1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a monochrome image data generation unit configured to generate monochrome image data based on color image data; a background removal processing unit configured to apply background removal processing to the color image data based on a background removal level; and a control unit configured to, according to the background removal level, control switching between applying the background removal processing by the background removal processing unit to the monochrome image data generated by the monochrome image data generation unit and generating monochrome image data by the monochrome image data generation unit based on the image data having undergone the background removal processing for the color image data by the background removal processing unit.