Reading Photographs
Photographer’s decisions
- What context does this photograph demonstrate? (what might be happening outside the time and space captured in the image, information about the people, events, setting, and so on can be made explicit, implicit — The identities of the people in the photograph may be unclear; their purpose may be unknown; the time and place may be difficult or impossible to discern making assumptions based on their own experience or values
- What is the photograph’s composition? (where to stand, moves the camera, zooms in on a scene, selects what to include, what to include/exclude, zoomed out or stood further away, what other information could be seen, altered later by cropping, decision to frame only certain elements and how it affects the photograph)
- What moment in time does the photograph capture? (Why is the shutter depressed at that moment, if series of photos were taken why was this moment taken for display over the other, what would happen before or after the moment)
- What is the setting of this photograph? (Matter of circumstances or a conscious decision, how does the object/focal point complement the setting,
- What is the focal point of the photograph? (point to which the viewers draw attention to, main subject, us of light/depth of field, adjust the shutter speed to bring only one element into focus, strongly backlit [combining these techniques make it easier for the viewers to distinguish which elements are the focal point])
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