Photography+Grammar

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** Photography Vocab ** Check through the following definitions - terms used to describe still photographic images - and commit them to memory. Use them when discussing film. As remember that film is nothing more than moving images.


 * == **General Vocab used in describing photographs...** ==

The following words are the basic vocabulary used in describing photographs.
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 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/vertigo_t.jpg width="130" height="126" caption="Vertigo" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/vertigo.html"]] || **abstract:** an image that emphasizes formal elements (line, shape, etc) rather than specific, recognizable objects. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/bluegrass_t.jpg width="106" height="136" caption="Bluegrass" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/bluegrass.html"]] || **content:** the subject, topic or information captured in a photograph. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/buster_t.jpg width="140" height="102" caption="Buster" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/buster.html"]] || **direct approach:** confronting a scene in a straight-forward manner, without using unusual angles or distortion. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/baptism_t.jpg width="140" height="102" caption="Baptism" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/baptism.html"]] || **documentary photography:** photographs whose main purpose is to record a place, person(s) or event. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/threeboys_t.jpg width="140" height="102" caption="3 Boys" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/threeboys.html"]] || **expressive:** concerned with communicating emotion. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/cedarkey_t.jpg width="140" height="102" caption="Cedar Cay" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/cedarkey.html"]] || **geometric shape:** simple rectilinear or curvilinear shapes found in geometry, such as circles, squares, triangles, etc. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/tagapplied_t.jpg width="140" height="101" caption="applied for" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/tagapplied.html"]] || [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/tagapplied_d.jpg width="130" height="98" align="RIGHT" caption="detail"]]
 * intention:** reason(s) why the artist made a work of art. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/cypress_t.jpg width="140" height="103" caption="Cypress" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/cypress.html"]] || **landscape:** an image that portrays the natural environment. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/inbound_t.jpg width="140" height="113" caption="Inbound" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/inbound.html"]] || **objective:** a point of view free from personal bias, which attempts to consider all available information with equal regard and fairness. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/liveoak_t.jpg width="140" height="112" caption="live oak" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/liveoak.html"]] || **organis shape:** shapes based on natural objects such as trees, mountains, leaves, etc. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/peach_t.gif width="140" height="104" caption="Peaches" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/peaches.html"]] || **representational:** an image which shows recognizable objects. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/checkers_t.gif width="110" height="128" caption="Checkers" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/checkers.html"]] || **subject:** the main object or person(s) in a photograph.[[image:http://c1.wikicdn.com/i/c.gif width="22" height="22" caption="increase size"]] ||


 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/train_t.jpg width="140" height="100" caption="Train" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/train.html"]] || **theme:** a unifying or dominant idea in one work of art or in a collection of works. ||

Practice the use of these words by asking the following questions: ||
 * ==**Visual Elements of the photographs**==
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/triton_t.jpg width="140" height="94" caption="Triton" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/tritons.html"]] || **focus:** what areas appear clearest or sharpest in the photograph? What do not? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/kitchen_t.jpg width="111" height="121" caption="Kitchen" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/kitchen.html"]] || **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? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/crossing_t.jpg width="108" height="128" caption="Crossing" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/crossing.html"]] || **line:** are there objects in the photograph that act as lines? Are they straight, curvy, thin, thick? Do the lines create direction in the photograph? Do they outline? Do the lines show movement or energy? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/kaolin_t.jpg width="140" height="105" caption="Kaolin" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/kaolin.html"]] || **repetition:** are there any objects, shapes or lines which repeat and create a pattern? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/dock_t.jpg width="140" height="93" caption="Dock" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/dock.html"]] || **shape:** do you see[| geometric] or [|organic] shapes? What are they? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seacoast/afterrain_t.gif width="120" height="135" caption="After rain" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seacoast/afterrain.html"]] || **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? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/shirt_t.jpg width="118" height="135" caption="Shirt" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/shirt.html"]] || **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? ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/melissa_t.jpg width="140" height="95" caption="Melissa" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/melissa.html"]] || **value:** is there a range of tones from dark to light? Where is the darkest value? Where is the lightest? ||

The words here will allow you to think about how [|visual elements] combine within a photograph to create a composition. ||
 * ==**Composition of the photograph**==
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/close_aboard_t.jpg width="118" height="128" caption="Close" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/seaport/close_aboard.html"]] || **angle:** the [|vantage point] from which the photograph was taken; generally used when discussing a photograph taken from an unusual or exaggerated vantage point. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/kids_t.jpg width="140" height="94" caption="Kids" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/kids.html"]] || **background:** the part of a scene or picture that is or seems to be toward the back. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/cove_t.jpg width="140" height="94" caption="Cove" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/cove.html"]] || [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/marsh_t.jpg width="140" height="94" align="RIGHT" caption="Marsh" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/mist/marsh.html"]]**balance:** the distribution of [|visual elements] in a photograph. //Symmetrical// balance distributes visual elements evenly in an image.//Asymmetrical// balance is found when visual elements are not evenly distributed in an image. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/dam_t.jpg width="140" height="95" caption="Dam" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/ogeechee/dam.html"]] || **central focus:** the objects(s) which appears most prominently and/or most clearly focused in a photograph. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/savannah/garden_t.gif width="115" height="128" caption="Good & Evil" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/savannah/garden.html"]] || **composition:** the arrangement or structure of the formal elements that make up an image. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/cookshack_t.jpg width="140" height="93" caption="Cook shack" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/cookshack.html"]] || **contour:** the outline of an object or shape. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/unmade_t.jpg width="125" height="135" caption="Unmade" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/unmade.html"]] || **contrast:** strong visual differences between light and dark, varying textures, sizes, etc. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/beds_t.jpg width="120" height="121" caption="Beds" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/interiors/beds.html"]] || **framing:** what the photographer has placed within the boundaries of the photograph. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/agriscapes/water_tower_t.jpg width="117" height="128" caption="water tower" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/agriscapes/water_tower.html"]] || **setting:** actual physical surroundings or scenery whether real or artificial. ||
 * [[image:http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/shoeshop_t.jpg width="140" height="95" caption="Shoes" link="http://nuovo.com/southern-images/rural/shoeshop.html"]] || **vantage point:** the place from which a photographer takes a photograph. ||

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