Perception and Imaging: Photography - A Way of Seeing

This book takes you--step by step with clear and often startling examples and with exercises to apply them--through the fundamentals of perception. That is the most basic of a photographer's necessary skills. Understand the concepts, practice seeing, do the exercises, understand your perceptions. Become a better photographer and, in the process, enrich your daily life as you see and understand your world in new ways. Highly recommended.

While it is true this book is somewhat erroneously subtitled WRT to the Photography bit -it is relevant not only to photographers but also painters, illustrators and others- there is a wealth of information presented in a detailed and well-illustrated manner. This book covers everything from color relationships and meaning, to "geometric" fundamentals such as symmetry and gestalt grouping, to the human physiology behind why some things appeal to our eye and others do not. In short the book provides not only examples of what works in photographic composition (or a painting's composition), but explains *why* it works, without boring you to tears with a doctoral thesis in every chapter. Some books (such as Itten's color tome) do exactly this and it makes them almost painful works to finish, even though the information is valid. It provides just enough scientific context to give understanding, and then gets out of its own way by providing real-world illustrative examples (be they photos, drawings or illustration) to demonstrate the current concept. And there *are* many references to things specific to photography such as a sub-section on color management systems and how color is controlled in the digital world. Is it the same as reading one of Bruce Fraser's works on color manegment? No, but it gives you enough to put it in context and understand why it's important. So it is with all the other chapters in the book. Highly recommended if you are an art student or photography student, or even a professional looking to hone your skills.

It's a fact. Ask anyone who has attended one of my workshops and seminars "What's the #1 book I recommend?" and they will tell you: Perception and Imaging, Third Edition: Photography - A Way of Seeing. Why do I so highly recommend Dr. Zakia's book? Simply put, when it comes to photography, you can probably figure out all the camera controls yourself (exposure, white balance, etc.) But when it comes to actually seeing pictures and understanding their meaning, one needs a good guide, an expert, someone with a lifetime of experience. Let Dr. Zakia be your guide, and you'll see your world differently - and perhaps picture it more creatively. There is non better that the "good doctor." The book is an easy read filled with powerful illustrations. It's also fun (like Dr. Zakia). P.S Don't miss the Ads from the Past and Answers to Selected Exercises sections. Most interesting information here! And surprising.

My reaction to Richard Zakia's 3rd edition of his Perception and Imaging book was two-fold. It was at the same time an intriguing visual delight and a classic in the field of visual perception. The majority of the 410 pages have black and white or color images illustrating a wide range of perceptual concepts that are clearly described in the text. I'm an ardent photographer fascinated by images. So much so that when I open a New Yorker magazine I first look at the cartoons and then the photographs. If the photographs that accompany an article are sufficiently intriguing or powerful I cannot help but read the article. I did the same with Zakia's book on perception. When it first came I flipped through it looking at the images. If I was puzzled by an image or if it posed a question in my mind I read the accompanying text. This happened time and time again. I found some images totally surprising. For example I couldn't understand why an ad was included showing a wine bottle in a bottle-shaped wicker basket. To find out why it was included I read the text and when I looked at the ad again I realized there was no bottle there! Only a bottle label and a bottle cap. Because of the visual clues I saw a bottle when there was no bottle there. The ad was included to illustrate the concept of closure. The above sneaky example made me to realize that if I wasn't careful I might learn something. I commend this book to others interested in visual perception with the caveat that if they aren't sufficiently careful they also will learn something. And they will be delighted.

The book is not specifically directed to photography. The book is an elementary book on the psychology of perception and vision. The book is suitable for a college freshman or sophomore art class. The chapter titles are: 1. SELECTION. 2. GESTALT GROUPING. 3. MEMORY AND ASSOCIATION. 4. SPACE, TIME, AND COLOR. 5. CONTOURS. 6. ILLUSION AND AMBIGUITY. 7. THE MORPHICS. 8. PERSONALITY. 9. SUBLIMINALS. 10. CRITIQUING PHOTOGRAPHS. 11. RHETORIC. APPENDIX A. ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS. APPENDIX B. ANSWERS TO SELECTED EXERCISES. APPENDIX C. ADS FROM THE PAST. Essentially every page contains a figure. There are plenty of color figures. Many or most of the figures are quarter page figures or half page figures. The quality of the color figures is excellent. Only a handful of photographs in the book are from famous photographers. There is one picture by Dorthea Lange, illustrating a girl with balloons, her image centered between certain round objects on the wall behind her, a photo by William H. Jackson, showing repeated sandstone shapes, a photo by Edward Weston illustrating the technique of grouping, a picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson depicting symbolic association, a photo by the author (R.D. Zakia) showing biomorphic shapes (shapes in nature that resemble human forms), a photo by Man Ray, showing similarity between a woman's back and a violin, and several others. One wonders why most of the examples in the book are from graphics, oil painting, advertising, or from generic photographs. The year is now 2007, and there should be no shortage of photographs created by famous photographers, e.g., Dorthea Lange, Joel Sternfeld, Marion Post Wolcott, Martin Parr, etc., for use in teaching all the lessons shown in this book. The book might also be criticized for its occasional very elementary approach, for example, in its very brief commentary about Adobe Photoshop. Overall, the depth of the writing is geared to the beginning college student. However, it is likely that even older adults will find something new, for example, in the disclosure of the Ostwald System, the Pantone Color Formula Guide, the CIE system of color, the "Cornsweet effect," and optical illusions classified as, e.g., "ebbinghous," "jastrow," and "delboeuf." Just for the record, it might be noted that page 63 has a diagram of a "poiuyt," an optical illusion that appeared on the cover of Mad Magazine in March 1965. This gives examples of two amazing things disclosed by the book. An optical illusion comprised of hybrids of two photographs, changes depending on your viewing distance. Page 161 of Zakia's book shows this kind of illusion, where the hybrid is of a calm face and an angry face. Depending on the viewing distance, the face is either calm or angry. This illusion was so amazing that it made me cry out in surprise. Another illusion is a photograph of a woman posing in front of a tall blade of grass--a narrow leaf of some sort. Due to the shading in the cleft of the leaf, t