A plurality of landmarks, which are employed in statistical models, such as an ASM, that is, a plurality of landmarks that represent the shape and the like of a predetermined subject, such as a face, within an image, are detected. Discrimination regarding whether each pixel within the image is a point that represents a landmark is performed based on discrimination conditions. The discrimination conditions correspond to characteristic amounts, which are obtained by learning characteristic amounts of positions, which are known to be landmarks, and characteristic amounts of positions, which are known to not be landmarks, within a plurality of sample images of the subject, by a machine learning technique.
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and computer readable medium, in which an image processing program is recorded