined that image recording is unnecessary for an image in which a face is detected but red-eye is not detected or corrected (erase determination). The CPU 30 performs an image recording process based on the determination result of the image recording determination circuit 402.

  Hereinafter, a procedure of processing operation at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 400 of the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at the time of flash photographing by the photographing apparatus 400 of the present embodiment.

  When an instruction for actual shooting is issued by pressing the shutter button, the CPU 30 executes AE control processing, and measures the subject to set appropriate shooting sensitivity and appropriate exposure (step S410). Also, AF control processing is executed to focus on the main subject (step S411).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 outputs a command to the flash light emission control circuit 74 to cause the flash 28 to perform pre-light emission with a predetermined light emission amount (light emission time) (step S312). Then, an appropriate light emission amount (appropriate light emission time) is calculated based on the image captured by the image sensor 14 during the pre-light emission. That is, the image signal of the image captured by the image sensor 14 during pre-emission is added to the AE detection circuit 58, and the integrated value of the R, G, B image signals for each divided area is calculated (step S313). Then, the appropriate light emission time is calculated based on the integrated value obtained from the AE detection circuit 58 (step S414).

  When the appropriate light emission time is calculated, the CPU 30 sets the number of times (n_max) of main shooting (step S415). Here, since the photographing apparatus 400 of the present embodiment performs two photographings of the normal flash photographing and the red-eye reduction flash photographing by one flash photographing, the photographing number (n_max) of the main photographing is set to 2.

  When the number of times of photographing at the time of main photographing is set, the CPU 30 then sets the photographing conditions for each photographing time (step S416). Here, the first shooting is normal flash shooting, and the second shooting is red-eye reduction flash shooting.

  As described above, when the shooting conditions for each shooting time are set, the CPU 30 executes the main shooting process for each time under the set shooting conditions (steps S417 to S424).

  First, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S417), the light emission time of the flash 28 for the first shooting (the first shooting is the normal flash shooting) is set (step S418), and the shooting sensitivity and exposure are set appropriately. Sensitivity and proper exposure are set (step S419).

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 determines whether or not the current shooting is red-eye reduction flash shooting (step S420). If the current shooting is determined to be red-eye reduction flash shooting, the flash 28 is pre-flashed (step S421), and then flash shooting is performed (step S422). On the other hand, if it is determined that it is not red-eye reduction flash photography, flash photography is performed without pre-flashing the flash 28 (step S422).

  Since the first shooting is normal flash shooting, the flash 28 performs flash shooting without pre-flash.

  On the other hand, since the second shooting is red-eye reduction flash shooting, flash shooting is performed after the flash 28 is pre-flashed.

  Thereafter, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S423), determines whether or not the variable n exceeds the number of times of photographing (n_max) (step S424), and the processing of steps S318 to S321 is performed until the variable n is exceeded. repeat.

  That is, the first shooting (normal flash shooting) performs flash shooting without pre-flashing the flash 28, and the second shooting (red-eye reduction flash shooting) performs flash shooting after pre-flashing the flash 28. Do.

  When the two flash shootings of the normal flash shooting and the red-eye reduction flash shooting are completed as described above, the CPU 30 executes the red-eye detection / correction process on the image obtained by the shooting (steps S425 to S431). .

  First, the variable n is set to n = 1 (step S425), the first captured image (image captured with a normal flash) is selected as the processing target image (step S426), and red-eye detection processing is performed on the image. Is performed (step S427). That is, image data of an image obtained by the first shooting is added to the face detection circuit 62, and face detection is performed. Then, the image data of the image whose face is detected by the face detection circuit 62 is added to the red-eye detection / correction circuit 64, and a red-eye detection process is performed. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 detects red eyes for the input image data and outputs the detection result to the CPU 30. The CPU 30 determines the presence or absence of a red eye based on the detection result of the red eye by the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 (step S428), and outputs a red eye correction instruction to the red eye detection / correction circuit 64 when the red eye is detected. The red-eye detection / correction circuit 64 performs red-eye correction processing by image processing on an image obtained by photographing in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 30 (step S429). The image data of the red-eye corrected image is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with face detection information and red-eye correction information.

  When the red-eye detection / correction processing for the first captured image ends, the CPU 30 adds 1 to the variable n (step S430), and determines whether the variable n exceeds the number of times of capturing (n_max). (Step S431), and the processing of Steps S426 to S430 is repeated until it exceeds.

  If it is determined in step S427 that no red eye is detected and no red eye is detected in step S428, the red-eye correction process is not performed on the image, and the image is stored in the SDRAM 36 together with information indicating no red-eye correction.

  In the photographing apparatus 400 of the present embodiment, normal flash photography and red-eye reduction flash photography are performed twice, so that red-eye detection / correction processing is performed on an image obtained by each photographing.

  As described above, when the red-eye detection / correction processing for the image obtained by photographing is completed, the CPU 30 performs image recording determination processing and performs image recording processing (step S430). That is, the image recording determination circuit 402 determines whether or not image recording is necessary, and performs an image recording process based on the determination result.

  This image recording process is the same as the image recording process (step S430) in the photographing apparatus 200 of the third embodiment. That is, an image obtained by photographing only for the red-eye corrected image is recorded in the storage medium 20 (see FIG. 12). As a result, it is possible to record only a preferable image that has been appropriately red-eye corrected.

  As described above, the photographing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment performs two flash photographings of normal flash photographing and red-eye reduction flash photographing in response to one photographing instruction at the time of flash photographing, and automatically detects red-eye for each photographed image. Correction processing is performed, and only the image whose red-eye is corrected is recorded in the storage medium 20. As a result, it is possible to record only an image that has been reliably corrected for red-eye. In addition, since the interval from the shooting instruction is not increased, the subject can be shot with the composition intended by the photographer.

  In this embodiment, when both images are red-eye corrected, both images are recorded on the storage medium 20. However, before recording, the images are displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 24, and the necessity of recording individually is determined. The user may be inquired.

  Further, it may be determined which image is red-eyed and only the image data after red-eye correction of the red-eye-like image is recorded (see FIG. 13).

  Also in the above-described embodiment, the flash 28 is pre-flashed to obtain the appropriate flash time for the flash 28 at the time of actual shooting. However, the method for calculating the proper flash time is not limited to this. .

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, two shootings of red-eye reduction flash shooting and normal flash shooting are always performed at the time of flash shooting. However, if a face is not detected at the through image stage, normal flash shooting is performed. The red eye reduction flash photography and the normal flash photography may be performed only when a face is detected at the through image stage.

  In addition, as a flash mode, a normal flash shooting mode in which only normal flash shooting is performed, a red-eye reduction flash shooting mode in which only red-eye reduction flash shooting is performed, and double shooting in which normal flash shooting and red-eye reduction flash shooting are performed twice. A mode may be prepared so that the user can select as appropriate.

  In the series of embodiments described above, the case where the present invention is applied to a digital camera has been described as an example. However, the application of the present invention is not limited to this, and a mobile phone provided with a flash photographing function. It can be similarly applied to video cameras and video cameras.

  In addition, in the imaging apparatus according to the above-described series of embodiments, the actual flash emission time calculation processing, imaging sensitivity calculation processing, captured image recording determination processing, red-eye detection / correction processing, face detection processing, and the like are performed by hardware. Although it is realized by a circuit, it can also be performed by software.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a photographing apparatus according to a first embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 1st Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the setting process of the frequency | count of imaging | photography at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 1st Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the calculation process of the actual flash emission time at the time of flash photography with the imaging device of 1st Embodiment Flash emission time conversion table The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the imaging device of 2nd Embodiment The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of flash photography by the imaging device of 2nd Embodiment The flowchart which shows the procedure of the calculation process of the actual imaging sensitivity at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 2nd Embodiment. The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the imaging device of 3rd Embodiment The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 3rd Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the calculation process of the actual flash emission time at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 3rd Embodiment. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure of recorded image recording processing at the time of flash shooting by the imaging apparatus of the third embodiment. Flow chart showing the procedure for recording a captured image when only the most red-eye image is recorded The block diagram which shows schematic structure of the imaging device of 4th Embodiment The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 4th Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the calculation process of the actual imaging sensitivity at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 4th Embodiment. A block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a photographing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of flash imaging | photography with the imaging device of 5th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Imaging device, 12 ... Imaging optical system, 12z ... Zoom lens, 12f ... Focus lens, 12i ... Iris diaphragm, 12s ... Shutter, 14 ... Image sensor, 16 ... Analog signal processing part, 18 ... Digital signal processing part, 20 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Storage medium, 22 ... Operation part, 24 ... Liquid crystal monitor (LCD), 26 ... Power supply, 28 ... Flash, 30 ... CPU, 32 ... Bus, 34 ... Flash ROM, 36 ... SDRAM, 38 ... Lens drive circuit, 40 ... Timing generator (TG), 42 ... correlated double sampling circuit (CDS), 44 ... auto gain control (AGC) circuit, 46 ... A / D converter, 50 ... image buffer, 52 ... YC processing circuit, 54 ... compression Decompression processing circuit 56 ... Media controller 58 ... AE detection circuit 60 ... AF detection circuit 62 ... Detection circuit, 64 ... Red-eye detection / correction circuit, 68 ... Flash emission time calculation circuit, 70 ... Encoder, 72 ... LCD drive circuit, 74 ... Flash emission control circuit, 100 ... Shooting device, 102 ... Shooting sensitivity calculation circuit, 200 ... Imaging device 202 ... Image recording determination circuit 300 ... Imaging device 302 ... Image recording determination circuit 400 ... Imaging device 402 ... Image recording determination circuit

Claims (30)

When shooting with the flash fired during the main shooting, obtain the appropriate flash amount for the main shooting in advance,
An image-taking method characterized in that the main flash is taken a plurality of times by gradually reducing the flash light emission amount from the appropriate light emission amount at a predetermined difference step.   Take an image before the actual shooting, detect the subject's face from the obtained image, and only when the subject's face is detected, decrease the flash emission amount from the appropriate emission amount step by step. The photographing method according to claim 1, wherein photographing is performed.   The imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the difference step is obtained based on a dimming result. When shooting with the flash fired during the main shooting, obtain the appropriate flash amount for the main shooting in advance,
An imaging method characterized in that at least one of imaging sensitivity or imaging aperture is shifted gradually from the appropriate imaging sensitivity or imaging aperture to the under side in a predetermined difference step to perform multiple imaging.   Take an image before the actual shooting, detect the subject's face from the obtained image, and only if the subject's face is detected, at least one of the shooting sensitivity or the shooting aperture is changed from the appropriate shooting sensitivity or the appropriate shooting aperture 5. The photographing method according to claim 4, wherein the main photographing is performed a plurality of times while shifting to the under side.   6. The photographing method according to claim 4, wherein the difference step is obtained based on a dimming result. When shooting with the flash fired during the main shooting, obtain the appropriate flash amount for the main shooting in advance,
In a predetermined difference step, the flash emission level is gradually increased from the appropriate flash emission level, and multiple shots are taken.
Detect red eyes from each image obtained by this shooting,
An imaging method, wherein red-eye correction is performed by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected. Detect the face of the subject from each image obtained by the actual shooting,
8. The photographing method according to claim 7, wherein only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image in which the face of the subject is detected.   The photographing method according to claim 7, wherein an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and if there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. When shooting with the flash fired during the main shooting, obtain the appropriate flash amount for the main shooting in advance,
At least one of the shooting sensitivity or shooting aperture is shifted from the appropriate shooting sensitivity or shooting aperture to the over side step by step in a predetermined difference step, and multiple shots are taken.
Detect red eyes from each image obtained by this shooting,
An imaging method, wherein red-eye correction is performed by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected. Detect the face of the subject from each image obtained by the actual shooting,
The image capturing method according to claim 10, wherein only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image in which the face of the subject is detected.   The photographing method according to claim 10, wherein an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and if there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. In the shooting method of shooting with the flash fired,
With one shooting instruction, two shootings were performed: red-eye reduction flash shooting with flash pre-flash just before shooting, and normal flash shooting without flash pre-flash immediately before shooting,
Detect red eyes from each image obtained by shooting,
An imaging method, wherein red-eye correction is performed by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected. Detect the face of the subject from each image obtained by shooting,
14. The photographing method according to claim 13, wherein only the red-eye corrected image is recorded for the image in which the face of the subject is detected.   The photographing method according to claim 13, wherein an evaluation value of redness is obtained for an image in which red-eye is detected, and if there is an image corrected for red-eye, only an image having the highest evaluation value is recorded. When shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, obtain the appropriate flash intensity for the actual shooting in advance,
Shooting control means for executing a plurality of times of main shooting processing in which the flash emission amount is changed by one shooting instruction;
A flash light emission amount setting means for setting the light emission amount of each flash so that the light emission amount of the flash gradually decreases from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step;
An imaging apparatus comprising:   Face detection means for detecting the face of the subject from the image obtained by shooting, and the shooting control means, only when the face of the subject is detected by the face detection means from the image shot before the main shooting, The photographing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the main photographing process with the flash emission amount changed is executed a plurality of times.   18. The photographing apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, further comprising difference step calculation means for calculating the difference step based on a dimming result. When shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, obtain the appropriate flash intensity for the actual shooting in advance,
Photographing control means for executing a plurality of times of main photographing processing in which at least one of photographing sensitivity or photographing aperture is changed by one photographing instruction;
Setting means for setting the shooting sensitivity or the shooting aperture for each time so that at least one of the shooting sensitivity or the shooting aperture is shifted gradually from the appropriate shooting sensitivity or the appropriate shooting aperture to the under side in a predetermined difference step;
An imaging apparatus comprising:   Face detection means for detecting the face of the subject from the image obtained by shooting, and the shooting control means, only when the face of the subject is detected by the face detection means from the image shot before the main shooting, 20. The photographing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the main photographing process in which at least one of photographing sensitivity and photographing diaphragm is changed is executed a plurality of times.   21. The photographing apparatus according to claim 19 or 20, further comprising difference step calculation means for calculating the difference step based on a dimming result. When shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, obtain the appropriate flash intensity for the actual shooting in advance,
Shooting control means for executing a plurality of times of main shooting processing in which the flash emission amount is changed by one shooting instruction;
A flash light emission amount setting means for setting the light emission amount of each flash so that the flash light emission amount gradually increases from the appropriate light emission amount in a predetermined difference step;
Red-eye detecting means for detecting red eyes from an image obtained by photographing;
Red-eye correction means for correcting red-eye by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected by the red-eye detection means;
An imaging apparatus comprising: Face detection means for detecting the face of the subject from an image obtained by shooting;
A recording control means for recording only an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection means, and an image whose red eye is corrected by the red eye detection means;
The photographing apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising: Evaluation value calculation means for calculating an evaluation value of redness likeness for an image in which red eyes are detected by the red eye detection means;
A recording control means for recording only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye correction means;
The photographing apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising: When shooting with the flash fired at the time of actual shooting, obtain the appropriate flash intensity for the actual shooting in advance,
Photographing control means for executing a plurality of times of main photographing processing in which at least one of photographing sensitivity or photographing aperture is changed by one photographing instruction;
A setting means for setting the photographing sensitivity or the photographing aperture of each time so that at least one of the photographing sensitivity or the photographing aperture is gradually shifted to the over side from the appropriate photographing sensitivity or the photographing aperture in a predetermined difference step;
Red-eye detecting means for detecting red eyes from an image obtained by photographing;
Red-eye correction means for correcting red-eye by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected by the red-eye detection means;
An imaging apparatus comprising: Face detection means for detecting the face of the subject from an image obtained by shooting;
A recording control means for recording only an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection means, and an image whose red eye is corrected by the red eye detection means;
26. The photographing apparatus according to claim 25, comprising: Evaluation value calculation means for calculating an evaluation value of redness likeness for an image in which red eyes are detected by the red eye detection means;
A recording control means for recording only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye correction means;
26. The photographing apparatus according to claim 25, comprising: In an imaging device that shoots with a flash,
Shooting control that performs two shootings: red-eye reduction flash shooting with flash pre-flash just before shooting and normal flash shooting without flash pre-flash just before shooting with one shooting instruction Means,
Red-eye detection means for detecting red eyes from each image obtained by photographing;
Red-eye correction means for correcting red-eye by image processing on an image in which red-eye is detected by the red-eye detection means;
An imaging apparatus comprising: Face detection means for detecting the face of the subject from an image obtained by shooting;
A recording control means for recording only an image in which the face of the subject is detected by the face detection means, and an image whose red eye is corrected by the red eye detection means;
29. The photographing apparatus according to claim 28, comprising: Evaluation value calculation means for calculating an evaluation value of redness likeness for an image in which red eyes are detected by the red eye detection means;
A recording control means for recording only an image having the highest evaluation value when there is an image that has been red-eye corrected by the red-eye correction means;
29. The photographing apparatus according to claim 28, comprising:

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