1. Analyzing Visual Rhetoric

2. How do I break down visual text?
Through the first “layer” or formal qualities of the image
These include: Emphasis
framing
point of View
Degree of focus
distance from the subject
lighting and contrast
color

3. Emphasis
It is where the viewer’s eyes are drawn when they first look at the photo
It provides an important clue for what the viewer is supposed to take away from the photo

5. Framing
What has been included within the boundaries of the image and how the creators of the image direct attention to the subject of the picture
**It’s important to maintain awareness of what is shown and potentially not shown

6. Memorial service for Nelson Mandela Danish Prime Minister is between British Prime Minister and President Obama

7. Point Of View
The angle from which the subject is portrayed or represented in an image: above, below, head-on, or from the side?
For example looking up at the subject or “worm’s eye view” puts viewer in inferior position and perhaps invites us to admire the subject
**Remember, the effect of camera angles aren’t absolute—it depends on the purpose of the photo, subject, and a host of other things

9. Degree of Focus Refers to the crispness of the image
Soft Focus (Subject slightly blurred) can create a nostalgic or romantic feeling
Blurring the background can create a sense of the subject as dynamic, moving quickly through space

12. Distance from the Subject
When camera is close to its subject, we’re being asked to directly relate to that subject
When camera is far away from its subject, we get more of an overview effect—we’re not being asked to relate to a particular person
**While distance from the subject gives you some information, you need to use other clues to ascertain its meaning or intended effect.

13. Lighting & Contrast
When photo contains a lot of dark tones or low light, it’s called “low key.”
These tend to create a sense of mystery, gloom, or dread.
When photo contains a lot of light or lighter, it’s called “High key.”
These tend to create feelings of delicacy, softness, and lightness

15. color

16. the effects of color are also mitigated by cultural factors--colors that have one effect in one society might have quite a different effect in another.

17. Social layer—second Layer #1
The significance of dominant shapes in an image.
any image is made up of a series of basic shapes: circles, squares, and triangles.

18. Circles
Circles, curves, and ovals can be found in natural forms: the moon, sun, the curves of hills, human faces and bodies, pregnant bellies, etc. An image dominated by circles thus tends to evoke cyclical, organic nature.

20. water bubbles create an organic feel
water bubbles create an organic feel. The text within the ad furthers the connection to nature through its reference to “Nature’s own internal moisturizing mechanism.”

21. Squares and Rectangles
don’t exist in nature, and hence are associated with human construction and mechanical order
images dominated by squares and rectangles tend to impress upon A sense of order and rationality and the cultural associations that go along with that: honesty or coldness, depending on one’s perspective.

22. Triangles
tend to introduce a dynamic element into an image, one of processes and movement (they literally can point at things especially when they’re tilted)
images that distinctively incorporate triangles might seem exciting and action-filled.

23. Analyzing the Social Layer #2
2. The rhetorical effect of narratives in an image
Something is happening or has happened
Someone is doing something or someone is doing something to someone/something else
ACTION

25. Look at race, gender, class, age, weight, and looks
Who or what does the action in the image
Actors
Look at race, gender, class, age, weight, and looks

26. Analyzing the social layer #3
3. Social meaning of objects and settings in an image

27. Objects—Questions to Ask
● What objects are present in the image? ● What social memories, images, and associations do these things have? ● How might these affect the meaning or rhetorical effect of the image? How do they add to the narrative (if there is one)? ● How might these memories, images, and associations be different for different audiences?

28. Setting—Questions to Ask
● Does the image have an obvious setting? ● What sorts of social memories, images, and associations does this kind of setting evoke? Brainstorm a list of as many associations as you can come up with. ● What is the role of the setting in the image? What difference would it make if the action were taking place somewhere else?