Abstract: This paper reviews the state-of-art and development of photomechanics, a major subject of experimental mechanics, in brief. The conventional photomechanics is essentially composed of photoelasticity and moire method. Modern optical method and laser technique advance the photomechanics to a new stage and bring about the emergence of modern photomechanics which comprises holographic interferometry, speckle metrology and moire interferometry. The methods of modern photomechanics have opened up the new field of research and application of photomechanics. The essential concepts and the features of the above-mentioned methods are described. In addition, some examples of their application to engineering, especially to aeronautics, are introduced in the paper.