1. An image pickup apparatus having an object recognition function, the apparatus comprising: an image pickup unit; a face recognition mode setting unit for setting any of a plurality of face recognition modes which are different from one another based on a combination of a kind of an object to be recognized and conditions other than the kind of the object; and a face recognition unit for recognizing a face within image data obtained by the image pickup unit by, in response to the face recognition mode set by the face recognition mode setting unit, subjecting the obtained image data to face recognition processing in which a difference in the kind of the object to be recognized and in the conditions other than the kind of the object to be recognized is discriminated.