5th Edition
Perception and Imaging Photography as a Way of Seeing
When you look at an image, what do you see, think, and feel? How do you want your audience to react when they view your work? For over 30 years the late Richard Zakia helped photographers enrich their creative vision through his classic book, Perception and Imaging. Now he is joined by co-author John Suler who extensively studied and worked with images throughout his career as a clinical psychologist. Together they present their insights into the principles of perception, memory, color, time, space, shapes, illusion, subliminals, rhetoric, personality style, and photo critique. Unlike any other book, Perception and Imaging will give you an extensive understanding of how photography relates to art, design, advertising, psychology, and philosophy, as well as what makes photography unique among the image-making disciplines. Whether you are a beginner or a professional, this information will help you appreciate photography not simply as a mastering of technique and composition, but as a way of truly seeing, especially now in the digital age.
– New sections about photo sharing in social media and online groups devoted to photography critique
– Includes inspirational images from some of the world’s most well-known photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, and Ansel Adams
– A comprehensive discussion of the "decisive moment" photo, its vital ingredients, and why some consider it the essence of photography
– New sections about body language in photographs, camera angles, aspect ratios, self portraits and selfies, and how memory and personality affect photography
Contents
Preface to the Fifth Edition
Acknowledgments
1 Selection
Ganzfeld
Figure–Ground
Figure–Ground Boundary
Graphic Symbols
Similar Concepts to Figure-Ground
Graininess and Noise
Resolution
Figure–Ground Enhancement
The Bigger Picture of Figure-Ground
Notan
Visual Search
Camouflage
Negative Space
Noticing Negative Space
The Role of the Frame
Strategies for Using Negative Space
Viewpoint and Camera Angles
Key Words
Notes
2 Gestalt Grouping
Field Theory and the Gestalt Laws
Proximity
Proximity, Area, and Contrast
Side-by-Side Images
Temporal Proximity
Proximity and Learning
Similarity
Similarity of Shape
Similarity and Repetition
Similarity and Proximity
Symmetry and Asymmetry
Symmetry and Redundancy
Symmetry in Graphic Symbols
Continuity
Continuity in Typography
Continuity in Sequences
Closure
Closure and Nonclosure
Closed Areas
The Zeigarnik Effect
People as Participants
Gestalt Critique
Words of Caution
Captions, Copy, Gestalt
Pragnanz
Pragnanz as an Overarching Principle
Order and Complexity
A Summary of Gestalt Principles
Key Words
Notes
3 Memory and Association
Types of Memory
From STM to LTM
Body/Somatic Memory
Verbal Memory
Visual Memory
Color Memory
Unconscious Memory
Association
Equivalents
Associations in Advertisements
Props (Signifiers)
Associations to Color
Synesthesia
Rebuses and Pictograms
Onomatopoeia and Simile
Metaphors
Semiotics
Iconic, Indexical and Symbolic Representation
Semiotics in Analyzing and Designing Ads
Semiotic Operations
Conceptual Photography
Is Conceptual Photography Art?
The Concept in Conceptual Photography
What Does It Mean, and to Whom?
The Sender, Channel, and Receiver
Concept Difficulty
Creating Titles and Descriptions
Symbolism, Metaphors, Similes, and Anthropomorphism
Composition and Post-Processing Techniques
The Pretty and Ugly Factors
Forward and Reverse Engineering
Educational Applications
Conceptual Advertisements
Key Words
Notes
4 Space, Time, and Movement
Space
The Perception of Depth
Anisotropicity
Rule of Thirds
Golden Section and Fibonacci Numbers
Aspect Ratio and Cropping
Convexity/Concavity
Transparency
Time and Movement
Eye Movement in Composition
The Rhythm of Repeating Elements
Gradation
Blur
Multiple Exposures
Motion in Stillness
The Decisive Moment
Capturing the Unique Fleeting Instant
Candid Shots of People in Real Life
Visual Coalescence
Figure/Ground Relationships
The Gap and Anticipating Closure
The One Hit Wonder
Creating and Losing Oneself
The Hour Leading to the Decisive Moment
The Myth and Reality of the Decisive Moment Photo
Key Words
5 Color
Color Notation Systems
Munsell System
Pantone®
CIE System
CIE Chromaticity Diagram
Luminance (Value or Brightness)
Naming Colors within the CIE Map
Color Gamuts (Color Space)
Color Perception
The Visual Field
Flare Desaturates Colors
Color Test Chart
Color Reproduction
Subtractive Color
Additive Color
Complementary Colors
Color Is a Chameleon
Constancy
Metamerism
Simultaneous Contrast and Assimilation
Color Dependency
Phosphors and Pointillism
Color Modality
Color Temperature
Color Names
Color and Synesthesia
Synesthesia and Photography
Color Connotations
Color versus Color
Neutral Colors
Black and White Photography
B&W as the Origin of Photography
The Absence of Color
B&W Photography in the Digital Age
Selective Color
Key Words
Notes
6 Contours
Common Contour
Playing with Depth Perception
Activating an Image
Subjective Contour
Mach Bands
Visual Vibrations
Photographic Edge Effects
Acutance
Film and Digital Sharpness
Cornsweet Effect
Development
The Psychology of Being Sharp
The Beauty of Blur
Key Words
Notes
7 Illusion and Ambiguity
Trompe l’Oeil
Space, Time, and Color Illusions
Geometric Illusions
Reversibles
Time (Movement) Illusions
Depth Cues and Movement
The Pulfrich Effect
The Waterfall Effect
Color Illusions
Size–Distance Tradeoffs
Dutch Cabinets
Size–Size Dependency
Shrinking Size, Increasing Distance
Emmert’s Law
Size–Distance Reversal
Ambiguity
Ambiguity in Language
Ambiguity in Images
Illusion in the Digital Age
Key Words
Notes
8 Morphics
Animism
Biomorphic
Isomorphic
Anthropomorphic
Zoomorphic
Theriomorphic
Mechanomorphic
Anamorphic
Geometric and Organic Shapes
Geometric or Man-made Patterns
Organic or Natural Patterns
Mixing Geometric and Organic Patterns
Key Words
Notes
9 Subliminals
How the Eye Sees
The Retina
Photopic/Scotopic Vision
Luminance Factor
Ambient Light
Eye Movements When Reading Pictures
Embeds
Secondary or Latent Images
Hidden Faces
Archetypes
Kilroy
Body Language
Microexpressions
The Pupils
Body Language Patterns
The Hands
Body Language in Groups
Interpersonal Space
Key Words
Notes
10 Rhetoric
Using the Rhetorical Matrix
Where to Begin
Horse and Truck
Intuition First
Addition
Identity
Similarity
Difference
Opposition
False Homology
Suppression
Identity
Similarity
Difference
Opposition
False Homology: Ambiguity
False Homology: Paradox
Substitution
Identity
Similarity
Difference
Opposition
False Homology: Ambiguity
False Homology: Paradox
Exchange
Identity
Similarity
Difference
Opposition
False Homology: Ambiguity
False Homology: Paradox
Words, Sounds, and Rhetoric
A Summary of Rhetorical Techniques
The Four Basic Rhetorical Operations
The Five Relationships Between Elements
Addition
Suppression
Substitution
Exchange
Key Words
Notes
11 Personality
Leveling and Sharpening
Field Dependency
Projection
The Word Association Test
The Thematic Apperception Test
The Rorschach
The Walker Visuals
Mindfulness
What Mindfulness is Not
Simply and Truly Seeing
The Beginner’s Mind
Letting Go
The Balance of Concentration and Noticing
The Qualities of Mindfulness
How to Cultivate Mindfulness
Personality Types
Jung’s Psychological Types
How Many Traits Are There?
Types Based on Body and Brain
Psychodynamics
Primary and Secondary Process
Multiplicity (Clone) Images
From Self-Portraits to Selfies
Objective and Subjective Self-Portraits
The Bigger Picture of Identity
Self-Portrait as Self-Awareness
Other People’s Perceptions
The Spontaneous or Carefully Composed Self
The Superficially Narcissistic Selfie
The March of Selfies
The Creative Personality
Synectics is Seeing Connections
Being Connected to All Things
Key Words
Notes
12 Photo Sharing and Critique
Critique as Evaluation
Validity
Variability
The Role of Context
Johari’s Window
Use Your Words
Critique without words
The Clustering Technique
Relationships
Direction
Nostalgia
Composition
Location
Word Clouds
The Semantic Differential Technique
Critique Using Group Dynamics
Group Dynamics During and Exhibition
Online Photosharing
Settling into and Exploring a Community
Getting to Know You
Becoming a Good Citizen
Titles for Images
Descriptions for Images
Commenting on Images
The Meaning of Likes
Popularity and the Ratings Game
Image Categories, Streams, and Series
Sensory / Cognitive Overload
Computers and Critique
The Illusion of Digital Permanency
Photosharing as Therapeutic
All photography can be therapeutic
Key Words
Notes
Biography
Dr. John Suler is Professor of Psychology in the Science and Technology Center at Rider University. He has published widely on images in creativity, personal identity, psychotherapy, and interpersonal perception. As a longstanding member of online photo sharing groups, a founder of the new discipline known as cyberpsychology, and author of the groundbreaking book Psychology of the Digital Age, he specializes in research on the experience of images in social media.
Dr. Richard Zakia, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, taught in many areas of photography and served as chair of the Fine Art Photography Department and Graduate Program in Imaging Arts. He was recipient of the Eisenhart Outstanding Teaching Award and author of twelve books on photography. Dr. Zakia passed away in 2012 and has been greatly missed by many, especially the Focal staff.
