Visual LiteracyYear 7 English Ms. Michetti2013

Introduction What do you think ‘visual literacy’

means?

What techniques or conventions may be used when creating an image?

How might these features help the creator communicate something to their audience?

Visual Features and Techniques

We are going to spend some time exploring and learning about the different kinds of techniques used in creating and understanding VISUALS.

You will use these techniques in YOUR OWN photo and in WRITING about photos.

Why is it important that we are visually literate?What do you think? Discuss as a class. Look at the prompts provided to guide your discussion. What is significant about the time period you live

in? Have you ever heard of the ‘digital age’? What does this mean?

Think of the different images that you are faced with on a regular basis. What are they? Are any of them important?

“Just like media literacy, visual literacy is about analyzing and creating messages.” Baker, F 2012, Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom, ISTE, , accessed 18

February 2013, <http://www.iste.org/images/excerpts/MEDLIT-excerpt.pdf>.

The Importance of Visual Literacy

Famous and Powerful Images Ever heard the saying ‘a picture speaks a

thousand words’? What do you think this actually means? Do you agree or disagree?

Throughout history, specific photos became very famous and were used to tell a story or symbolize something important. Many of these images are still used to help us learn about the past.

What features do you think these images might have that makes them gain this status?

Analysing ImagesWe are now going to look at some of these famous and powerful images. As we look at each image you should follow the instructions on your OneNote Photo Analysis Page.

John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's coffin along with the honor guard.

A girl in isolation for radiation screening looks at her dog through a window in Nihonmatsu, Japan on March 14.

U.S. Army troops wade ashore during the D-Day Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.

A 4-month-old baby girl in a pink bear suit is miraculously rescued from the rubble by soldiers after four days missing following the Japanese tsunami.

A dog named "Leao" sits for a second consecutive day at the grave of her owner, who died in the disastrous landslides near Rio de Janiero on January 15, 2011.

Pele and British captain Bobby Moore trade jerseys in 1970 as a sign of mutual respect during a World Cup that had been marred by racism.

Harold Whittles hears for the first time ever after a doctor places an earpiece in his left ear.

The 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute: African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity at the 1968 Olympic games. Australian Silver medalist Peter Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in support of their protest. Both Americans were expelled from the games as a result.

Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina victim Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the convention center in New Orleans.

Framing Imagine holding a camera and looking through

its viewfinder. You might move the camera, or yourself, in order

to improve the composition of the picture inside your viewfinder, and thus your final picture.

You are deciding what to include and what to leave out. This is called framing.

When many of us look at a photograph, we usually don’t ask the critical-thinking question: What is outside the frame? But we should!

Responding to Images I will now go back to the start and show

you each image for a second time – as I do this, watch carefully and select the one that affects you the most

Write two paragraphs that explain why you have selected that specific image. Try and incorporate some of the ‘visual literacy’ terms that we have been discussing. An example is provided for you on the next slide.

Responding to Images - ExampleI selected the image showing the young boy who has just heard something for the first time. I chose this picture because, while it is quite simple, it captures what must have been an amazing experience. Imagine hearing sound for the first time after living in a world of silence! It does such an effective job of describing this moment that I feel like it is me experiencing the sound, not the young boy.

The close-up/extreme close-up allows me (the audience) to focus simply on the subject (the boy) who is in the foreground. In fact, there is no background shown and that is because it is not important in this image; the only thing that matters is the boy and how he is feeling. This shot allows for this as the facial expression is clear and easy to read. The other important element is the earpiece; this object is important as it explains what the boy is reacting to.

Sources http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/m

ost-powerful-photographs-ever-taken http://

www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25046404-2862,00.html

http://listverse.com/2007/10/19/top-15-manipulated-photographs/

http://www.iste.org/images/excerpts/MEDLIT-excerpt.pdf