The present invention relates to image processing apparatus and image processing method, image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention using any of the image receiving unit to receive the taken image, and the received image subject based on the subject attribute determining whether the attribute area is detected, and the determination result, and detects the edges of the received image when the characteristic region is not detected, it characterized in that it comprises an image processing unit for re-detecting the characteristic region by combining the received and detected edge image do.