IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS AND PROGRAM

To suppress false color satisfactorily and not to suppress colors other than the false color, in a false color suppression process to a color signal generated in a color interpolation process to a color signal obtained by photographing a subject with use of an image pickup unit having a single plate solid-state image pickup element including a color filter of plural colors, a high frequency component of a brightness component is extracted from an attention color signal, hue of the attention color signal is detected, hue of peripheral signals of the attention color signal is detected and a false color suppression process is controlled according to a difference between the hue of the attention color signal and the hue of the peripheral signals and the high frequency component when the detected hue is in predetermined hue areas and the extracted high frequency component is in a high frequency area.