The visibility of irregularities on the body tissue, such as a superficial microstructure or hypertrophy, is improved. Excitation light EL is emitted to a phosphor to excite and emit white light W. High absorption wavelength cut light is generated by removing components in high absorption wavelength bands A1 and A2, in which the absorption coefficient of hemoglobin in the blood is high, from the white light using a high absorption wavelength rejection filter. The subject is illuminated with the high absorption wavelength cut light, and image light of the reflected light is captured by a color CCD. A microstructure image is generated based on a signal Bp output from the B pixel of the CCD. In this microstructure image, the display of superficial microvessels is suppressed. Accordingly, the visibility of superficial microstructures, such as a pit pattern, is relatively improved.
