Reading images - developing visual literacy

When looking at photographs there are some key questions which can help children to deepen and extend their looking. Some of these depend on concepts and language which may well need to be introduced and illustrated to children to start off with, depending on their age and experience.

Questions:
Who has taken the image?
For what purpose?
What is the focus of interest for the photographer?
How might it have been edited?
cropped - what has been selected, what has been left out?
manipulated - has it been made lighter, darker, has the contrast, texture or colour been changed?
displayed - what size is it, how and where is it displayed? In an exhibition, on screen, in print, on a hoarding etc.

There are further and perhaps more formal aspects of photography which contribute to the meaning, some of which can be identified and discussed as familiarity and experience with reading photographs develops, for example:
How is the image framed?
What camera angle is used?
What sort of distance is the camera from the subject, is it a close-up or long-shot?
What sort of lens has been used (telephoto, wide-angle, fisheye), does this distort the picture?
How is the picture focused, what is the depth-of-field?
Does the picture use natural light or artificial light?
If there are people in the picture are they aware or unaware of the picture being taken?
If there is a caption?
How does this affect the meaning of the picture and the ways it might be interpreted?
Is there one meaning or many?
Do dominant groups in society, newspapers, magazines, television, encourage particular readings?
Is there a common-sense meaning?
How do we use our own experience to interpret the picture?

Activities

Tell the story of a picture / picture detective
Children look carefully at a picture, perhaps, if relevant, looking at three parts in turn, the background, middle and foreground. Through questioning and by being a picture

detective children investigate all the clues that give the picture meaning. What is the picture saying? Who, what, where, how, why? Where was the photographer standing?

Do the people know they are being photographed? What happens just before; what happens just afterwards? Draw pictures of these ideas. Write suitable captions to tell the story. This may reveal the planning that went into setting up a picture.

Viewfinders
Use empty slideholders, or make larger viewfinders from card. Get the children to explore the environment around them with the viewfinders, holding them close to their eyes for a wide view or at arms length for a narrow view. Explore close-ups and different angles. Make a collection of different kinds of 'viewfinders'; glasses, sunglasses, old cameras, digital cameras, telescopes, microscopes, binoculars, magnifying glasses, kaleidoscopes.... Discuss the different effects and visual experiences of using each. This is a good introduction to using cameras or analysing photographic images, as well as thinking about how we extend our vision in various ways.

Cropped pictures
Using photocopies, provide the children with small sections cropped from larger pictures stuck to a plain sheet of paper. Using the visual clues in the cropped section get the children to draw or paint in what they think has been left out of the picture in the surrounding area. This can be a good lead-in to whole class work investigating an image and sensitises them to selecting, framing, cropping and detail.

Interviews
Using a set of prepared questions children take turns to interview each other about an image using a tape recorder. The tape could then be used as the bases for a piece of descriptive and critical writing. (Children could role play as art critics for a local newspaper). A fun way of promoting speaking, listening and critical activity.

Photo-story
Developing a narrative from the 'before and after activity' (see Tell the story of a picture), children recreate significant moments from the story in groups, recording these with a simple camera. They go on to create a photo-story strip with the captions and if appropriate, speech bubbles. This is a full-scale creative project in its own right with many potential learning outcomes.