A photographing composition determination apparatus of an electronic camera includes an area sensor having a plurality of light receiving elements and disposed in an area shape so as to correspond to a photographing scene. A light receiving lens introduces an object image to the area sensor. An A/D converter converts analog signals output from the respective light receiving elements of the area sensor into digital data. A CPU detects the distribution of luminance and the distribution of distances in the photographing scene based on the digital data output from the A/D converter and determines a photographing composition according to the distribution of the luminance and the distribution of the distances.