Picture Perfect: Life in the Age of the Photo Op - New Edition

By Kiku Adatto

Book Overview

We say the camera doesn't lie, but we also know that pictures distort and deceive. In Picture Perfect , Kiku Adatto brilliantly examines the use and abuse of images today. Ranging from family albums to Facebook, political campaigns to popular movies, images of war to pictures of protest. Adatto reveals how the line between the person and the pose, the real and the fake, news and entertainment is increasingly blurred. New technologies make it easier than ever to capture, manipulate, and spread images. But even in the age of the Internet, we still seek authentic pictures and believe in the camera's promise to document, witness, and interpret our lives.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691124396
• ISBN13: 9780691124391
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Substantial and timely

Picture Perfect is that rare work that is insightful and informative while at the same time remaining accessible and entertaining. Skillfully building upon a history of the use of visuals to influence taste and choice, Adatto uses very current examples to document the sometimes pernicious influence that visuals have on public opinion and elections. Although a late chapter on heroic images in American film seemed like an add-on that does not flow with the rest of the work, even it was enjoyable and well written enough for me to give this work 5 stars.