The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program which highlight a main object more outstandingly.A tone curve adjustment unit performs tone curve adjustment on a target region of an input image signal (IN), and supplies an image signal subjected to the tone curve adjustment to a local level detection unit. The local level detection unit obtains a local level. A contrast adjustment unit performs adaptive contrast enhancement according to the local level from the local level detection unit. The present disclosure can be applied to an image processing apparatus which highlights a predetermined part of an image using the tone curve adjustment and the adaptive contrast adjustment, for example.