Photography Study Topics

Contrast = This is playing with light and emphasizing the difference between light and darkness in a photo. Playing with the contrast can generate striking shadows and/or bright lighting conditions. It can also make dark photos appear lighter than the conditions in which they were taken and vice/versa.

Cropping = This is after the photo is taken and/or printed. Cropping is simply artificially changing the border of the photo after it has been taken. Perhaps you originally went with a large framing but decided afterwards to focus or center a different aspect of the photo. This is what cropping is for.

Framing = This is the staging of the photo before it is taken. It is looking and seeing what the overall photo will look like. What appears within? What is cut off? Framing attempts to "frame" what the photo will look like in advance.

Documentary = Believe it or not, documentary did not start with film. Rather, it started with photography and magazines. Documentary in this case is about getting across a narrative and an agenda. It is telling a story alongside photographs taken. It could be following a rock band on tour, telling the story of drug runners, following a political campaign, etc. The idea here is mainly that it is about telling a narrow story, usually from a particular perspective (often one that's of the side of a story that rarely gets told).

Photojournalism = Photojournalism on the other hand is about taking pictures and reporting on a particular event or string of events. It is a bare reporting of "what happened" that is (ideally) divorced from narrative or ideological aims.