An image processing apparatus includes: an image acquisition unit to obtain a plurality of images that have been captured under different exposure conditions; an acceptance unit to receive designation of an area in a first image, the first image being one of the plurality of images; a brightness characteristics acquisition unit to obtain a brightness characteristic value of the designated area in the first image; and a combining unit to: determine a combining condition used for combining the first image and a second image according to the brightness characteristic value, the second image being any one of the plurality of images other than the first image, and combine the first image and the second image based on the combining condition to correct brightness of the designated area for display.