30-Second Photography

The 50 Most Thought-provoking Photographers, Styles and Techniques, each explained in Half a Minute

Brian Dilg, Adiva Koenigsberg

• Publisher: Ivy Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781782403517
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Photography Equipment

Who invented photography first, Fox Talbot or Louis Daguerre? Who got the patent? Who made the most money? Who are the greatest photographers and what have their contributions been? This book takes the 50 most important aspects of photography – both the major styles and the key technical aspects that make them possible – and explains each in two pages, 300 words and one picture. The book also includes six profiles of the greatest names in the history of photography and shares their contributions. Whether you pick it up for 30-seconds at a time or read it from cover-to-cover, this book is guaranteed to have you thinking about your own and other people's photography in a whole new way.

PHOTOGRAPHIC THEORY

PHOTOGRAPHIC THEORY

GLOSSARY

Abstraction In theoretical terms, an abstraction can have several meanings. One is of a universal concept that has no physical form such as love or faith; another can be a subjective term which is constantly shifting, such as the symbolism which defines Americana at a specific cultural moment. Another meaning of abstraction in the photographic realm is the use of non-representational subject matter, creating visual associations and conditions without literal readings.

Closure A psychological principle stating that the human eye and mind will translate certain incomplete objects into a whole or recognizable shape. Powerful photographic uses can be applied by making the viewer’s mind “fill in the pieces,” creating more engaging and dynamic compositions which activate the mind, as well as the eye.

Continuation A law in Gestalt psychology stating that the eye’s instinct is to visually follow a simple and orderly path. This inclination can be used to draw the viewer’s eye in various directions, or to simply re-emphasize a central subject. An example would be positioning a subject of a portrait in a dynamic setting, allowing leading lines in the surrounding environment to highlight certain features of the sitter.

Delay (delayed perception) Considering the amount of visual information a photograph might contain, including powerful compositional, focus, and color elements, a delay can occur as the eye and mind process general or descriptive elements before landing on certain details which fully activate the image. This type of delay can describe the distance between what is physically seen in the photograph versus what the larger narrative or meaning of the photograph might be.

Fovea Located in the central macula region of the retina, the fovea is responsible for the perception of central sharp vision. Only 1.5mm wide, the fovea comprises only 1% of the size of the retina, but uses 50% of the visual cortex of the brain. Due to the structure of the human eye, the fovea must be in constant motion, rapidly scanning the area to visually assess a situation.

Gestalt A school of thought developed by German and Austrian psychologists which means “shape.” A key principle in Gestalt psychology is that the mind understands visual imagery as a whole, rather than as the sum of its parts. Furthermore, visuals are experienced in a regular, patterned, and orderly manner. Gestalt ideas can be seen as the opposite of Structuralism and Deconstruction, which focus on unique details and contexts as a philosophical stance.

Grouping A central tenet of Gestalt is the human inclination to create visual order through grouping. Such groupings also follow sets of rules, and are organized into six categories, each of which fulfills specific ideals: proximity, similarity, closure, good continuation, common fate, and good form.

Peripheral Vision Vision that exists outside of the center of the human gaze. The opposite of central or foveal vision, peripheral vision is often employed to detect backgrounds, key details, or motion. While the central photoreceptors in the eye are cone cells, which are excellent at determining color, the edge of the retina are mostly comprised of rod cells. Poor at receiving color, rod cells are more sensitive to motion and work better than cone cells in low-light situations.

Proximity A law in Gestalt thinking that states that the eye will associate visual objects in close proximity as being unified and arranged together. The same number of objects that have different arrangements with regards to proximity will be seen in groups rather than as individual units. This idea has interesting influences regarding the sequence in which certain subjects are seen, as well as providing a measure of organization and sometimes hierarchy within a photograph.

Saccades The fast movements of the human eye to visually read a situation. Unlike certain birds, the human eye does not look at a scene in a fixed manner. Instead, the eyes are constantly in motion with quick and synchronized movements, building a complex, three-dimensional mental assessment of a scene from small visual details. In reading another human face, for example, the eyes will move in a series of saccades to assess emotional temperament and distinctive facial features.

Semiotics The study of meaning through visual signage and language, a term commonly used in postmodern thinking. Initially developed through linguistics with a distinct focus on verbal and written language, semiotics has expanded to include visual phenomena such as analogy, metaphor, and symbolism. One basic tenet of semiotics is the idea that all communication (visual or verbal) is comprised of cultural exchanges of representation, meaning, and value. In Martha Rosler’s well-known video, Semiotics of the Kitchen from 1975, she parodies a cooking show as a feminist critique of a woman’s social value in terms of the kitchen.

DENOTATION & CONNOTATION

the 30-second photography

Denotation represents the literal subject in a photograph, while connotation refers to the inferred or implied subject. The former describes the index in a photograph, and the latter describes how the photograph is read. In Joe Rosenthal’s well-known photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, the denotation would be the soldiers, the flag, the hill, and the clouds in the distance. The connotation, however, is the struggle, bravery, and heroism of American soldiers overcoming great obstacles in World War II. The famed French theorist Roland Barthes described a slightly different aspect of this duality with his idea of the “studium,” which is the generalized meaning of a photograph, and the “punctum,” which is the subjective aspect in the photograph, and possibly a physical detail, which “pierces the viewer” on a personal and emotional level. The combination of the literal and inferred is what gives photographs their complexity, and suggests that the true strength of photograph lies beyond its capacity for direct, literal representation. Peter Galassi, former photography curator at the Museum of Modern Art, describes perception in this way: “[ultimately] what we see depends on what we expect to see.”

3-SECOND FLASH

Denotation is the literal subject of a photograph, while conno...