2. Introduction
What do you think ‘visual literacy’ means?
Whattechniques or conventions may be
used when creating an image?
Howmight these features help the creator
communicate something to their
audience?
3. Visual Features and Techniques
We are going to spend some time exploring and learning about the different kinds of
techniques used in creating and understanding VISUALS.
You will use these techniques in YOUR OWN photo and in WRITING about photos.
4. Why is it important that we are
visually literate?
What do you think? Discuss as a class. Look at
the prompts provided to guide your discussion.
What is significant about the time period you
live in? Have you ever heard of the ‘digital
age’? What does this mean?
Think of the different images that you are
faced with on a regular basis. What are they?
Are any of them important?
“Just like media literacy, visual literacy is about
analyzing and creating messages.”
Baker, F 2012, Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom, ISTE, , accessed 18 February 2013,
<http://www.iste.org/images/excerpts/MEDLIT-excerpt.pdf>.
6. Famous and Powerful Images
Ever heard the saying ‘a picture speaks a
thousand words’? What do you think this
actually means? Do you agree or disagree?
Throughout history, specific photos became
very famous and were used to tell a story or
symbolize something important. Many of
these images are still used to help us learn
about the past.
What features do you think these images
might have that makes them gain this status?
7. Analysing Images
We are now going to look at some of these
famous and powerful images. As we look at
each image you should follow the
instructions on your OneNote Photo Analysis
Page.
8.
9. John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's coffin along with
the honor guard.
10.
11. A girl in isolation for radiation screening looks at her dog
through a window in Nihonmatsu, Japan on March 14.
12.
13. U.S. Army troops wade ashore during the D-Day
Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.
14.
15. A 4-month-old baby girl in a pink bear suit is miraculously
rescued from the rubble by soldiers after four days missing
following the Japanese tsunami.
16.
17. A dog named "Leao" sits for a second consecutive day at the
grave of her owner, who died in the disastrous landslides near
Rio de Janiero on January 15, 2011.
18.
19. Pele and British captain Bobby Moore trade jerseys in 1970 as
a sign of mutual respect during a World Cup that had been
marred by racism.
20.
21. Harold Whittles hears for the first time ever after a
doctor places an earpiece in his left ear.
22.
23. The 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute: African American athletes Tommie
Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity at the 1968
Olympic games. Australian Silver medalist Peter Norman wore an Olympic
Project for Human Rights badge in support of their protest. Both Americans
were expelled from the games as a result.
24.
25. Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina
victim Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the
convention center in New Orleans.
26. Framing
Imagine holding a camera and looking
through its viewfinder.
You might move the camera, or yourself, in
order to improve the composition of the
picture inside your viewfinder, and thus your
final picture.
You are deciding what to include and what
to leave out. This is called framing.
When many of us look at a photograph, we
usually don’t ask the critical-thinking question:
What is outside the frame? But we should!
27.
28.
29.
30. Responding to Images
I will now go back to the start and show
you each image for a second time – as I
do this, watch carefully and select the
one that affects you the most
Write two paragraphs that explain why
you have selected that specific image.
Try and incorporate some of the ‘visual
literacy’ terms that we have been
discussing. An example is provided for you
on the next slide.
31. Responding to Images -
Example
I selected the image showing the young boy who has just heard
something for the first time. I chose this picture because, while it is
quite simple, it captures what must have been an amazing
experience. Imagine hearing sound for the first time after living in a
world of silence! It does such an effective job of describing this
moment that I feel like it is me experiencing the sound, not the young
boy.
The close-up/extreme close-up allows me (the audience) to focus
simply on the subject (the boy) who is in the foreground. In fact, there
is no background shown and that is because it is not important in this
image; the only thing that matters is the boy and how he is feeling. This
shot allows for this as the facial expression is clear and easy to read.
The other important element is the earpiece; this object is important as
it explains what the boy is reacting to.
