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I have read somewhere that смотри is an unfinished action while посмотри is a completed action.
That does not help when I'm thinking of usage scenarios. For example I was watching the movie Лёд and there was a scene where the small girl tells her mother "Смотри!", which I understood to mean "Look!". So how do you classify that as either complete or incomplete when it hasn't even started?
I'd say that "смотри" is used for immediate action. E.g. when something funny is happening. And "посмотри" is used for a future action. E.g. when you recommend a movie, or ask to take a look at some document. Something like that.
Note that you can say "посмотри" for an immediate action, and in most cases it would sound ok. But saying "смотри" for a future action sounds weird and would probably be understood as "Look at it now"
Indeed, "смотри" means the unfinished action, but not necessary the action that's going to happen right now.
Some of the meanings, prevailingly colloquial and possibly requiring certain intonation and (or) words: - "смотри!.." with intonation raising and lowering, /и/ drawn out: "just you wait; watch yourself", with mildly confrontational/threatening connotation; - "ты смотри" or "смотри ты" -- "what a surprise; would you look at that"; - "смотри там" -- "be careful/watchful (there); be on the watch (there)".
Your example means, almost literally: "Turn your eyes there (and see something)".
Now, "посмотри" means the action with a definite end/result to it: - "посмотри в книге/Гугле" -- "look it up in the book/Google"; - "посмотри за ребенком" -- "watch the baby (for the period of time)".
Смотри is a call for immediate action. Посмотри is more calm and polite:
The Russian imperative is quite complex when it comes to aspect. All nuances would be impossible to list in a short post.
In Russian:
Смотри из typically about attracting attention to something speaking for itself, while посмотри is more about having a look at smth. and making (more or less deep) conclusions from that (approximately, look vs have a look).
