An apparatus and a method for determining vital sign information from a subject are disclosed. The proposed apparatus comprises a detection unit for detecting radiation received from the subject in a field of view, a first determining unit for determining a first time dependent signal from the radiation received from the subject, an evaluation unit for deriving at least one parameter from the first time dependent signal, a selection unit for selecting an area in the field of view on the basis of the detected radiation and the at least one parameter, a second determining unit for determining a second time dependent signal from the radiation received from the selected area, and an analysis unit for analyzing the second time dependent signal and for determining the vital sign information on the basis of the analysis of the second time dependent signal.