A photograph can provide information About the people and their mood, the places, the time, the elements of the composition, the climate and even information of the photographer himself.
Photographs have tremendous power to communicate information. The way they are read plays a fundamental role in the information we receive, as any misinterpretation can lead to a failure in the communication process.
The reading of the information contained in a photograph represents a challenge for the reader, who must use a code of questions to decode it, evaluate it and respond to it.
A photograph is always composed of a series of elements from which the information is derived. These elements include the composition, timing, context and focal point, and are directly affected by the photographer.
Content of a photograph
When a photograph is used to send a message, such as in mass media and web content, its content must be critically analyzed and the photographer's intentions must be markedly defined.
It is very important to think and pay attention to all aspects of the image, since this will be the one that speaks for the photographer.
The information contained in a photograph must be carefully detailed and can be uncovered by asking how, when, where, what and why a photograph was taken.
It is the last question, the"why", is fundamental to be able to read the information that a photograph can provide. In this way the reader should ask the following:
- Why did the photographer select these items? And what is not seen in the photo?
- Why does the photographer emphasize some elements and not others? What is the focus of the photograph? Is it a human, one or several objects?
- Why did the photographer take the photograph at that time? What happened before or after taking the photograph?
- Why was it taken from this angle? How could you see the scene if the photo had been taken from another angle?
The decision of the photographer
Once all the important questions are asked to uncover the information contained in a photograph, the reader should locate his mind in the scene as if he were the photographer. In this way you will be able to understand all the decisions that were made about the how , When and where to take the picture.
Thus, the only way to read the information contained in a photograph is to consider the possible decisions that the photographer When doing it.
In a more technical way, we must understand the composition, timing, context and focal point of the image. These are the fundamental elements that speak most clearly in a photograph.
The composition
A photograph provides information on composition. The photographer must decide where to stand, where to move the camera, whether to zoom in or out of the scene.
In this way, the composition comprises all the elements contained in a photograph.
The composition will depend on the photographer's decision to frame certain elements over others. In this way, if the photographer chooses to trim a photo, it will completely alter the composition as the focal elements will change and the message will be different.
The moment
A photograph can also provide information about when it was captured. This moment is defined by what happened before and can happen later.
The photograph tells us why the photographer decided to take it at that moment and not sooner or later.
In the case of a burst of photos, the photographer will choose one that transmits what he wants. This way you can transmit information about the decisive moment and of greater magnitude.
Cartier Bresson declared in 1994 that his passion was not photography, was to have the possibility of capturing in a fraction of a second the emotion of an individual and the beauty contained in that emotion.
The context
The context of a photograph can be a circumstantial matter or a conscious decision. In general, photographers of news events make photographs of the news they are covering, they are given the context in which they must take the photograph.
However, some photographers plan in what context they want to take the photo and prepare the photo shoot at a particular location.
In either case, the decision of where the focal point is located may give an indication or a sense of the context in which the photograph is being taken.
The focal point
The focal point of a photograph is the point at which the reader's attention is directed. It is the point that provides the most information and the protagonist of the photo.
In some cases, the eye of the reader may be attracted to the photograph by using a set of lights and depth of field in different places of the photograph.
The photographer should select the focal point and highlight it not only when focusing but using other techniques. For example, adjusting the shutter speed to focus only one element immediately highlights the focal point of the image.
Reading information
Just as the photographer makes decisions about the information contained in the photograph, the reader makes decisions about how he or she reads this information.
The reader will always have the possibility to decide how he wants to read the composition, the moment, the context and the focal point contained in a photograph.
In many photographs, information related to composition, timing and context is deliberately made explicit by the photographer. There are visual"clues"that can tell the reader who the people are in the picture, what they are doing and when it was the precise time the photo was taken.
In other cases, all information is implicit in the photograph and does not clearly communicate the will of the photographer. In this way it is left to be the reader who infer what is contained in the photograph from questions and assumptions about the moment, context and purpose of photography.
References
- Clarke, G. (1997). How Do We Read a Photograph. In G. Clarke, The Photograph (Pp. 27-39). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Harvey, M. (September 23, 2010). Seeking Michigan . Retrieved from"Reading"into Photograph: seekingmichigan.org.
- Jeffrey, I. (2009). How to Read a Photograph: Lessons from Master Photographers. Harry N. Abrams.
- (2017). Nuovo . Retrieved from Basic Strategies in Reading Photographs: nuovo.com
- Oosterhoff, D. (December 10, 2015). Envatotuts + . Retrieved from How to Read a Photograph: photography.tutsplus.com.
- Salkeld, R. (2014). Reading Photographs: An Introduction to the Theory and Meaning of Images. London - New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- THIBAULT, M., & WALBERT, D. (2003). Learn NC . Obtained from Reading photographs: learnnc.org.