an image pickup device for taking pictures of subjects;

an image combining unit for overlaying a subject image as an image of a subject taken by an image pickup device, with a partially-transparent image having a transparent region set therein, thereby creating a composite image;

a display for displaying the composite image thus created;

a memory for storing the image taken by the image pickup device as a stored image; and

a transparent-region setting unit for setting a transparent region in the stored image stored in the memory, thereby creating the transparent image,

the transparent-region setting unit including:

a stencil-pattern memory configured to store data on a plurality of stencil patterns in advance;

a stencil-pattern selecting unit configured to select a single stencil pattern from a plurality of stencil patterns in response to a user's operation;

a setting unit configured to set a shape, size and display position of the selected stencil pattern in response to the user's operation;

a stencil pattern display unit configured to display the shape of the stencil pattern on the stored image in accordance with the size and display position;

a modifying unit configured to transform the shape of the stencil pattern on the stored image in accordance with the outline of the subject by using an outline extracting method;

a shape extracting unit configured to extract a region corresponding to the shape of the transformed stencil pattern from the stored image; and

a transparent region determining unit configured to determine one of an interior and exterior of the extracted region on the stored image as the transparent region.