A new algorithm, referred to as the SPAR (Semiparametric) algorithm, is presented herein for target feature extraction and complex image formation via synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The algorithm is based on a fiexible data model that models each target scatterer as a two-dimensional (2-D) complex sinusoid with arbitrary unknown amplitude and constant phase in cross-range and with constant amplitude and phase in range. By attempting to deal with one corner reflector, such as one dihedral or trihedral, at a time, the algorithm can be used to effectively mitigate the artifacts in the SAR images due to the flexible data model. Another advantage of SPAR is that it can be used to obtain initial conditions needed by other parametric target feature extraction methods to reduce the total amount of computations needed. Both numerical and experimental examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.