To provide an imaging apparatus in which how to select an object of a person being a detection object of a predetermined expression or a behavior for automatic photography can be suitably switched depending on the type of the automatic photography.

In the case of photographing a still picture immediately after detecting the predetermined expression or the behavior of the object, evaluation values are calculated for a plurality of objects in an image in each frame, and an object having the highest evaluation value in each frame is selected as an object being a detection object for an expression or a behavior. In the case of photographing a still picture after the lapse of a certain time after detecting the predetermined expression or the behavior of the object, the same object as the object selected as the object being the detection object for an expression or a behavior in a previous frame of that of the object is selected as the object being the detection object for the expression or the behavior.

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