Analyzing Images n Analyzing images is similar to

Analyzing Images

n Analyzing images is similar to reading verbal text. Images have a structure, sometimes even a narrative quality. Whenever we attempt to make sense of what we see, we usually observe similarities and differences and establish relationships with other things that we know. In other words, we try to understand the language of visual texts – sometimes without even knowing it.

n Talking about images requires that we be more observant, more willing to experience what we see, and then take the time to analyze using a method and a language designed specifically for visual learning.

n Once you have this vocabulary, you have a common language to use to talk -- and ultimately write – about images.

We will explore the following terms: q Focal Point q Narration or Story q Use of color

If you focus your vision on the small dot at the center of the rings in the figure below, and move your head alternately toward and away from the picture, the rings of symbols appear to rotate slightly in opposite directions.

Focal Point and Emphasis n Usually there is at least one central figure in an image – often called a focal point n This is the spot where your eye immediately goes when viewing an image n The preceding image used the focal point to create the desired effect.

What about the following image?

n For most people, their eye will be drawn to the red dot in the middle, almost like a magnet. It’s the focal point of the image. Now, look at it again:

n How many red dots do you remember? n How many black dots do you remember?

You may remember there is only 1 red dot, but not that there are 48 black ones. The reason is that human beings tend to remember what is different, unusual or unexpected.

n The next image depends upon focal point. What do you see first?

n How is color used? n What is the narrative of the image?

n Now look at the following photograph. What is the focal point?

Sharbat Gula was one of the students in an informal school within a refugee camp. National Geographic photographer Steve Mc. Curry, rarely given the opportunity to photograph Afghan women, seized the opportunity and captured her image. She was approximately 12 years old at the time. She made it on the cover of National Geographic the next year, and her identity was discovered in 1992.

What else is in this photo?

How is color used in this photo?

n Now look at the following photograph. What is the focal point?

What else is in the photo?

What else is in the photo? The photo is the Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan famine. The picture depicts stricken child crawling towards an united nations food camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat him. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.

n Every photo should tell a story. We call this the narrative of the image. What is the story of the following photo? What is the focal point?

Today we break a little the site’s pattern showing you not a photo but an image captured from a film showing the Palestinian father, Jamil ad-Durra, trying to protect his son from Israeli gunfire moments before the boy was shot dead, the father wounded and a Palestinian ambulance driver who came to rescue them, also killed. Reporters watched helplessly as the boy and his father became trapped against a wall with nothing but a small concrete block for cover as bullets rained around them on a road near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. Mohammed crouched weeping behind his father, who tried in vain to shield him with his arms and body. At one point, the father raised his head and wagged his finger, as if to scold. Some time later, both were shot and Mohammed slumped into his father’s lap. Mohammed died, while his father survived badly wounded. An ambulance driver, who braved the fierce shooting to try to rescue them, also killed.

n What is the focal point and narrative of the following photo?

June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion. While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle.

What is the focal point and narrative of the following photo?

This is the picture of a student who tries to stop the tanks in Tiananmen Square standing in front of them. The tank driver didn’t crush the man with the bags but shortly after, the square filled with blood. The photo showed the Chinese that there is hope. However, China is still controlled by a Communist regime.

What is the focal point and narrative of the following photo?

On July 22, 1975, photographer Stanley J. Forman working for the Boston Herald American newspaper when a police scanner picked up an emergency: “Fire on Marlborough Street!” After he climbed on a the fire truck, Forman shot the picture of a young woman, Diana Bryant, and a very young girl, Tiare Jones when they fell helplessly. Diana Bryant was pronounced dead at the scene. The young girl lived. Despite a heroic effort, the fireman who tried to grab them had been just seconds away from saving the lives of both. Photo coverage from the tragic event garnered Stanley Forman a Pulitzer Prize. But more important, his work paved the way for Boston and other states to mandate tougher fire safety codes.