Perception and Imaging [Paperback]

Richard D Zakia (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240802012 | ISBN-13: 978-0240802015 | Publication Date: March 12, 1997

All those who work with images will find this introduction to the principles of visual perception invaluable. The text covers memory and association: space, time, color, contours, illusions, ambiguity, and personality factors. Dr. Zakia incorporates ideas and principles from a variety of disciplines that are highly relevant to photography and imaging, and shows how they can be applied for greatest artistic effect. The text itself is highly visual with over 250 illustrations from disparate media, including the works of such photographers as Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander, and Barbara Morgan, as well as digital images and popular advertisements.



Dr. Zakia demonstrates how the eye organizes information through a wide variety of images including: photographs, paintings, sculptures, moving images, video, animation, digital imaging, computer displays, and multimedia. With an up-to-date discussion of such topics as subliminals and morphics, anyone creating visual images will benefit from this approach to perception. Each chapter concludes with a series of hands-on exercises. Although addressed to photographers and graphic designers, Perception and Imaging is intended for anyone seriously concerned in the shaping or making of visual messages and visual environments. All have a common purpose- visual communication and expression.

A classic text on the visual image.
Illustrations and quotations reinforce the text and add interest.
Hands-on exercises at the end of each chapter.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Perception and Imaging needs to be read and studied by every photographer and digital imager interested in seeing. You want to learn how to see? Buy this book!' - Camera Arts

"Perception and Imaging is equally impressive and takes the reader to new places in the "mind's eye". After reading Zakia's book, you will probably look at the workd in a new and more enlightened way. But most important , you'll look at the individual elements in a scene much more carefully before you press the shutter release button becasue you'll think about how the viewer sees your picture." - Rick Sammon, Associated Press November 2000

From the Publisher

Dr. Zakia demonstrates how the eye organizes information through a wide variety of images including: photographs, paintings, sculptures, moving images, video, animation, digital imaging, computer displays, and multimedia. With an up-to-date discussion of such topics as subliminals and morphics, anyone creating visual images will benefit from this approach to perception. Each chapter concludes with a series of hands-on exercises. Although addressed to photographers and graphic designers, Perception and Imaging is intended for anyone seriously concerned in the shaping or making of visual messages and visual environments. All have a common purpose- visual communication and expression.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (March 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240802012
• ISBN-13: 978-0240802015
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Zakia is a 1956 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Some of his classmates at the time were Carl Chiarenza, Peter Bunnell, Bruce Davidson, Ken Josephson, Pete Turner and Jerry Uelsmann. Minor White was a member of the faculty and Beaumont Newhall was Adjunct. It was a great and enriching mix. After graduation he was employed as a photographic engineer in the Color Technology Division of Eastman Kodak. During the Sputnik era he decided teaching was his vocation and accepted a position with RIT where he served for 34 years. For a time he was Director of Instructional Research and Development and Chair of the Fine Art Photography Department and graduate program in Imaging Arts. He is a recipient of the Eisenhart Outstanding Teaching Award. Zakia has authored and co-authored thirteen books on photography and perception. He is also the co-editor with Dr. Leslie Stroebel of the third edition (1993) of The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography and a contributor to the fourth edition (2007). His most recent book is Teaching Photography with Dr. Glen Rand.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Else Like It, January 16, 2002

By 

Bruce Appelbaum (Yorktown Heights, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perception and Imaging, Second Edition (Paperback)

This is the second edition of Perception and Imaging, but is also the latest in a string of precursors that included the small-press "Perception and Photography" from the late 1970s.

This current edition adds almost 100 pages to the last. It explains why and how we see what we see. More, it provides the basis for the visual artist to take advantage and use that knowledge to make better images.

The printing is much better than the previous edition (thankfully) and the higher quality paper does away with the separate illustration section that the first edition required. The quotes from imagemakers in the margins (taken from two out of print Zakia works that should be back in print) are a valuable addition to the main text that helps provide a context for the material.

If you want to understand the psychology of visual images and visual messages, this is a unique book.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Photography and Beyond Me!, May 27, 2003

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perception and Imaging, Second Edition (Paperback)

Most photography instruction books talk about equipment and subjects. Seldom is there a discussion of the psychological and physiological aspects of the photographer and the viewer in the process of creating and looking at pictures. This book attempts to fill that gap for photographers and other graphic artists with the aim of giving more impact to pictures created by those artists.

The contents are wide ranging, with everything from a discussion of Gestalt psychology field grouping to a discussion of the meaning of the "Kilroy was here" signs that proliferated during and after the Second World War.

Some of the material may be immediately useful to a photographer such as the discussion of figure and ground. Thinking in these terms may make it easier for the photographer to decide how, or even if, he wants to provide separation to his subject.

Other material will require a major mental engagement that could ultimately prove useful. For example there is a lengthy discussion of the use of rhetoric in photography. This will be a new concept for most photographers. Zakia suggests that rhetoric deals with structuring the photograph to alter its message in a certain direction. For example, the photographer can use the rhetorical device of identity to strengthen a picture through repetition. That device should be easily understandable to most photographers. On the other hand using dubitation for opposition (sic!) may leave the photographer wondering what the author is talking about. However, a close reading might reveal that considering this approach may lead to a stronger picture.

Finally there is material like the discussion of synesthesia, a situation where one experiences a sensual stimulus, like a sound, in another mode, like vision. While interesting, I failed to see the relevance of this information to the practical photographer.

And that is a major shortcoming of this book. The author frequently fails to make a connection between a phenomenon that he is describing and photography. To compound this shortcoming, when he offers a connection to a visual work as an illustration, he does not usually include the work in the book, but rather describes it in writing. For a book on imaging, the failure to include images is shocking.

I suppose there are photographers who are so skilled and so intellectual that they could benefit from this material. The rest of us can probably find other guides to better our photography.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn more about Visual Literacy., July 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Perception and Imaging (Paperback)

This book is a nuts and bolts primer on how human beings make sense of the world they see. Anyone interested in learning more about visual literacy and the way pictures convey their messages would benefit by reading this book.