A note from the author, Richard Zakia P. H. Emerson reminds us that Every artist is at first an amateur. One of the great American photographers of the 20th Century, Edward Weston, as a young photographer, only got honourable mention in a photographic contest sponsored by an amateur camera magazine. Ansel Adams, Paul Strand and others also began as amateurs. Wynn Bullock began his outstanding photographic career later in life when he was in his 40s Today, in our digital age, everyone is a photographer. Recognizing this and the fact that there are some basic proven guidelines for creating winning photographs, we put together this highly visual book especially for beginning photographers who want to improve their photography. In doing so we discovered that some professional photographers also found it helpful. One can think of our book as a visual grammar that will help you better compose what you desire to express and to do so with clarity. However amazing the subject or technically excellent the photography, the single biggest factor in deciding whether a photograph is good or bad is how well it is composed. Photographic Composition Visualized offers a unique take on this fundamental issue by offering instruction in a visual format - the book is laid out in a unique spread format of a beautiful image on one page, with an in-depth break down of why the rule of composition works in the image, but also how a photographer can apply it to their own photography. Inspirational, instructive, and, most importantly, visually stunning and beautiful, photography master Richard Zakia teaches the lessons he has learned from over 40 years as a photographer. This is the book every photographer needs to own in order to create the outstanding images they always wanted to - but didn't know how.

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.