1. A method for generating a preference record indicating a user preference for a desired image, the method comprising the steps of: (a) selecting a query image, wherein the query image is characterized by a query image representation including one or more query image components; (b) providing one or more examples and counterexamples of said desired image for deriving a user preference; (c) automatically analyzing said one or more examples and counterexamples to estimate user preference by automatically extracting a relative preference of a user for either one or more image components or one or more depictive features from the examples and counterexamples of said desired image; (d) formulating a user-derived preference related to said desired image using the relative preferences for the image components and the depictive features; and (e) generating a preference record from the query image representation and the user-derived preference, whereby the relative preferences automatically estimated from the examples and counterexamples extends the representation of the query image for a specific user preference.