A visual inspection apparatus and a visual inspection method enabling the quality of a state of solder to be properly judged. Specifically, in the visual inspection apparatus and visual inspection method, a slope (concave slope region) present on a surface of solder is searched and the quality of a state of the solder is judged based on that result. The quality of the state of the solder can be properly judged based on not a height of the solder, but the slope of the surface of the solder.