Appropriate gray level processing is applied to various image data. A digital camera having a grayscale correction function is provided. An AE control section generates a brightness histogram of a preview image which is obtained by a CCD. An exposure correction amount calculation section, based on the brightness histogram which is generated, sets an exposure value which is under an appropriate exposure value in consideration of grayscale correction to be performed by a grayscale correction section. The grayscale correction section applies grayscale correction to each partial region of image data of an image which is captured. The exposure correction amount calculation section varies the exposure value between when a face is included in a subject and when a face is not included in the subject.