How to Analyze Visual Rhetoric 1 Focal point

How to Analyze Visual Rhetoric

1. Focal point & emphasis: The spot where your eyes immediately go when viewing an image. Rhetorically: the central point, the image you want the audience to notice and retain.

2. Figure-Ground Contrast: The difference between what’s in front (the figure) and what’s in back (the ground or background) Often the figure is the focal point. Rhetorically: the active part of the image, not the scene it’s enacted upon.

3. Grouping: Proximity Close objects are perceived as grouped together, and grouping implies a relationship. Rhetorically: we psychologically like to categorize; we imbue things with relationship when they are near each other. (We do this with words or examples as well as with images. )

4. Similarity: We also group by similar traits: size, shape, texture. Rhetorically: again, we want to find relationship.

5. Continuation: Elements that suggest a continued visual line will be grouped together. Rhetorically: even when the relationship is incomplete, we complete it ourselves (like the other half of a metaphor, or the last notes of a song).

6. Color The brighter the color, the more powerful its effects. Rhetorically: We’re just like animals, going for the bright colors. Using them creates greater presence.

7. Line: Horizontal lines create calm and equilibrium, vertical lines suggest movement, diagonal lines can create stress, wavy lines imply softness or grace. Rhetorically: lines are a shortcut to pathos for you the rhetor.

8. Context: ◦ “The more you know, the more you see. ” ◦ Aldous Huxley ◦ The information around the photo—how your personal, historical, technical, cultural background affects your viewing, and how it affected the artist’s. ◦ Rhetorically: more context means more power for the image. It explains the image to audience.

9. Narration Does the image as a whole tell a story? Rhetorically: a story is one of the most powerful ways an image can contribute to your message.

Visual Analysis The Whole Composition: ◦ What do you feel as you view the image? ◦ Where does your eye go & why? ◦ How do the key elements contribute to how you see/feel? (focal point, figure-ground contrast) ◦ The rest of the internal categories—how do they make you feel? (proximity, similarity, continuation, color, line) ◦ Is there a story embedded in the image? (narration) ◦ What more can you know about the image? (context)