Task 1: Photography
Photography is an art which can be used to portray, inform and express many different things. Writers will use photography alongside text in a book or document to help the reader further understand the point of the text. Photography alongside text is most commonly found in newspapers because photography is a very effective tool in making people understand what they are reading.
There are many different fields of photography for example, sport, fashion, landscape and portraiture, advertising. All of these genres are similar on some bases but differ on others for example, sport and fashion both, majority of the time, photograph people. The difference is making the person in the photograph appeal to a target audience.
For a photograph to appeal to the target audience of fashion, the photographer would have to make the person in the photograph look very stylish and put the person on a catwalk, whereas in a sport photograph, the photographer would have to put the model in a sports kit and put the model in a playing field. If a photographer was conducting a photo shoot for the front cover of a gardening magazine, and published a picture of a man and a woman standing hand in hand at the end of a catwalk on the cover, the magazines readership figures would drop because the target audience for the magazine is not interested in fashion.
Some genres of photography have a wider reach than others. For example, sport and fashion photographs can only be used in specific, targeted publications, whereas landscape photography can be used for magazines, newspapers, advertising and publications with a specific audience regarding landscape photography. Portraiture photography has the same advantage as landscape photography, as it can also be used for almost any publication. Another advantage for portraiture photography is that it can be sold and used by any other genre. The photograph could be of anyone, the photographer only needs to work around the genre and context to use a photograph they’ve taken.
Photographers have a very important and powerful job, for some genres of photography the picture, who it’s of, what it’s of, where it’s taken, is crucial in order for it to fulfill its’ purpose. Advertising is the most important aspect of photography when it comes to getting the picture right for where the picture is published, for example these 2 images below are both advertisements but they differ in context:
The first picture has not got a lot of writing on it and the image takes up the whole background of the advertisement. The name of the product it is advertising is in large print at the bottom left-hand corner so that people can see it clearly, but the main focus is on the image. This advert is most effective as a billboard advertisement because it has limited writing and a large picture. This is perfect for billboards at roadsides and other public places because when people are driving they are only going to see the advert for a limited time before they pass it.
The second image has a lot of text which varies in size throughout the advert. The text at the top, stating a free offer of “£15 pounds of play if you join now” is the biggest text on the page, this is is to draw more attention towards the ad. As the reader continues to read the ad the text shrinks to a normal reading size. The ad also contains quotes from three ChatMagBingo.com players, what they think of the site and how much they have one. The main focus of the ad is a large picture of a very happy woman with a box underneath quoting “I won £22,424!” Underneath that is another box, bigger than all the others, with the very happy woman’s quote in it. This advertisement is most effective as a magazine ad because it has a large text, a large picture and is brightly coloured.
Photography is used to aid a readers understanding of a topic they like or a current issue in the news. Photography helps portray emotion and movement in art, and helps sustain the economy by being used as an effective tool in advertising. Photography is one of the most important tools used in modern society.
