75 Focal point: the part of an image that your eye is instinctively drawn to, for example a flower in a garden. According to the rule of thirds, the subject must be placed in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. It divides a photo into nine equal parts, split by two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines. Search the Internet and find some information about Ellis Island. ANALYSING A PHOTOGRAPH The genres of photography are many, but every photograph has a precise aim and, as a written text, its own syntax rules . Main elements The main useful elements to analyse a photograph are: technical features: light, depth of field, camera angles, exposure, choice of lens; composition: focal point , symmetry and harmony between the elements of the image, the rule of thirds , perspective, background, and colours; contest: social, historical, geographic; subject: the reason why the photographer has chosen that precise image and not another; meaning: emotions or thoughts that the image conveys. An example This photo was taken by Lewis Hine in 1905 and belongs to the genre of social realism which emphasises the power of photography as a means of denunciation. Lewis s photography is a studied one, in which the moment is chosen with care and precision, leaving nothing to chance, even at the cost of not being perfect from a technical point of view. In his images there is a before and an after, with the aim of making the photograph dynamic. In this photo, Italian family on ferry boat, leaving Ellis Island , these two characteristics of Hine s photographic style emerge clearly: he decides to take the picture while the child is probably standing on tiptoe to see below him the new world approaching, and the two parents and the youngest son are looking at America in front of them. He manages to capture the expressive power of the subjects faces. Behind them, on the right, another person is photographed walking with a suitcase in his hand, though with his presence the photo may appear unbalanced to the right. The rule of thirds is not followed, but this allows the viewer to understand that what Hine photographed is a precise moment of a longer moment, in which the migrant behind the family was not there. By choosing to photograph the very instant in which the person with the suitcase is passing, Hine wanted to make him a protagonist, making us imagine both the moment before and the continuation of the photographed scene. suitcase: valigia tiptoe: punta di piedi 176 Creative artS