Throughout the course not only will you need to complete detailed analyses of images taken by established photographers, you will have to analyze the images within your own portfolio of work. Use the following to help you structure any analysis you do:
1. Write a brief introductory description of the image you are analysing: - ‘This image was taken by the well know photographer Cindy Sherman. It is a self-portrait of the photographer herself taken with a domestic environment’.
2. Begin the analysis by identifying what you find most striking about the image. Say what it is that particularly makes it stand out for you.
3. Talk about how the image is framed. Firstly, write about what is included within the camera frame (what you chose to go into the photo when looking through the view finder). Secondly, discuss how objects in the photo itself have been used to direct the viewer’s eye to specific points in the image.
4. You will need to write about the composition of the photograph. Explain what is in the foreground, mid-ground and background and what impact they have on the image e.g. depth, confinement. This should lead on to depth of field.
5. You need to discuss how much of the image is in focus. The more of the image that is in focus, the broader the depth of field. A narrow depth of field is when only a small portion of the image is in focus. Light levels directly affect depth of field. The more light the greater the depth of field and vice versa.
6. You can talk about lighting in different ways – high contrast lighting (extremely dark shadows and really bright light), low contrast lighting (a greater range of tones that subtly change from light to dark) and the amount of warmth created in the photo by the use of colour and diffusion (orange sun set, cold diffusing mist).
7. You must talk about the quality of the image you are analysing. The more light that is available when a photo is taken, the crisper the photo. Lines between shadow and light will be well defined, colours will be more saturated and the quality will be ‘extremely good. Lower light levels will result in a ‘grainy’ image with objects being less defined from the objects around them. The colours will also be desaturated.
8. Shots and angles need also to be addressed. What size shot is used? What angle has the image been taken at? What meanings have been created through the use of these shots and angles.
