There are provided a face image pickup device and a face image pickup method which can stably acquire a face image by appropriate illumination, and a program thereof. The face image pickup device comprises a camera which picks up an image of a face of a target person, an illumination light source which illuminates the face of the target person with near-infrared light having an arbitrary light amount, and a computer. The computer detects an area including an eye from the face image of the target person picked up by the camera. The computer measures a brightness distribution in the detected area. Thereafter, the computer controls the illumination light source so as to change the amount of near-infrared light based on the measured brightness distribution.