Microwave diversity imaging has the potential to become a very useful tool for understanding and analyzing electromagnetic scattering from complex objects. In order for this potential to reach fruition, however, a number of aspects must be dealt with thoroughly: e.g., (1) the method for retrieving the image from scattering measurements must be appropriate for the type of object under investigation; (2) the selection of imaging technique must be made, where possible, so as to obtain direct relationships between image intensity (or texture) and scattering mechanisms of interest; and (3) the effects of measurement parameters, such as imaging aperture and frequency, and processing effects, such as gating and windowing, must be well understood. This paper addresses (2) experimentally, with a basis in image retrieval under the physical optics (PO) approximation. It is shown, via images of single cylinders and simple arrangements of cylinders, that multistatic imaging can lead to better understanding of electromagnetic wave-object interaction than is possible using conventional monostatic and bistatic imaging techniques.