An image processing method for automatically executing operation steps of repairing a defect of an image of a document which is read by a scanner and changing a background image in a short time and a recording medium for storing them. An image processing method comprising a step of separating background image data from said image data by processing by a maximum filter for comparing the brightness of each pixel constituting said image data with the brightness of peripheral pixels and replacing it with the maximum brightness; and a step of separating character and figure image data by subtracting the background image data obtained by the above step in (a) from the above image data.