The fundamentals and applications of image generation and processing to measure displacement, velocity and deformation field on the surfaces of rigid and elastic solid bodies are here described. Those measurement techniques are widely applied in fields such as experimental mechanics, robotics, structural components optimization, qualification and analysis, as well as in material and component testing. Many of these techniques are based on bidimensional image cross-correlation and feature traking, known as Digital Image Correlation (DIC), are based on optical flow analysis, or on the use of fiducial markers placed on the object's surface where displacement and velocity can be measured. Many of these techniques, such as Digital Image Correlation (DIC), are based on bidimensional image cross-correlation and feature tracking, on optical flow analysis, or on the use of fiducial markers placed on the object's surface, where displacement and velocity can be measured. Illumination with polarized light of birefringent materials, such as mechanical components, specimens, or coating layers subjected to stress and deformation, can also be used to measure stress and strain fields through image analysis of polarized light. This technique is known as Photoelasticity. Interference patterns generated by laser illumination of a surface and its reflection combined with a reference light beam form the basis of highly sensitive surface deformation measurement techniques, such as Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI), Shearography, and Speckle Interferometry.