A key aspect of image effectiveness is how well the image visually communicates the main subject. In consumer images, two important features that impact viewer appreciation of the main subject are the amount of clutter and the main subject placement within the image. Two subjective experiments were conducted to assess the relationship between aesthetic and technical quality and perception of clutter and image center. For each experiment, 30 participants evaluated the same 70 images, on 0 to 100-point scales for aesthetic and technical quality. For the clutter experiment, participants also evaluated the images, on 0 to 100-point scales for amount of clutter and main subject emphasis. For the center experiment, participants pointed directly onto the image to mark the center of interest. Results indicate that aesthetic quality, technical quality, amount of clutter, and main subject emphasis are strongly correlated. Based on 95% confidence ellipses and mean-shift clustering, expert main subject maps are consistent with observer identification of main subject location. Further, the distribution of the observer identification of the center of interest is related to the object class (e.g., person, scenery). Additional features related to image composition can be used to explain clusters formed by patterns of mean ratings.

Date Published: 2 February 2011
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7865, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XVI, 786507 (2 February 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.872170

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7865:
Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XVI
Bernice E. Rogowitz; Thrasyvoulos N. Pappas, Editor(s)