Personal response depends on the viewer's individual thoughts and values. This might be sometimes in conflict with cultural values. Also when a viewer has viewed an image from a personal perspective, it is then hard to change the viewer's perception of the image, even though the image can be seen in other ways.

An image’s view can arise from the history of the use of media. Some images are viewed differently due to the use of different (new) media throughout times. For example: The result of using the computer to edit images (e.g. Photoshop) is quite different when comparing images that are made and edited by hand.

The cultural perspective involves the identity of symbols. The uses of words that are related to the image, the use of heroes in the image, etc. are the symbolization of the image. The cultural perspective can also be seen as the semiotic perspective.