How do you use photography and lens-based media to record and create images?
Photography and lens-based media: composition, light, focus, exposure and viewpoint; editing and manipulation; photography as primary recording and as an outcome in its own right.
How to use photography and lens-based media for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: composition, light, focus, exposure and viewpoint, editing and manipulation, and using photography both as primary recording and as a refined outcome, with the AO links.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this dot point is asking
Photography and lens-based media are both a way of recording primary sources and, in the Photography title or any title, a medium for finished outcomes. Edexcel asks you to experiment with and select appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, including lens-based and digital ones. This page covers the controls that make a deliberate photograph, editing and manipulation, and the two roles photography plays in a project.
Making a deliberate photograph
The difference between a snapshot and a strong image is control of a few key variables.
Light and viewpoint
Light is the single biggest factor in a photograph, just as it is in drawing.
Editing and manipulation
Photographs are refined and transformed after shooting, which is AO2.
Why photography serves recording and response
It is easy to treat photographs as quick references to draw from and nothing more, but photography earns marks in two distinct ways, and understanding both strengthens a project. As primary recording, your own photographs are first-hand sources (you chose the subject, light and viewpoint), so they support AO1 investigation and AO3 recording and give richer references than downloaded images, which links this to recording from primary sources. As a creative medium, photography is a full title in its own right and can produce a developed personal response: a refined, edited photographic series, made through experimentation with shooting and editing, can be an AO4 outcome. In both roles the same controls matter (light, viewpoint, composition), and the same discipline of taking many shots and selecting the strongest is the AO2 evidence. Photography also connects to the formal elements directly, since composition, tone (through exposure and black and white), colour and shape are all controlled through the lens. Photographers are widely studied: Henri Cartier-Bresson for the decisive geometric moment, Edward Weston for form and tone in close-up, Cindy Sherman for staged identity, and Andreas Gursky for large constructed images. Analysing how a photographer uses light and composition, then shooting and editing your own series, links AO1 research to AO2 experimentation and an AO4 outcome.
Try this
Q1. Name three things you control to make a deliberate photograph. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Any three of: light (direction and quality), focus, exposure, viewpoint, composition (rule of thirds, focal point, cropping).
Q2. Explain the two different roles photography can play in a project. [Short explanation]
- Cue. As primary recording it gathers first-hand reference of subjects, light and viewpoints for AO1 and AO3; as a creative medium a refined, edited photographic series can be a developed personal response and AO4 outcome, made through AO2 experimentation with shooting and editing.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel 1AD0 portfolio10 marksA candidate snaps quick photos on a phone with no thought to light or composition. Analyse how controlling light, viewpoint and composition would strengthen the work, and explain which objectives benefit.Show worked answer →
An analysis needs the change, its effect, and the AO link.
The problem. Quick, unconsidered phone snaps have flat light and weak composition, so they record little and read as snapshots, not deliberate images.
Controlling light. Shooting in directional or low-angle light (such as early or late daylight) reveals form and texture, and using side light or backlight adds drama, transforming the same subject.
Viewpoint and composition. Choosing an unusual viewpoint (very low, very high, very close), using the rule of thirds and a clear focal point, and cropping deliberately make the image intentional.
AO link. Deliberate photographs are strong AO3 primary recording, and experimenting with and refining photographic techniques and editing is AO2; a resolved series can be an AO4 outcome.
Markers reward the link from light and composition control to deliberate images and the mapping to AO2 and AO3.
Edexcel 1AD0 portfolio6 marksExplain two ways photography can be used in an Art and Design project.Show worked answer →
A short explanation needs two distinct uses.
Use one (primary recording). Your own photographs gather first-hand reference of subjects, light and viewpoints, supporting research and recording (AO1 and AO3), and feeding drawings and experiments.
Use two (an outcome in its own right). In the Photography title, or any title, a refined, edited photographic series can be a developed personal response and final outcome (AO4), made through experimentation with shooting and editing (AO2).
Markers reward both the recording use and the outcome use, with the AO links.
Related dot points
- Painting and colour media: watercolour, acrylic, gouache, oil pastel and ink; paint handling, grounds, layering, glazing and wet and dry techniques.
How to handle painting and colour media for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: watercolour, acrylic, gouache, oil pastel and ink, with paint handling, grounds, layering, glazing, and wet and dry techniques, and how to experiment with and refine them for AO2.
- Printmaking processes: monoprint, relief (lino and collagraph), drypoint and intaglio, and screen printing; editions, registration and how printmaking suits repetition and layering.
How to use printmaking for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: monoprint, relief printing (lino and collagraph), drypoint and intaglio, and screen printing, with editions, registration and layering, and how to experiment with and refine print processes for AO2.
- Three-dimensional and sculptural processes: modelling, carving, construction, assemblage and casting; working with clay, card, wire and found materials; maquettes and form in the round.
How to work three-dimensionally for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: modelling, carving, construction, assemblage and casting, working with clay, card, wire and found materials, using maquettes and considering form in the round, with how to experiment and refine for AO2.
- Recording from primary sources: gathering first-hand material through your own photography, location studies, collected objects and notes, and why primary sources outweigh secondary.
How to gather and record from primary sources for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: your own photography, location studies, collected objects and observational notes, and why first-hand primary sources are valued above secondary ones for AO1 and AO3.
- Composition and visual language: arranging the formal elements using the rule of thirds, focal point, balance, lead-in lines, scale and viewpoint to communicate meaning.
How to compose an image in Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: combining the formal elements through the rule of thirds, focal point, balance, lead-in lines, scale, framing and viewpoint, and how composition becomes the visual language that communicates meaning for AO4.
- AO2: refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, showing reviewed decisions.
How to satisfy Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objective 2: refine work by exploring ideas and experimenting with and selecting appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing each experiment to drive the next decision, scored out of 18 per component.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Art and Design (1AD0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)