Reading photographs - 1 views
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Photographs have tremendous power to communicate information. But they also have tremendous power to communicate misinformation, especially if we’re not careful how we read them. Reading photographs presents a unique set of challenges. Students can learn to use questions to decode, evaluate, and respond to photographic images.
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The photograph of a crowd of jubilant Iraqis toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on April 9, 2003, is one of the most common images of the recent war in Iraq. A closeup shot shows a crowd of primarily Iraqis toppling the statue. A wide shot of the same scene would have revealed that the crowd in the square was made up of primarily US forces and journalists.
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Using landmarks, monuments, or famous natural elements in a photograph is a core technique for evoking a sense of place.
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The photographer selects the focal point not only by focusing the camera but also through other techniques.
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shutter speed to bring only one element into focus immediately elevates that to the most important part of the image.
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one element in the photograph is strongly backlit, it may seem to glow and thus draw the viewer’s attention.
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What is the photographer’s thought process as she composes, frames, shoots and selects an image? Listen as photographer Lisa Maizlish narrates the decisions she made in photographing the students featured on the PBS reality show American High.
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information about the people, events, setting, and so on are made explicit by the photographer — there are distinct visual clues that tell us who the people are, what they are doing, and where and when the photograph was taken.
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implicit — implied but not clearly communicated by the photographer, or left to be inferred by the viewer.
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Just as successful written communication requires that the writer and reader speak the same language, successful visual communication requires that the photographer and viewer share a common "visual language" of signs, clues, and assumptions.
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Were your assumptions correct? Can you always trust your first instinct? (And even having read the caption, how much do we really know about these girls and their lives?)
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we have to be careful that we have enough cultural background in common with the photographer to correctly interpret what we see.
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The photograph by itself tells us very little about what’s going on; we probably could have invented any number of captions, and you’d have believed us!