Tips on Analysis

How to analyse photographs - taken from the University of Oregon

I. Importance of knowing these principles 

A. A strong geometrical shape is the key to good composition in graphic design and film and photo composition.

B. For course work, for critical writing, and for professional work in the media -- learn a vocabulary to apply to visual analysis.

Learn...
     1...the language of sensory descriptions. Talk and write about an image using the most concrete sensory vocabulary. If you say "tree," talk about how the leaves and branches move, sound, feel and are shaped. What makes this tree different from others. Move from a level of generality to greater and greater specificity in the language you use.
     2...the language describing processes of perception. Talk and write about your own stages in looking at and interpreting the picture. What caught your eye; what stood out emphatically; what took a while to notice; how did your eye move around the picture; did it keep coming back to a certain spot?
     3...the language for describing the relation between visual and audio elements and their emotional effect. Discuss how a picture conveys tranquillity, dynamism, respect, abjectness? Does it give you a new appreciation of previously overlooked aspects of daily life? Does it reflect a fascination with human art or nature's art? Does it capture a fleeting moment and freeze it for the viewer? Does it make a social comment or a comment on convention?


II. Analyse two-dimensionality and how it gives the effect of depth. Discuss...

A. foreground and background

B. use of the frame

C. perspective and use of perspective

  

III. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Look at the use of...

A. Positive and negative space. An visual interest in negative space and its composition is a major principle of Japanese painting and photography.

B. Figure-ground relations. How does the artist compose the background as well as the major figures?

C. The rule of thirds = Place the horizon line one third or two thirds of the way down, not in the centre. Place the most important objects one third or two thirds of the way across the image. Asymmetrical balance, achieved by the rule of thirds, contributes to variety and sharpening.

D. OR use classical balance = a centred subject. There is little dynamism in this compositions and it is used in ads that are supposed to appeal to the very rich, often seen in magazines like the NEW YORKER.


IV. Describe the lines. Find the single visual force that is the strongest. There are actual and implied lines. Is there implied directional movement (even a blur)? How do we read it, left to right, up to down? Analyze strongest parts of frame by quadrant.

A. Horizontals - Does or should the artist use the rule of threes in composition? Describe emotions elicited. Discuss placement of the horizon line in the frame.

B. Verticals --Describe the emotions elicited, which are often kinetic, urban, aspirational or authoritative

C. Diagonals give a sense of motion, inconclusiveness, or instability.

D. Shape = design element formed when lines close back on themselves. Commonly square, circle, triangle [often = family, holy family].

E. 3-D shapes = masses, which can only be distinguished from shapes by use of light and shadow.


V. Talk about how the lines and shapes lead the eye. Is there a point where the eye returns or temporarily rests? That is the point of emphasis, and good pictures achieve visual emphasis. Is there an emotion or narrative implied by that visual emphasis?
Emphasis = resting place for the eye. Eye returns there. Emphasis creates a centre of interest.

     1. Human form is most interesting thing in image.
     2. Intricacy vs. simplicity. An intricate shape is sharpened when there is also something very simple alongside it; an extreme close-up may show the great intricacy of the texture of the most common objects [for examples, a close-up of all the colours in an oil slick glinting in the sunlight.]
     3. Most textured area commands the most attention.
     4. The foreground and the right, lower quadrant have more emphasis. The person in front always gets more attention than the person in back.
     5. Emphasis comes from implied motion in the image. There are two kinds of eye motion.
          a. One is around a geometric shape or back and forth along a line = graphic vector.
          b. One is eye motion led by a figure in the content of the image that is going or pointing in a certain direction: examples are a car going in a certain direction, a person walking or picking up a forkful of food, or a glance in a certain direction = motion vector.
     6. Humour, the spectacular, the unusual gain our attention. You need other graphic qualities besides these aspects, however, to make a good image.


VI. Texture = visual equivalent to sense of touch. Note kinds of words used to name texture. Texture calls up emotions more primitive than sight.

A. Note how lines together can become a texture with shadowing, grouping.

B. The photo may emphasize the 2-D surface. It may play with printed text or reflections of light or use unusual inserted material to do so.


VII. Contrast creates "sharpening" = more a rapid readability of the image.

A. Contrast of scale - Without this, more time is spent on mentally establishing the gestalt or creating closure, figuring out what the image is. Gestalt psychology assumes that viewers seek to create closure out of the available elements.

B. Contrast of shape

C. Contrast of color

D. Contrast of texture

E. Contrast of tone
Note contrast range in both natural light and light in photography, film, television -- Low contrast, for example, on a grey day, may be related to a longer time in establishing closure in black and white pictures; it actually creates more saturated colours for colour photography and video. Film captures a much higher contrast range than television or video, where the dark areas can easily become all black or the whites lose detail and "bloom."



VIII. Unity - Line, shape, and texture create a unity in which the whole is greater than sum of its parts; repetition and parallelism are key to establishing unity. In any photographic analysis it is important to analyze the repetition of shapes and tones in the image.

A. Rhythm = repetition with alternation or repetition with progression. If you just had repetition of elements, it would get boring. An example of progression is a move from large to small versions of a shape; an example of alternation is a shift from light to dark and back again.

B. Motif = a repeated image or sound which reinforces a theme in the work as a whole, perhaps functioning as a symbolic element [e.g., the color red or romantic violins].

C. Redundancy = reinforcing an emotional effect or visual impact in a number of ways within an image or a film as a whole.

D. The image needs a tension between its unity and the kinds of surprises or tensions it contains.

abstract	an image that emphasizes formal elements (line, shape, etc) rather than specific, recognizable objects. (Opposite of representational)
angle	the vantage point from which the photograph was taken; generally used when discussing a photograph taken from an unusual or exaggerated vantage point.
background	What is in the background (the part of a scene or picture that is or seems to be toward the back).
balance	the distribution of visual elements in a photograph. How are the visual elements arranged? Symmetrical balance distributes visual elements evenly in an image. Asymmetrical balance is found when visual elements are not evenly distributed in an image.
central focus	the objects(s) which appears most prominently and/or most clearly focused in a photograph. What is the focus? Where? Why?
colour palette	The range of colours used in the photo; might be based around a single colour (monochromatic) or subdued, naturalistic; different colours have different meanings…
composition	the arrangement or structure of the formal elements that make up an image.
content	the subject, topic or information captured in a photograph. What is the content?
contour	the outline of an object or shape.
contrast	strong visual differences between light and dark, varying textures, sizes, etc.
direct approach	confronting a scene in a straight-forward manner, without using unusual angles or distortion.
documentary photography	photographs whose main purpose is to record a place, person(s) or event.
expressive	concerned with communicating emotion.
focus/focal point	what areas appear clearest or sharpest in the photograph? What do not?
foreground	the part of a scene or picture that is or seems to be at the front.
framing	what the photographer has placed within the boundaries of the photograph.
geometric shape	simple rectilinear or curvilinear shapes found in geometry, such as circles, squares, triangles, etc.
intention	reason(s) why the artist made a work of art. What was the intention do you think?
landscape	an image that portrays the natural environment.
light	what areas of the photograph are most highlighted? Are there any shadows? Does the photograph allow you to guess the time of day? Is the light natural or artificial? Harsh or soft? Reflected or direct?
line	are there objects in the photograph that act as lines? Are they straight, curvy, thin, thick, implied? Do the lines create direction in the photograph? Do they outline? Do the lines show movement or energy?
objective	a point of view free from personal bias, which attempts to consider all available information with equal regard and fairness.
organic shape	shapes based on natural objects such as trees, mountains, leaves, etc.
repetition	are there any objects, shapes or lines which repeat and create a pattern?
representational	an image which shows recognizable objects. (Opposite of abstract!)
setting	actual physical surroundings or scenery whether real or artificial.
shape	do you see geometric or organic shapes? What are they?
space	is there depth to the photograph or does it seem shallow? What creates this appearance? Are there important negative spaces in addition to positive spaces? Is there depth created by spatial illusions?
subject	the main object or person(s) in a photograph.
texture	if you could touch the surface of the photograph how would it feel? How do the objects in the picture look like they would feel?
theme	a unifying or dominant idea in one work of art or in a collection of works.
tonal value	is there a range of tones from dark to light? Where is the darkest value? Where is the lightest?
vantage point	the place from which a photographer takes a photograph.