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. 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.

Dr. John R. 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 D. Zakia, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, taught in many areas of photography and served as the chair of the Fine Art Photography Department and Graduate Program in Imaging Arts. He was the 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.