1. An apparatus for selecting an image of a specific scene, said apparatus comprising: an image input reception portion for receiving input of a target image; a local characteristic quantity image generation portion for generating at least a local characteristic quantity image from said target image; a representative characteristic quantity calculation portion for calculating at least a representative characteristic quantity for the each local characteristic quantity image by using a result of sum-of-product calculations obtained by shifting and/or changing distribution of at least a mask in the corresponding local characteristic quantity image, wherein said each mask is previously related to a type of the local characteristic quantity image; and a identification portion for making judgment as to whether the target image indicates the specific scene by comparing at least a value of the representative characteristic quantity with a identification condition previously related to a type of the representative characteristic quantity, wherein said identification condition indicates a relationship between a possible value of the representative characteristic quantity and likelihood of the specific scene, wherein the local characteristic quantity image is an image having the values of characteristic quantities that represent the characteristics of pixels of a portion or a region of a selection target image as pixel values.