IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

An image processing apparatus includes: an image data selecting section that calculates a luminance equivalent value for each of regions of two or more images of different exposure amounts, compares a luminance equivalent value with a threshold value and selects an image to be used for each region; a white balance gain calculating section that calculates a white balance coefficient using an image that is selected for each region; and a basic image processing section that corrects a white balance of a combined image using the white balance coefficient calculated by the white balance gain calculating section.