A comment on the Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology

Using the example of a picture showing Nixon’s resignation as president, Becker (in Prosser) argues that at the time of taking, instantly told the outcome of the story surrounding the Watergate events and Nixon’s downfall. Everybody looking at this image of the president leaving the White House, was familiar with the context it was taken and therefore the picture carried significant power (specifically as it was cover news on most papers). Some time later however, the picture was part of an archive and merely used by historians, however, its significance and context can no longer be assessed by the image alone to people that have not been following the events taking place at the time. Using this example Becker generalises that images used for journalistic purposes have their impact only in context of the contemporary; events that arouse the attention of people at the very moment, thus providing them with the information needed for interpretation. He suggests that sociological analysis can be used to preserve the context it was taking in by including it in range of images depicting the Watergate events, Nixon’s presidency in general or the way in which the presentation of this picture happened. Such a series of images can well be using relevant texts or other records in order to capture information about the events described as a whole. By this, the context is recreated and made available also for those that have not been present when the single image was part of the ‘news’. It is therefore possible to for single photographs to retain their relevance, even though they are part of the past.



References:

- Prosser, J (2000), Image Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Routledge/Falmer.

A comment on Validity and Reliability in Visual Methods

Reliability and Validity are two concepts used in social research to assess in how far the data can make a claim to accurately reflecting truth. While the further corresponds to data consistency (i.e. repetitions should produce similar results), the latter refers to the ability of the method to measure what it is supposed to measure. Both concepts are important in traditional text based as well as visual research to arrive at a coherent theory of social life. In particular the visual method has however been questioned in producing both reliable and valid data on the basis of being too subjective. Winston (in Prosser, 2000, cited p64ff) for example concludes that the image has to interpreted in the context it was taken in, which critically depends on the surrounding information that is available to the interpreter. In using the Ax Fight as an example he describes some images as being incoherent with the interpretation; not contradictory but not supported by the series of images. Adelman agrees with this notion but embeds the visual method in the field of qualitative research, even comparing it to a case study, in which as much information as possible is collected from a single event. Photographs do offer a lot of information about the scene; however, their validity and reliability can be questioned when taken out of context. Adelman (in Prosser, 2000, cited p155f) proposed a range of criteria, such as not taking a spontaneous snapshot, but rather planning the picture taking process based on background information gathered from the scene. If an image depicts a person or an event in an unusual state that more or less only occurred at the moment of taking the picture (e.g. a person smiling that generally does not, or a sky showing some clouds on a day that is generally described as sunny and cloudless), then such information is not reliable. Furthermore Adelman suggest that a series of images should be taken, in order to determine what is or was more likely to be a general state of events afterwards (e.g. if it is cloudy on one picture but sunny on all others, the researcher can conclude that the day was indeed sunny). In the same way ethnographic research includes interviews, focus groups or observations and recorded data will be used to identify common practises to arrive at a conclusion, not of one specific incident, but rather by looking at the available data as a whole. By applying such methodological procedures to the visual method of social research, both validity and reliability can be enhanced to a point where it can compete with other forms of qualitative research.

References:

Prosser, J (2000), Image Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Routledge/Falmer, London.

Example 6: Spring

BEFORE SHOT:

This image is again centralised around the main object, the flower. It's blossom is straight in the centre of the image, while it cuts the horinzontal meadow/street line. It does put the flower in a rather weak position towards the rather detailed background.

AFTER SHOT:

In this image, the flower was moved to the lower left intersection point. Furthermore the image is in much closer proximity to the object, increasing the relative distance of object and background to the lense, resulting in blur of the latter. By this the flower dominates the background unlike in the first image.

Example 5: Churchtower

BEFORE SHOT:

In this example, the church was photographed against the sun to have a contrast between the sky and the shade of the church. This first image again has the horizont line centralised, still leaving enough light in the picture to see some details of the building in front of the church. Furthermore some sunrays shine into the picture, leaving a few blurry parts and not proviving the wanted contrast.

AFTER SHOT 1:

By moving the building to the lower sections of the image, there is now much light coming towards the lense so that sensitivity decreased. This 'darkening' of the picture allows the sunrays as well as the building details to dissappear, so that the shade is now in sharp contrast to the brighter sky. Furthermore the small tower is at on of the intersection point.

AFTER SHOT 2:

Here again the layout was changed and adopted vertically. The image features similar characteristics than the one above (darkening, contrast). This perspective however changes the image in two further ways. First of all, the sky bit is even more dominant, by having a large share even above the tower and the cloud formation makes the scene seem almost dramatic. Second, the main tower has now been moved away from the centralised vertical line towards the right end and is now positioned along a compositional one. This shifts attention to the tower, emphasising it as the principal object in this image.

Example 4: Lonely Tree

BEFORE SHOT:

In this image, the tree is centralised in the picture as well as the horizontal line between ground and sky. Again the main object (the tree) looks rather static and as being an insignificant part of a smaller meadow. Furthmore the thin branches seem to almost blur into the brighter sky backdround.

AFTER SHOT1:

In this image the tree has moved towards the left section of the image, making the meadows seem much greater and as a consequence showing this tree as being rather an exception on this ground, which raises its significance.

AFTER SHOT2:

Finally, when the image is recorded vertically, the tree can even be more emphasised. This time not so much in relation to the flat grass land, but rather as an obstacle under the sky. This was accomplished by also lowering the horizontal line, leaving a much greater window for the sky to appear. The contrast from the branches appease also sharper. Eventually, the lower perspective of taking the image also make it appear bigger, as does the 'vertical' layout, which shifts significance away from the horizontal aspects (the ground/sky line) toward vertical ones.

Example 3: Backstreet by Night

BEFORE SHOT:

This image is centralised, as the main source of light (it's a theatre) combines the centre of the image with the vanishing point of the houses and street. It makes the street appear very narrow and static. Furthermore the block of houses on the right side stretches into the vertical centre of the image, making it a main object in the picture by great detail especially for the closer sections.

AFTER SHOT:

In this shot, the central point (the theatre lights) have been moved to one of the intersection points (the lower right one) and also shifted the vanishing point there. According to the Rule of Thirds, now the street (including the cars) occupies only the bottom part of the picture, while also leaving the upper part for the sky. The change of perspective makes the street appear to be much wider and furthermore takes away the unecessary detail of the block that was present above. Therefore this image looks much more dynamic.

Example 2: Raindrops

BEFORE SHOT:

The raindrops on the roof of the car appear blurred, because the image is divided into two seperate part that are equal in size, divided by a centralised horizontal line (the roof). Due to that it it is not clear as to where the focus is on in this image. Since the roof was in very close proximity to the lense and the background houses in a relatively much greater distance, the lense could not adjust to one distance and depict it sharply.

AFTER SHOT:

Using compositional rules, the foreground (the car roof) now occupies a much larger part of the image, therefore putting an emphasis on the raindrops while neglecting the background. Because of that emphasis the drops are much much more sharply represented. Additonally, the two big drops are not centralised in the picture but positioned along a horizontal line of the bottom third, with one of them even being close to the lower-left intersection point. Due to the great relative increase in distance of the other raindrops, they still seem blurry, but the focus of this image is clearly concentrated on the foreground drops.