An apparatus and method are provided for reproducing an optimized preference color using candidate images and natural languages, in which user-oriented optimized picture quality can be provided through a printer. The apparatus includes a preference color-natural language information memory which stores characteristic information of a preference color mapped on a natural language, a candidate image provider module which provides candidate images having characteristic information applied to original images, and a candidate preference image input module which inputs one image, which satisfies a user's preference, among the candidate images.