Provided is an observation apparatus (100) comprising a light source (3) that irradiates a subject (X) with illumination light and special light that acts on a specific region of the subject (X)； a return-light-image generating portion (61) that generates a return-light image (G1) by capturing return light coming from the subject (X) due to irradiation with the illumination light； a special-light-image generating portion (62) that generates a special-light image (G2) by capturing signal light coming from the subject (X) due to irradiation with the special light； an extraction portion (63) that extracts the specific region from the special-light image (G2)； and an enhancement processing portion (64) that performs enhancement processing, which is based on return-light image information, on the return-light image (G1), in a region corresponding to the extracted specific region.
