Image Analysis: An Interactive Approach to Compositional Elements

Abstract

IMAGE ANALYSIS: AN INTER-ACTIVE APPROACH 2 AbstractThis article proposes an inter-active approach to the analysis of compositional elements of still visuals. This approach stems from the argument that the rhetorical efficiency of images is related less to their content per se than to how this content is displayed and organised. As such, we start from the premise that images are 'active', performing the visual equivalent of speechacts (i.e. 'image-acts') through which they construct the world and impact upon their viewers.In their turn, the audiences of an image participate in interpreting its meaning and responding to its particular 'action'. This leads us to formulate a method based on the active engagement of researchers with the image at hand. We suggest a classification of compositional elements and identify ways in such elements can be analyzed and interpreted, casting light thus on the range of rhetorical and ideological effects that images so often achieve.

Social representations of teachership based on cover images of Finnish teacher magazine: A visual rhetoric approach

“…In addition to Sonesson's (1989) concepts of "iconic language" and "plastic language" to study denotative and connotative meanings, the semiotic approach of this study draws on social semiotics of visual communication, which provides a tool for analyzing the cultural and social meanings of visual elements (Jewitt & Oyama, 2004;Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). Even though the visual elements direct the perception and sense-making of images, the meaning is not in the visual elements themselves, but is constructed by viewers based on a cultural matrix of meanings, both explicitly and implicitly (Hook & Glăveanu, 2013;Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). Despite the culturally preferred ways of interpreting the visual (Danesi, 2017;Kress & van Journal of Social and Political Psychology 2019, Vol.…”

“…The cover images included in the data are all photographs. The apparent realism of photographs may conceal their constructed nature (Barthes, 1977;Hook & Glăveanu, 2013). However, regardless of the similarity that photographs appear to have with reality, they are not direct recordings of reality as such, but are constructed through a variety of choices in terms of visual expression (Rose, 2016).…”

“…However, regardless of the similarity that photographs appear to have with reality, they are not direct recordings of reality as such, but are constructed through a variety of choices in terms of visual expression (Rose, 2016). While the persons, objects, and environments included in the photograph construct the subject matter (i.e., what is depicted), the means of visual expres-sion, such as framing, viewing angle, lighting, and color (i.e., how it is depicted), construct the stance to the subject matter (Hook & Glăveanu, 2013). Together, these two levels form the visual rhetoric of the image, communicating certain social representations of teachership.…”

“…In order to extend the scope of visual content analysis from the observation of the mere iconic language of images to include the elements of visual expression at the level of plastic language, this research complements content analysis with features of compositional analysis (e.g., Rose, 2016) and formal analysis (e.g., Schroeder, 2006). This kind of extended content analysis provides a tool for scrutinizing and classifying the components of visual rhetoric at large, consisting of persons, objects, and environments and their visual characteristics, as well as elements of visual expression such as color, light, composition, and viewing angle (Bell, 2012;Hook & Glăveanu, 2013). In turn, (social) semiotic analysis is used for making sense of the findings provided by content analysis and interpreting them within the matrix of socially constructed meanings (Jewitt & Oyama, 2004;Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006).…”

Making Sense of a Changing Neighborhood: Art Students’ Experiences of Place Explored Through a Material-Discursive Analytical Lens

“…Textures can evoke smoothness, roughness, slipperiness, softness, and so on. These effects can be repeated or contrasted within the art works (Hook & Glăveanu, 2013). The principles of design refer to how the building blocks are used in the particular design.…”