Tutorials on Reading Visuals

Introduction
1 of 14

Chapter 3. test

true
true
Tutorials on Reading Visuals
Reading Visuals: Framing
false

Reading Visuals: Framing

Author

Cheryl E. Ball, Wayne State University, and Kristin L. Arola, Michigan Technological University

Activity Objective:

In this tutorial, you will explore the role of framing in visual composition.

Click the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides.

© 2018 Macmillan Learning

An illustration shows three rectangles, each with a horizontal, vertical and perpendicular line drawn intersecting it.

Framing offers a way to describe how a visual text is presented—both its literal frame, like a window or picture frame (the lines around what we see) and the sight lines within it that draw our focus. Individual frames or series of frames can be divided to achieve a particular purpose. There are several options for dividing frames to draw the audience’s attention, some of which are shown here. Focusing on how something is framed helps us think about what is important in a text.

A photo shows a pregant woman inside a room looking through a window. She holds one hand over her stomach as she peers through the blinds. Perpendicular lines are drawn across the photo.

If you look at the photo “Self in Waiting,” you will see several different frames that serve to group elements, direct the viewer’s attention, and otherwise communicate the photographer’s purpose.

Both the woman and the window are framed by the black walls. How does making note of this frame affect how you understand the photo?

A photo shows a pregant woman inside a room looking through a window. She holds one hand over her stomach as she peers through the blinds. Perpendicular lines are drawn across the photo.

The woman’s arm in the foreground creates a horizontal frame with the bottom of the windowsill, thus emphasizing what we see above this line.

A photo shows a pregnant woman looking outside a window. A single vertical line runs through the center of the photo along the woman's hand and stomach.

The left edge of the windowsill creates a vertical frame, with the woman on the left side and the window on the right. How does this division draw your attention to the subjects of this photo?

A photo shows a pregnant woman looking outside a window. Four yellow lines from various angles intersect at the woman's stomach.

The woman’s left arm is a diagonal line against the vertical and horizontal lines of the window and her right arm. Where these three lines come together (the horizontal, the vertical, and the diagonal) we meet the crux of her elbow, and a focal point of the image.

An illustration of 6 penguins on the right and 8 penguins on the left. The formula 6 plus 8 is shown above the penguins.
The illustration shows a woman teaching a young boy. A poster in the background reads “JOHN IS NOT REALLY DULL HE MAY ONLY NEED HIS EYES EXAMINED.”
An illustration shows a man raising a hammer in one hand and holding a hot object with a tool in his other hand.

Let’s analyze three posters made by the WPA between 1936 and 1941 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. Hundreds of posters were created to publicize health and safety, education, and community programs. All three have the same outside frame: the poster, a shape and size prescribed by its function.

The illustration shows 6 penguins on the right and 8 penguins on the left. 2 rows and 8 columns are created with yellow lines. A button on the left corner reads “Enlarge” and shows a plus icon.

This image has a strong vertical split, slightly left of the middle, reinforced by the roughly inked black cartoon penguins facing off (rather than facing us, beak first). You also see a series of horizontal splits across each row of numbers and penguins, and two frames around the border, black and blue.

An illustration shows a woman teaching a boy. A poster in the background reads JOHN IS NOT REALLY DULL HE MAY ONLY NEED HIS EYES EXAMINED. A horizontal yellow line is drawn across the poster above the words Really Dull.

This image has a strong horizontal split that divides two statements, one that poses a problem and the other that suggests a solution. In the top half, the text describes what’s wrong: “John/is not.” In the bottom half, the image and text suggest what might make things right.

An illustration shows a man raising a hammer in one hand and holding a hot object with a tool in his other hand. The words (F)ORGING AHEA(D) is shown above. A yellow line runs across the illustration.

This image has a strong diagonal split from the top of the hammer down to the bright yellow piece of metal on the anvil, a yellow matched by the text. The framing here conveys a sense of directed purpose, immediacy, and action (a split second from now, that hammer will strike home).

A photo shows the back view of a woman walking on a street and three men walking opposite to her while looking at her.

Work through the following questions, which ask you to examine the framing techniques used in a photo, “Sara, 19,” by Lauren Greenfield.

The same photo of the woman, this time with yellow lines drawn from different corners; the lines intersect at the top of the woman’s head.

Use the space below to answer the following questions.

How do the splits we’ve drawn help you think about the way this composition directs our attention? How many other visual splits can you identify? (Remember that the sight line of the subjects is another way to create a frame.)
Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.
In this version of the photo, all the colors are oversaturated. The whites are very white, the reds are vividly red, and the woman's yellow hair is bright.

Use the space below to answer the following questions.

In this version, is lighting used to suggest another frame? What about setting? What about the way the subjects are staged? What are we supposed to be looking at? Where is the photographer in this picture?
Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.
The same photo is shown, this time in black and white.

Use the space below to answer the following questions.

How does this image read in black and white? How does color (or its absence) impact the composition? Does it draw your eye or attention differently?
Your response has been provisionally accepted and will be graded by your instructor.

Congratulations! You have completed this activity.

Total Score: out of (%)

You have received a provisional score for your essay answers, which have been submitted to your instructor.