Representation through Photography 8.2 All information within this slideshow comes from the Heinemann Media 2

Understanding Photgraphy It is often said that the camera never lies but, like all media texts, photographs are constructed. When you take a photograph, you make a number of important decisions about how the subject will be represented, using technical and symbolic codes such as lighting, camera angle, shot size, visual composition, colour and depth of field. The technology used to create the photographs also influences the nature of the representation.

PhotographiC Fakes Photographic fakes have been around since the early days of photography. The Cottingley Fairies is a good example of early photographic trickery. When the photographs, taken by children Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths were published in 1920, many people believed they proved the existence of supernatural creatures. It was not until the 1980s that the pair admitted that the photos were a hoax and the fairy effect was created using paper cut-outs of fairies traced from picture books. In 1934, a photograph purporting to be have been taken at Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands was published in England's Daily Mail newspaper. Its existence was meant to provide proof that there was a prehistoric monster living in Loch Ness. However, the photo is now widely regarded as a hoax. In 2004, a photograph showing a footprint of an unborn child through the skin of its mother's abdomen started circulating on the internet and via email. Like many questionable photographs doing the rounds on the internet, the source of this photograph is difficult to ascertain and opinion is divided as to whether the photo is genuine or an example of digital manipulation.

Photographing Beauty Photographs in fashion and beauty magazines and advertisements are often highly manipulated in subtle ways. The 2006 Dove advertising campaign 'Evolution' provides an insight into the process of photographing and retouching models for beauty magazines and advertisements. The commercial is a seventy-five second time-lapse sequence, showing an ordinary woman's transformation into a billboard model using the techniques and procedures often employed to make women look 'perfect'. The advertisement was developed to encourage women to have a realistic and healthy body image and received considerable acclaim for its efforts, including winning the prestigious Cannes Lions Grand Prix award.

The Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Worldy Ideals http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/advice/a27611/photoshop-beauty-standards/

Full Body http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3280203671&feature=iv&src_vid=iYhCn0jf46U&v=17j5QzF3kqE

Your Task: Take a digital photograph of yourself (or select one that you already have) and use Adobe® Photoshop® or another photo enhancing program to manipulate the image in a way that alters the meaning of your photo. Compare your manipulated photo with the original and explain the changes you made to construct a different representation.