Image capturing apparatus, image capturing method, and computer-readable medium storing program

Abstract

An image capturing apparatus for acquiring images having high dynamic range. The image capturing apparatus includes CCD consisting of a first photo detector for detecting light from central area of a subject, a second photo detector for detecting light from marginal area of the subject, a photometry sensor for measuring brightness of the central and the marginal areas of the subject, and a sensitivity control unit for controlling sensitivity of the first photo detector based on the brightness of the central area measured by the photometry sensor and controlling sensitivity of the second photo detector based on the brightness of the marginal area measured by the photometry sensor.

1 . An image capturing apparatus for capturing a subject, comprising: 
 an electric flash;    an image pick-up unit for capturing a first image of the subject using said electric flash flashing at a first flash condition, and for capturing a second image of the subject using said electric flash flashing at a second flash condition; and    an image generation unit for generating a third image based on the first image and the second image.    
     
     
         2 . The image capturing apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said image generation unit generates the third image by trimming and extracting a first partial image, which is a part of the first image indicating a first area of the subject, and a second partial image, which is a part of the second image indicating a second area of the subject, and superimposing the first partial image and the second partial image.  
     
     
         3 . The image capturing apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first flash condition is a condition for suppressing flash of said electric flash, and the second flash condition is a condition for forcing flash of said electric flash.  
     
     
         4 . An image capturing method for capturing a subject, comprising steps of: 
 capturing a first image of the subject using an electric flash flashing at a first flash condition;    capturing a second image of the subject using the electric flash flashing at a second flash condition; and    generating a third image based on the first image and the second image.    
     
     
         5 . A computer readable medium storing thereon a program for an image capturing apparatus which captures a subject, the program comprising: 
 an image pick-up module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to capture a first image of the subject using an electric flash flashing at a first flash condition, and to capture a second image of the subject using the electric flash flashing at a second flash condition; and    an image generation module for allowing the image capturing apparatus to generate a third image based on the first image and the second image.