Photography and lens-based media: using composition, light, viewpoint and focus to make considered images, and developing photography as an art process through shooting, selecting, editing and refining toward a personal outcome, not snapshots.

What this dot point is asking

Photography is a lens-based art process, and Photography is one of the seven Eduqas titles, but lens-based recording supports every title. This dot point is about using composition, light, viewpoint and focus to make considered images, and developing photography as a process of shooting, selecting, editing and refining, because a considered photographic outcome evidences AO2, AO3 and AO4, while a snapshot evidences almost nothing.

Photography as an art process

Photography in Art and Design is not snapshooting; it is a considered, lens-based art process. The camera records the world, but the artist decides everything that makes the image: what to include, from where, in what light, what is sharp and what is not. Photography is one of the seven Eduqas titles in its own right, and lens-based recording also supports the other titles (recording from observation for any project). Treated as a process, photography has as much development as drawing or painting; treated as a button-press, it has none.

Making a considered image

A considered photograph uses the same visual language as any artwork, decided through the lens. Composition arranges the frame (the rule of thirds, leading lines, negative space all apply). Light is central: its direction (front, side, back) and quality (hard, soft) shape form and mood exactly as tone does in drawing. Viewpoint, shooting from high, low, close or far, transforms an ordinary subject. Focus decides what is sharp, directing the eye and separating subject from background. Controlling these makes an image, rather than recording whatever the camera happened to capture.

Developing photography: shoot, select, edit, refine

The development in photography happens through a clear process. Shoot widely around the idea, exploring viewpoints, light and compositions, so you have a range. Select the strongest images, judging which best carry the idea, this is a genuine critical decision, not a formality. Edit the selected images (cropping, adjusting tone and contrast, sequencing into a set) and refine toward a resolved outcome. This shoot-select-edit-refine cycle is the AO2 development of lens-based work, and showing it, not just presenting every frame, is what evidences the process.

Resolving a personal outcome

A photographic outcome should resolve the idea as a personal response (AO4), just like any other outcome. That might be a single resolved image or a considered series or sequence. It should grow from the development, be genuinely your own seeing rather than a generic image, and use composition, light and viewpoint with control. The same AO4 demands apply: realise the developed intention, make it personal, command the visual language.

Try this

Q1. State the four things a considered photograph controls, and the process by which photography is developed. [Knowledge recall]

• Cue. Composition (framing), light (direction and quality), viewpoint (high, low, close, distant) and focus (what is sharp); photography is developed through the process of shooting widely, selecting the strongest images, editing (cropping, tone, contrast, sequencing) and refining toward a resolved personal outcome.

Q2. Explain why selecting and editing are as important as shooting for evidencing AO2. [Short explanation]

• Cue. AO2 rewards exploring then refining; in photography, shooting widely is the exploration, but the refinement shows in critically selecting the strongest images and improving them through cropping, tone, contrast and sequencing toward a resolved outcome, so the selection and editing are where the development is evidenced, whereas presenting every frame undifferentiated hides it.