Although View.getVisibility() does get the visibility, its not a simple true/false. A view can have its visibility set to one of three things.
View.VISIBLE The view is visible.
View.INVISIBLE The view is invisible, but any spacing it would normally take up will still be used. Its "invisible"
View.GONE The view is gone, you can't see it and it doesn't take up the "spot".
So to answer your question, you're looking for:
if (myImageView.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
// Its visible
} else {
// Either gone or invisible
}