1. An apparatus for recognizing a character based on a photographed image, the apparatus comprising: an image determining unit configured to select, from an input image, a Region Of Interest (ROI) to be used for image analysis when the input image is input, and to analyze the selected ROI to determine a type of the input image; an image effect unit configured to apply, to the input image, an image effect for distinguishing a character region and a background region in a display screen if the type of the input image indicates that the input image is obtained by photographing a display screen; a binarizing unit configured to binarize the input image or the output of the image effect unit according to the determined type of the input image; and a character recognizing unit configured to recognize a character from the binarized input image.