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Photography

ISBN : 978-1-80071-538-7 , eISBN : 978-1-80071-535-6

Publication date: 28 January 2022

Hogan, S. (2022), "Photography in Research (Summary of Photographic Research Methods: Photo-documentation, Photo-elicitation, Semiotic Analysis and Content Analysis)", Photography ( Arts for Health ), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 111-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-535-620221005

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20 photography as a research method

Gunilla Holm, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki

• Published: 02 September 2020
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This chapter discusses the development of photography as a research method in the social sciences. It describes the different types of photographs used, such as archival photographs and photographs taken by the researcher, and it focuses especially on photographs taken by participants. The uses of different approaches to obtain photographs and issues of interest concerning each approach are presented. The most common approaches to analyze photographs, such as content analysis, discourse analysis, and ethnographic analysis, are described. Interesting and challenging questions about the interpretation and presentation of photographs are raised, such as the impact of the researcher’s and participants’ habitus on the interpretation of photographs. Finally, ethical issues in research using photographs are considered, especially the meaning of informed consent, and confidentiality in photographic research is emphasized.

We encounter numerous photographs or visual pictures many times every day. They might range from photos on billboards to mug shots in a newspaper or photos of family members on a person’s work desk. We notice and process most of these images on a superficial level, but some impact us more. They affect us more profoundly, emotionally, or intellectually. Overall, our culture is becoming more and more visual, with images saturating our environment not only through the more traditional modes like television, newspapers, and magazines, but also through smartphones and social media, like Facebook. Despite living in a visual age (Gombrich, 1996 ) and the visual saturation of our culture, photographs are underutilized in social science research.

This chapter explores how photography has been used in social science research and what the current developments are. Commonly, we refer to visual methods and visual research, but here we can distinguish between two major kinds, namely, film/video research and research using photography. Within both fields are many ways of using videos and still photos. For example, with regard to video, the researcher can do the videotaping, but in recent research family members also act as co-researchers, videotaping another family member at home in the absence of the researcher (Holm, Sahlström, & Zilliacus, 2018 ; Sahlström, Pörn, & Slotte-Lüttge, 2008 ). Likewise, for photography, photos can be taken by the researcher or the research participants, or existing photographs can be used. Videos and photographs require different kinds of analyses and are reported in different ways. Although there is a considerable variety and complexity of work arising from the two methods, in this chapter I provide an in-depth discussion only of the use of photographs in social science research.

Even though some people thought that digital photography might bring about the end of photography, it simply changed photography and made it even more popular. For example, since 2010, when Instagram was launched, 40 billion photographs have been shared, and 95 million photographs are now shared every day ( https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics ). On Facebook, on average 350 million photographs are shared on a daily basis ( https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/47-facebook-statistics/ ). Furthermore, there are 3.5 billion photos shared every day on Snapchat, one of the most popular social messaging/ photo-sharing apps in the world ( https://www.statista.com/statistics/257128/number-of-photo-messages-sent-by-snapchat-users-every-day/ ). In addition, the estimates for the number of advertisements we see every day range between 4,000 and 20,000, but on average we are exposed to about 5,000 advertisements per day ( https://stopad.io/blog/ads-seen-daily ).

The emphasis on visual images and visual culture is also evident in the numerous textbooks on visual culture produced since 2010. A classic text in social sciences first published in 1999 is Evans and Hall’s Visual Culture: The Reader (Evans & Hall, 2010 ). The book theorizes photography and provides theoretical perspectives, as well as a gender and race perspective on photographs. The difference between a visual and a textual research culture is well expressed by Kress and van Leeuwen ( 2006 ) in their statement,

But even when we can express what seem to be the same meanings in either image—form or writing or speech, they will be realized differently. For instance, what is expressed in language through the choice between different word classes and clause structures, may, in visual communication, be expressed through the choice between different uses of colour or different compositional structures. And this will affect meaning. Expressing something verbally or visually makes a difference. (p. 2)

This difference is important in visual research. Different data and different results are obtained through different ways of doing research. The search for a better understanding has led to a rapid increase in the use of photography in social science research. Visual culture research includes many kinds of visuals, such as art pictures, graphs, and maps (for a comprehensive overview of different kinds of visuals, see Margolis & Pauwels, 2011 ; Reavey, 2011 ).

There has been a proliferation of books on general visual research methods, including those by Emmison, Smith, and Mayall ( 2012 ), Margolis and Pauwels ( 2011 ), Mitchell ( 2011 ), Reavey ( 2011 ), Spencer ( 2011 ), and Stanczak ( 2007 ), as well as methodology books such those by Harper ( 2012 ), Pink ( 2012a ), and Rose ( 2016 ). Likewise, much has been published on specific aspects of visual research, such as visual ethnography (Holm, 2018 ; Pink, 2013 ) and the analysis of visual data (Ball & Smith, 1992 ; Banks, 2007 ). We also see the increasing popularity of visual research methods in social sciences; in addition to journals like Visual Anthropology, Visual Anthropology Review, Visual Communication, Visual Studies , and Forum: Qualitative Social Research , many other journals now also publish photographs. In addition, the Society for Visual Anthropology and the International Visual Sociology Association provide avenues and conferences for presenting visual research.

Across the social sciences, photography as a research method has a long history in fields such as anthropology and sociology (see Eberle, 2018 ), but it is fairly new to psychology and education. However, in sociology, photography continues to hold a marginal position, mainly because it is considered too subjective. In anthropology, film has been more important. Harper ( 2004 ) described gathering information as a function for photography in the social sciences. Here, he used Bateson and Mead’s book Balinese Character, A Photographic Essay (1942) as an example; these researchers “used 759 photographs (selected from more than 25 000 taken during their fieldwork) to support and develop their ethnographic analysis” (Harper, 2004 , p. 232). In his discussion of photography in sociology, Harper described photography as being used mostly with the researcher as the photographer. A similar tendency can be seen in anthropology. Although earlier anthropologists and sociologists like Collier and Collier ( 1986 ), Prosser ( 1996 ), and Grady ( 1996 ) wanted to make photography fit into a “scientific” framework by providing exact methods for how to use photographs in research, contemporary ethnographers like Pink ( 2013 ) rejected this approach. Pink argued for developing the way photography is used in research based on the questions and context of the study. The method can develop in the field, and she does not see the text as superior to the photographs, but as complementary and working together. Drew and Guillemin ( 2014 ) pointed out that by prioritizing the text over the visual data and using the photographs as illustrations, researchers do not see the importance of their visual data. However, more and more research uses photographs as primary data. For example, Bowles ( 2017 ) described how the photographs taken by women porters in Ghana were used for differential situational photonarratives about their marginalized social position. Likewise, Brigham, Abidi, and Zhang’s ( 2018 ) study of immigrant and refugee women’s immigration experiences in Canada was focused on the “photo-stories” produced to gain a deeper understanding of their multifaceted lives.

The field of psychology has engaged with photographs throughout its history, starting with Darwin’s use of photographs in his work. “A historical analysis of the role of the visual within psychology can reveal its instrumental effects in providing the context for ‘the psychological’ to become observable and therefore, measurable and more ‘scientific’ ” (Reavey, 2011 , p. 2). As Reavey ( 2011 ) pointed out in her book, Visual Methods in Psychology , qualitative research in psychology is a marginal field. The use of visual methods is thus at the margins of a marginal field of study. Contributing to this marginality, according to Reavey, is the notion that photography as a method has been considered more appropriate for “use with children and those deemed less ‘able’ to communicate thoughts and feelings.… In this sense, the ‘visual’ has traditionally been given the status of a naïve or more simplistic form of communication” (p. xxvii). Overall, qualitative research in psychology has focused on language- and text-based materials. In experimental psychology, photos are sometimes used as material for memorization or evaluation tasks (Mandal, Bryden, & Bulman-Fleming, 1996 ; Mavica & Barenholtz, 2012 ). In psychology related to health, education, and similar fields, there is some research using photography as a method (e.g., Brazg, Bekemeier, Spigner, & Huebner, 2011 ; Clements, 2012 ) and especially using photovoice in mental health research (e.g., Becker, Reiser, Lambert, & Covello, 2014 ; Sibeoni et al., 2017 ), but a search of psychology databases yields very few studies using photography.

In education, photos have been used in archival research related to, for example, school and space (Grosvenor, Lawn, Nóvoa, Rousmaniere, & Smaller, 2004 ) and schooling and the marginalized (Devlieger, Grosvenor, Simon, Van Hove, & Vanobbergen, 2008 ; Grosvenor, 2007a , 2007b ). Photography has also been used with preschool children to obtain an understanding of the children’s perceptions of their own surroundings and communities (Clark & Moss, 2001 ; Einarsdottir, 2005 ; Serriere, 2010 ). The photographs are helpful especially if the children’s language is not yet well developed (Clark, 2004 ; Prosser & Burke, 2008 ). Joanou ( 2009 ) pointed out that there are increased ethical considerations when working with marginalized groups of children, using as an example her study on children living and working on the streets in Lima.

The use of photography in research with children is the fastest growing application of its kind. Most of this research is done in relation to the school setting and preparation for school (Hilppö, Lipponen, Kumpulainen, & Rajala, 2017 ; Miller, 2016 ), but research is also done on children’s perspectives on, for example, their outdoor environment (Clark, 2007 ; White, 2015 ) and their city (Ho, Rochelle, & Yuen, 2011 ). Others discuss more generally the topic of using photography with children ranging from 2 years old to teenagers and children’s photographic behavior (Sharples, Davison, Thomas, & Rudman, 2003 ; Stephenson, 2009 ; Warming, 2011 ).

In this chapter, I discuss photography as a research method, review the types of photographs used in research (e.g., archival photographs, photographs taken by the researcher), and focus especially on photographs taken by participants. The uses of different approaches to obtain photographs and issues of interest concerning each approach will be presented. The most common approaches used to analyze photographs are briefly described, and interesting and challenging questions about the interpretation and presentation of photographs are raised. Finally, ethical issues in research using photographs are considered.

Photography as a Research Method in Qualitative Research

In this chapter, a distinction is made between images and photographs. As stated earlier with regard to visual culture, images can also include such things as artwork, cartoons, drawings, and maps. In research studies, children are often asked to draw pictures, on which interviews are then based (Ganesh, 2011 ). Drawings in combination with texts focused on schooling were also the focus of Holm’s ( 1994 ) analysis of the teen magazine Seventeen (1966–1989). In this study, the text and drawings placing an emphasis on how girls should behave and look made a strong counternarrative with regard to the importance of education for girls. The emphasis was on conforming to norms, on being stylish and pleasing, and on not challenging or upsetting male students. Skorapa ( 1994 ) analyzed how cartoons about schooling can either challenge or perpetuate stereotypes and the dominant ideology of schooling. Cartoons are not only amusing, but also often deal with cultural tensions, changes, and conflicts (Provenzo & Beonde, 1994 ).

In 1997, Jipson and Paley ( 1997b ) published an unusual book called Daredevil Research: Re-creating Analytic Practice , in which several of the chapters on postmodern research challenge our notions of how research should be reported. Many of the chapters incorporate or build on visual images. In Paley’s ( 1997 ) chapter “Neither Literal nor Conceptual,” the text blends with abstract black-and-white images. In another chapter by Jipson and Paley ( 1997c ), text blocks are imposed in the middle of the pages, which, in turn, are a map of the space. In yet another chapter, the text itself constitutes an image by being written in one to four interweaving curving columns (Jipson & Wilson, 1997 ). Although we rarely see this kind of experimenting with the use of visual images, these examples and other more arts-based visual research (see, e.g., Jipson & Paley, 1997a ; Knowles & Cole, 2008 ; Leavy, 2018 ) provide a sense of the endless possibilities of using images. Furthermore, photography itself provides many options; the kinds and uses of photographs are numerous. Because of the myriad of possibilities and the increasingly common use of photography, this chapter is limited to the use of photography in social science research.

One of the difficulties in using photography as a research method is the ambiguity that exists in photographs. Although photographs traditionally were thought of as portraying reality—the simple truth—this is no longer the case among researchers, even though many viewers still consider photographs as showing the truth. We acknowledge that photographs are constructed; they are made. Harper ( 2004 ) argued that this construction and subjectivity can be seen very clearly in photographs by early British anthropologists because they are all taken from the colonizers’ perspective. Interestingly, Chaplin ( 1996 ) argued that photographs are both taken and made, as opposed to just made or constructed. They are taken in the sense that they give researchers the information and details they need, more like a record or a document, but the researcher also makes decisions on what to photograph and how to set up and process the photograph.

The photographer always has a reason for taking the photograph. There is an intention behind the photograph. The photographer wants to see something specific or wants to send us a “message.” If the photographer is also a participant in the research, then the intended communication is connected to the researcher’s intentions as well. The researcher also influences the process by selecting a particular photo to be viewed by others. Consequently, there is also the intended audience: For whom is the photo taken? And, finally, there are the individual viewers. Photographers and researchers have their aims and intentions, but they cannot influence or control how the viewer interprets the photo. Sometimes the intended audience is only the researcher, and most of the photos will be seen and analyzed only by the researcher. These photographs are taken exclusively for the research and the researcher.

Whatever the case, without an accompanying text, many photographs can carry multiple meanings for the viewer (Evans & Hall, 2010 ; see also Grosvenor & Hall, 2012 ). The possibility of multiple meanings and the ambiguity attached to photographs has made many, especially positivist, researchers uncomfortable with using or accepting photographs in books and articles. A good example of this is the disappearance of photos from the American Journal of Sociology under the direction of positivist editor Albion Small, even though the journal earlier had published numerous articles with photographs (Stasz, 1979 ).

Photographs as Illustrations or for Documentary Purposes

Photography can be considered a data collection method, but not all photographs are used as data to be analyzed. The most common uses for photographs in social science research have been as illustrations and documentation. Documentary photography has a long history in fields like anthropology and sociology (see Eberle, 2018 ; and Harper, 2012 ), as discussed earlier, but also in fields like history, where archival photographs are often used. In cultural studies, a good example of historical analysis of documentary photographs is Steet’s ( 2000 ) study of the construction of the Arab world in the magazine National Geographic . Steet analyzed 100 years of photographs in the magazine, visually (and textually) constructing men and women as well as patriarchy and orientalism in the Arab world. In contrast to Steet’s extensive material, Magno and Kirk ( 2008 ) analyzed only three photographs when examining how development agencies use photos of girls to promote their agencies’ work concerning the education of girls. However, they used an elaborate analysis template with six categories: surface meaning, narrative, intended meaning, ideological meaning, oppositional reading, and coherency (coherency meaning, in this case, whether the photographs and the text argued for the same thing). Banks ( 2007 ) explained the difference between using photographs as illustrations and using them as anthropological visual research in that photographs as illustrations “are not subject to any particular analysis in the written text, nor does the author claim to have gained any particular insights as a result of taking or viewing the images” (p. 11).

Wang ( 1999 ) described a nontraditional approach to documentary photography as underpinning the photovoice method. She sees photovoice as theoretically grounded in critical consciousness and feminist theory and as an effort by “community photographers and participatory educators to challenge assumptions about representation and documentary authorship” (p. 185). Photovoice is an approach to using photography as a method for collecting data that is merged with social activism and political change, particularly with community involvement. The main goals of photovoice are, according to Wang, Cash, and Powers ( 2000 ),

(a) to enable people to record and reflect their community’s strengths and concerns, (b) to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about important community issues through large and small group discussion of photographs, and (c) to reach policy makers and people who can be mobilized for change. (p. 82)

Wang used this approach mostly for health-related research. Other researchers, like Duits ( 2010 ), claimed to use photovoice but without the community improvement goal; these kind of studies more closely resemble participatory photography research.

Archival Photos

Many archival photos were originally taken for documentary or illustrative purposes. The most frequent use of archival photos is in some form of historical research. Digital archives are becoming common, making it easier to search for particular kinds of photos. However, it is also very demanding to work with thousands of photos on a particular topic (Park, Mitchell, & de Lange, 2007 ). Photos are commonly of interest in newspaper or magazine research because they often are perceived as documenting or illustrating “objective” reality or providing evidence of historical events. For example, Martins ( 2009 ) included a couple of photographs in her study of deaf pupils in a boarding school, illustrating and providing “proof” of the kinds of exercises the pupils had to do. A similar use of photos can be seen in Amsing and de Beer’s ( 2009 ) article on the intelligence testing of children with mental disabilities. Photos of the test and a testing situation show the reader “how things were done” in the testing of these children. However, in contemporary historical research, photos are critically examined with regard to how they construct an argument in interaction with the text in a particular context. Grosvenor and Hall ( 2012 ) emphasized the importance of examining archival photos in relation to the text when creating meaning because “words when used with images can anchor meanings; change the words and the original meaning can be displaced, even though the image that it captures remain the same” (p. 26). A common problem with archival photos is that they are anonymous, in the sense that nothing is known about them: neither the photographer’s intentions nor the context in which they are taken (Martin & Martin, 2004 ). Hence, the use of these kinds of photos for research is limited.

Photo albums are also a form of private or family archives. Because family albums and photos are very familiar to us as researchers, it is important to be aware of one’s own notions and constructions of families, of what one sees as a “normal family.” A reflexive approach is necessary so that the researcher does not impose his or her own views of families on the interpretation of albums. These kind of albums also bring forth an ethical issue, since photos often contain images of family members and other people who have not given permission for their photos to be part of a research project (Allnutt, Mitchell, & Stuart, 2007 ).

Collier and Collier ( 1986 , p.10) described documentary photographs as “precise records of material reality.” Photographs document the world for further analysis at a later stage. However, Collier and Collier argued that many anthropologists have used photographs as illustrations but not as documentary data for research. Most anthropology and sociology researchers have themselves been photographers, and often these photographs have been taken as illustrations or for documentary purposes.

Photographs Taken by Researchers

Traditionally, photographic surveys (see Collier & Collier, 1986 ) of, for example, visual aspects of workplaces or institutions were used as a way to systematically document and produce material to analyze so that the researcher could draw conclusions about working conditions, types of work, and the like. As Pink ( 2012 ) pointed out, the photos taken in these kinds of surveys do not say anything about whether the objects or physical surroundings are meaningful to participants or what meaning they hold for participants. In this case, the researchers decide what they find interesting or potentially important enough to photograph. Photographs taken by researchers can also be used in photo-elicitation interviews, but still, it is the researcher who sets the tone for what is important to discuss. It becomes the researcher’s interpretation of “reality” that is considered important and analyzed. In a well-known context, the researcher can provide both descriptive meaning and stories about each object (see Riggins, 1994 ), and this can make researcher-produced photographs very valuable for understanding processes. For example, Mitchell and Allnutt ( 2008 ) described how it is possible in photo documentary research to follow “social transitions or change by identifying shifts in material objects, dress, and so on” (p. 267). Rieger ( 2011 ) called the study of social change rephotography and suggested it for studying social change with regard to places, participants, processes, or activities. Hence, in this way, detailed photographic surveys produce data to be analyzed rather than photographs for documentary and illustrative purposes.

There is no agreement on what the best approach is for researchers to take photos in the research setting. Some argue that by taking photographs immediately, at the beginning of the study when entering the scene, the camera can function as an opening device to create contact with the participants. Others argue that it is necessary for participants to get to know the researcher first, so they can feel comfortable with the camera and with being photographed.

Photographs Taken by Participants

Having participants take photographs, also called participatory photography , is the most frequently used photography method in the social sciences since 2010. It is also commonly used in visual ethnographies, especially with young people (Holm, 2018 ). Photographs taken by the participants for the purpose of, for example, photo-elicitation interviews encourage the participants to take a more active role in the research by indicating what is meaningful for them to discuss in the interview. It also gives participants more control over the interview (Clark-Ibáñez, 2004 ; Majumdar, 2011 ). Some researchers prefer to call this type of photography, in which participants construct and take the photos, photo production (Majumdar, 2011 ; Reavey, 2011 ). Radley ( 2011 ) pointed out that photos produced by participants also allow for interviewing about the circumstances of the production, which will give a more comprehensive insight into the participants’ intentions. However, even if the participants produce the photographs, the researcher’s presence is evident because the participants take the photos for the purpose of the research. In this chapter, I am not making a distinction between photographic interviews and photo-elicitation interviews. Most researchers less familiar with participatory photography tend to use the term photo-elicitation interviews as covering all kinds of participatory photography. The focus here is instead on the issues surfacing in participatory photography.

Clear instructions about the purpose of the research and the photographs must be given to participating photographers. Even so, participants often deviate from the instructions. In a study in England on young people’s constructions of self and the connection to consumer goods, participants were supposed to photograph goods they considered important. Instead, they all photographed mostly their friends. Hence, the participants redefined their task (Croghan, Griffin, Hunter, & Phoenix, 2008 ). Commonly, participants are asked to take photos during the study, but frequently they contribute photos that were taken previously, but which they think exemplify the topic. For example, in a study of language minority ninth graders’ perceptions of their identifications and belonging to the Swedish language minority group in Finland, we (Holm, Londen, & Mansikka, 2014 ) found this to be common. Because the study was done in the fall, the students found it difficult to photograph some things they thought were important for their identification. Therefore, they brought in many photos of, for example, flowers and parties taken in the summer that they believed exemplified being part of the language minority group (Figures 20.1 and 20.2 ).

The flowers portray the beautiful Swedish language.

Crayfish is something we eat with our friends. We always do it with Swedish-speaking Finns.

Likewise, participants most often are asked to be the photographers themselves, but it is also common for participants to ask others to take photos of them. In a study with doctoral students about what it means to be a doctoral student, several students asked others to photograph them instead or used previously taken photos in which they themselves were included (Holm, 2008a ). The photo in Figure 20.3 was taken by a friend of a student who is a participating doctoral student.

Photo of a doctoral student taken by a friend.

The time of the year influences the study in other ways as well. Especially in countries with dark, gloomy winter weather, wintertime photo projects will produce more indoor photos and dark, gray outdoor photos. In a study on elementary students’ perceptions of what community means to them and what their community consists of, the children took many outdoor photos of friends, their homes, and family cars, but the days when they happened to have a camera were overcast winter days. The indoor photos of their classrooms, schoolmates, and teachers are also quite gloomy, despite the smiling faces. Hence, looked at out of context, there is a somewhat downcast mood over the photos even though the neighborhood is very lush and green, with a vibrant street and porch life in the summer. Consequently, photos taken in summertime would have looked much more upbeat and cheery (Figures 20.4 and 20.5 ).

The time of year affects how photographs may look; this classroom photo was taken during the wintertime, which gives it a gloomy look.

Outdoor wintertime scenes may hide the true nature of an environment.

The importance of clearly communicating to the participants in multiple ways the purpose of the research and the participants’ task cannot be overemphasized. The study of students’ perceptions of the meaning of community and their own community was originally a comparative study between a school in the United States and a school in Finland. The students in Finland were Finnish speakers attending an English-language school, and the researcher was American. The students understood that their task was to photograph their school community instead of their community in general, which resulted in photographs mostly of their friends at school.

A weak common verbal language can also be overcome if participants express themselves through photographs. Veintie and Holm ( 2010 ) studied how indigenous teacher education students from three different tribes thought of knowledge and learning in an intercultural bilingual teacher education institute in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Spanish was the common language, but it was also the second or third language for everyone. To ease the limitations for the students to express indigenous thinking about these concepts in Spanish, the students took photographs that were then used as the basis for interviews. As researchers, we assumed that many photos about learning and knowledge would be related to schools and the teacher education institute because they were very prominent in the small community. Instead, the photographs portraying learning always involved people and actions and were mostly taken in the community (see Figure 20.6 ). In interviews, students also explained that learning is not given, but that learners are given the opportunities to observe and practice what is to be learned. Students also expressed knowledge as lived knowledge. Therefore, many students could not participate in the study because their families and homes were too far away to be photographed. Knowledge was grounded in their communities and their ancestors. The school-based photographs were only a small part of the pictures showing learning and knowledge. Instead, learning and knowledge were based on social interaction. Images of books, newspapers, Internet, and television were completely absent because they held no meaning and were not present in the students’ lives. These aspects of knowing and learning would have most likely not emerged if the students would have only been interviewed.

An Ecuadorian student’s photo of an object that represents community knowledge and learning.

Ethical Issues in Participatory Photography

Access to research sites for qualitative and especially ethnographic research can be difficult. Many institutional review boards and sites like workplaces, schools, and organizations are cautious about providing access, particularly to vulnerable populations like children and the ill. The very openness of the qualitative, ethnographic design may raise concerns. It is impossible to know in advance exactly what questions will be asked or what situations will be observed. Likewise, the analysis may be perceived as being too open and imprecise. These issues are often amplified with regard to including photography as a research method (see, e.g., Miller, 2015 ). The cautiousness is justified because the risks are higher when participants can be identified. There is no confidentiality if a photograph includes a person’s face. If the researcher is also the photographer, there is more control over what will be photographed, and the researcher can use his or her ethical judgment in each situation and refrain from taking photographs that could potentially harm or compromise participants or the research site. Conversely, if the participants are the photographers, very clear instructions can be given about what should be photographed, but there is no guarantee that participant photographers will keep to the topic or particular settings. It then becomes the responsibility of the researcher to exclude potentially harmful or compromising photographs from being published or publicly presented.

Getting official permission and access is a first step, but securing informed consent from participants or the people who participants include in their photographs can be complicated. It is difficult to know if participants fully understand how their own photographs or the photographs of others might be used later. The concept of publishing photographs in a book is easier to grasp, but the lack of control over photos appearing on websites or the fact that they might be shown and discussed in conferences across the world is more complicated. Institutional review boards seem to perceive the risks for taking advantage of children as lower if the children themselves take the pictures (Holm, 2008b ), which means that it is somewhat easier to receive institutional review board approval for these kinds of studies, even though institutional review boards tend to be concerned about children taking potentially risky photographs (Kia-Keating, Santacrose, & Liu, 2017 ). However, children taking photographs requires informed consent from guardians, beyond the informed assent of the children themselves. Involving children means more difficulties in gathering guardians’ consent and children’s assent forms. In most studies, some guardians will not give their consent although their children want to participate; conversely, some guardians will give their consent but their children will not want to participate. One way to avoid having to exclude children who want to participate is to make the photography assignment part of a school or organization project in which all children participate, but only the children who receive their guardian’s permission participate in the research.

Guardians are a form of gatekeepers; more unpredictable gatekeepers include institutions such as schools, day-care facilities, hospitals, and businesses or organizations. For example, in an ethnographic study of a school for pregnant and parenting teenage girls, the girls were going to photograph their lives as pregnant and/or parenting teenagers. However, after the study was set up, the school principal decided that the girls could not take photos of any males or of their children in diapers or taking baths. This restricted the girls so much that, in the end, they mostly took photos of each other posing at school. The restrictions were understandable, because there were several fights in school about the fathers of the babies (e.g., one man had fathered three children with three different girls) or the girls’ boyfriends, who sometimes switched from one girl to another. Likewise, the restriction about not taking nude pictures of babies was understandable because the principal wanted to protect the babies from potential abuse, especially in light of the fact that several girls had themselves been abused in different ways. However, the restrictions were imposed on the girls without an explanation of why the rules had suddenly changed. These kinds of rules imposed from above reinforced the general management and control attitude of the school with regard to the girls’ schooling (Holm, 1995 ).

Certain studies are difficult to do without the participants acting as co-researchers/photographers. Janhonen-Abruquah ( 2010 ) studied the daily transnational lives of immigrant women. The women kept photographic diaries of their everyday mundane activities, revealing the importance of cross-border communication between women in extended families living in different parts of the world. The women decided what and who they photographed. Because of the often fairly private family situations portrayed, Janhonen-Abruquah decided to blur the faces in the photographs to protect the participants’ identities (Figure 20.7 ). This approach allowed photos of people to be used without obtaining permission from everyone included, which would have been difficult for the women to do. However, if someone familiar with the women reads the study, it might be possible for that individual to recognize people in the photos based on surroundings or other features. Although this is a feasible way to deal with a difficult situation, it also objectifies the people in the photographs (Wiles et al., 2008 ) and makes them more remote and less interesting. Allen ( 2015 ) argued that blurring can be de-empowering and de-identifying as well as objectifying the person in the photograph.

Researcher (right) discussing with a research participant (left). Reprinted with permission from Janhonen-Abruquah, H. ( 2010 ). Gone with the Wind?: Immigrant Women and Transnational Everyday Life in Finland . University of Helsinki. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-10-6136-3

Conversely, the alternative is to not use photos, but merely describe them. In Newman, Woodcock, and Dunham’s ( 2006 ) study on bullying, it was also essential to blur or box out faces to protect children, but the photographs still give a sense of the bullying, which gives additional information and understanding compared to a mere written description.

A similar situation emerged in the study of elementary school students’ sense of community. The students had to take their own photos because much of their community was located at home, centered around their families, pets, toys, and bedrooms—places not accessible to the researcher. Young children also tend to focus on their immediate family and home environments because they are less mobile (Fassetta, 2016 ). Therefore, protecting the children’s and their families’ confidentiality often makes it difficult to publish young children’s photographs.

Preparations for Participatory Ethnography

Even though many people have some experience with cameras and photography, it is useful to have a session before the project to talk about the basics of photography. Even taking photographs for a research purpose requires some planning. For example, it might be useful to talk about how light and colors influence how a photograph is perceived (see Holm, 2008a ). Likewise, it is useful to talk about literal and metaphorical photos (Elliot, Reid, & Baumfield, 2017 ). How does one take photographs of abstract or missing things? Can the photographers manipulate their photos, now that manipulation is fairly easy to do if they have access to computers? Can the photographers bring an unlimited number of photographs, or do they have to pick a certain number of the most important ones? How will the participants deliver their photos to the researcher?

The issue of manipulation is no more important when using photography as a data collection method than in using other methods in qualitative research. Unethical researchers can always manipulate data. Interview and observation sections can be left out as easily as photographs can be left unanalyzed. However, all manipulation is not the same. If the participants manipulate/edit their own photographs, that could be considered part of the data. Unedited and edited photographs could, for example, be compared to study differences between the current and desired situations. The difference between posing for a photo, where clothing, pose, expression, and surroundings are arranged, and editing a photograph can be marginal. They are both ways of arranging the photo to convey an intended message. A researcher manipulating photos for the purpose of misrepresentation is a very different issue, however. With digital photography, the total number of photos can become unmanageable. In a study in four countries on consumer behaviors of poor people, the group of researchers took 10,400 photos but analyzed only 612. In these kinds of cases, the question arises of why exactly these 612 photos were selected for analysis (Lindeman et al., 2010 ). A detailed description of the elimination process would help dispel thoughts of manipulation resulting from the selection of certain photos.

If a group of people are to take photographs, a brainstorming session is useful at the beginning of the project in which participants generate ideas about what kinds of things might be possible to photograph. This session is not intended to tell participants what to photograph, but rather to encourage them to explore as a group possibilities for constructing and producing photos related to the research theme (Holm et al., 2014 ). In the study on doctoral students’ perceptions of their studies mentioned earlier, we did not have a brainstorming session. When students as a group viewed everyone’s photos, there was real disappointment that some students had not thought about photographing certain themes they considered very important. They also discovered that, as a group, they had forgotten certain themes altogether, such as the importance of fellow doctoral students, seminars, and professors. In other words, they were so overwhelmed by life outside the university that, in most cases, they forgot to photograph the university scene (Holm, 2008a ).

Photography works well as a method for research and advocacy using the kind of concrete portrayal/documentation of problems used in photovoice. Many researchers argue that young people are especially comfortable with and knowledgeable about photography. Many also argue that it is easier for young people and children to photograph and then discuss difficult and complicated issues. Especially when dealing with less verbal students or students with another first language, photography might be a good method (Cremin, Mason, & Busher, 2011 ; Lodge, 2009 ; Sensoy, 2011 ; Wilson et al., 2007 ).

Habitus and Metaphorical Photographs

Bourdieu ( 1990a , 1990b ) and Sweetman ( 2009 ) argued that photography can be used for exploring abstract and difficult-to-grasp concepts like habitus. Following their claims that photography is a possible way to explore habitus, we (Holm et al., 2014 ) set out to study the habitus of Swedish language minority–speaking teenagers in Finland. How do these teenagers see themselves as being a member of a language minority group, and how do they perceive the entire group? The photos they took can be divided into two categories. One category included literal depictions of Swedish-speaking theaters, newspapers, street signs, and the like (Figure 20.8 ).

A literal photograph. One can understand both languages; street signs are in both Finnish and Swedish.

The other category included metaphorical photos (see also Elliot et al., 2017 ) showing, for example, being a minority group member, community, togetherness, feeling threatened, and being worried about the future of the language group (Figures 20.9 – 20.11 ).

A metaphorical photograph showing the proportion of Swedes to Finns in Finland.

A metaphorical photograph; Finland-Swedes are melting away slowly in Finland.

Finland-Swedes are like trees in a storm. Often we just bend, but if it is storming too hard we will break.

Interestingly, in interviews, students had difficulty explaining what it means to belong to a language minority group. In the interviews, students focused mostly on the language, whereas with the photos, they brought forth a variety of aspects. In the photos, the language was just one aspect among many. The students also tended to use photographs of nature for their metaphorical visual statements. They often said in interviews that language minority members stick together and that they have a sense of belonging. In the photos, this was expressed through nature, as in Figures 20.12 and 20.13 .

I think this little path is like the Finland-Swedes, all the rest around are the others in Finland.

A lone swan in the big sea like a Finland-Swede.

The students photographed more deep-seated thoughts about the group’s future and stereotypes about the group, as well as their attachment to nature and the archipelago where many of their families originated. Likewise, Croghan et al. ( 2008 ) found that young people took photographs of sensitive issues related to their identity positions such as religion and race, issues that were not brought forth in interviews.

This kind of literal and metaphorical division can also be seen in photos taken by Palestinian children and youth living in refugee camps in Lebanon (Mikander, 2010 ). They took photos to show what their lives are like. In this case, too, the children and the researcher had no common language. Here, too, there were many photos portraying the children’s thinking, habits, and ways of being. An example of a literal photo is one of a living room wall (Figure 20.14 ). The viewer’s eye is drawn to the picture of Yasser Arafat, but the child took the photo to show the hole in the wall. She wanted to show how they continue to live without permanent wiring, as if their housing was temporary.

A Palestinian child’s photograph of a wall in her home; although the viewer’s eye is drawn to the picture of Yasser Arafat, the child’s focus is the hole in the wall.

In Palestine, young people’s ways of thinking about their future can best be told through a series of photographs of a burning cigarette (Figure 20.15 ). They begin with full lives, with seemingly a lot of possibilities and hope. Their lives shrink with age, and in a metaphorical way their development stops when they finish school because they do not have opportunities for further education. Dreams about future families are also hampered by the severe housing shortage. Hence, their life prospects are very limited.

The life opportunities of a youth in Palestine are metaphorically depicted as a burning cigarette.

Other abstract aspects of life, like absence, seem to be more difficult to photograph. In a study in which doctoral students photographed their lives as doctoral students, four photos of four students’ families were similar, but depicted different things. One photo was of a Chinese wedding; the second depicted a Korean mother, father, and child; the third showed a Ugandan mother with four children; and the fourth was of an American father with two children. In all photos, the people looked happy. Without accompanying text, it was impossible to know how different the intended messages were. The American photo indicated that, for this doctoral student, her husband and children were her first priority, even if the doctoral studies required much of her time. However, all the other photos indicated that the international students were studying alone in the United States and were missing their families, who had remained in their home countries. The question for them had been, “How do you photograph the absence of someone?” Many of the issues, like ethical questions and habitus, brought up here in relation to participatory photography are also important for other kinds of photography in the social sciences. However, they are often brought to the forefront in participatory photography because the participants take the photographs.

Analysis and Interpretation

No one “best” specific method exists for analyzing or interpreting photographs. In social science studies, most researchers use the same methods for photographs as for text. Early books on visual research methods (see, e.g., Collier & Collier, 1986 ) tended to give fairly precise instructions on how to organize, categorize, and compare photos to be able to conduct a good analysis. All researchers must organize and group their photographs in some way, especially when we talk about hundreds and thousands of digital photos. However, researchers develop their own styles, often in connection with how they analyze their textual data. Many researchers use software programs to organize photos; others group them by hand. However, categorizing or grouping photos is just a beginning, as with textual data. According to Harper ( 2003 ), taking and analyzing photographs is aided by theory, just as when collecting and analyzing any other kind of material. He also sees photographs as helping to build theory by forcing us to look at specific things in the field or to confirm theory. Harper ( 2003 , p. 195) states “Indeed, the power of the photo lies in its ability to unlock the subjectivity of those who see the image differently from the researcher.” Theory, the researcher’s own and the participants’ previous knowledge and experiences, previous research, and the participants’ descriptions of the photographs all contribute to an understanding of the photographs.

How the analysis of photographs is done is not discussed much, if at all, in most research reports and visual research books, even though Ball and Smith wrote about analyzing visual data in 1992. However, literature does exist on various kinds of content analysis, semiotic analyses, and interpretive and other methods (see, e.g., Margolis & Pawels, 2011 ; Rose, 2016 ). As Spencer ( 2011 ) pointed out, how a research study is designed, how data are collected, and how results are understood depend on the underlying paradigm. Therefore, some researchers simply state that a study was analyzed based on a particular paradigm.

Content Analysis

A mostly quantitative content analysis is used for large numbers of photographs because it yields basic information about the frequencies of certain types of photos, on the basis of which various comparisons can be made. Rose ( 2016 ) presented detailed steps to be followed to conduct a reliable content analysis. She emphasized a careful selection of images and rigorous coding. However, Rose cautioned that a high frequency count does not mean that the occurrence is important. In addition, frequencies do not indicate how strongly a photo exemplifies a category or anything about the mood of photos. The intentions of the photographer are also excluded from content analysis. Even though the analysis is quantitative, there is also a qualitative element in the interpretation of the frequencies and the presentation of the results.

Margolis and Rowe ( 2011 ) described their use of a grounded theory approach to content analysis, which differs substantially from the approach discussed by Rose ( 2016 ). In Margolis and Rowe’s approach, the coding is theoretically based, which also allows them to pay attention to absent categories. Their categories overlapped, as opposed to the usual requirement of mutual exclusivity, and they also expanded the number of categories and merged categories during the analysis.

Discourse Analysis

In popular culture studies, as well as in other social science research, various forms of discourse analyses are used in the analysis of photographs in relation to text. There is no specific visual discourse analysis, but Spencer analyzed specific images as examples of the use of discourse analysis. Rose ( 2016 ) made a distinction between discourse analysis I and discourse analysis II, describing discourse analysis I as paying “rather more attention to the notion of discourse as articulated through various kinds of visual images and verbal texts than it does to the practices entailed by specific discourses” (p. 192). She described discourse analysis II as working “with similar sorts of material, but … much more concerned with their production by, and their reiteration of, particular institutions and their practices, and their production of particular human subjects” (p. 220). Rose presented highly detailed and in-depth descriptions, with examples of how to conduct these kinds of discourse analyses. However, it can be useful to remember that there are many ways of doing discourse analysis (e.g., see Laclau & Mouffe, 1985 ).

Ethnographic Analysis

Many researchers use some kind of interpretivist analysis without being specific about it. Pink ( 2012b ) summarized the ethnographic approach very well:

The academic meanings that ethnographers give to visual images are also arbitrary and are constructed in relation to particular methodological and theoretical agendas. Individual researchers classify and give meanings to ethnographic images in relation to the academic culture or discipline with which they identify their work. Moreover, ethnographers are themselves subjective readers of ethnographic images and their personal experiences and aspirations also inform the meanings they invest in photographs and videos. A reflexive approach to classifying, analyzing and interpreting visual research materials recognizes both the constructedness of social science categories and the politics of researchers’ personal and academic agendas. (p. 117)

Hence, an ethnographic approach entails using one’s already established or newly developed ways of organizing data. This organization and categorizing or beginning analysis might be quite intuitive and begin in the field. In many cases, the field and academic work intersect on a weekly basis, which influences how the researcher sees the data. In the academic setting, photographs are interpreted more closely from particular paradigms and theoretical frameworks and thus receive different meanings than they would in the field. In this kind of ethnographic approach, text and photographs are equally important and interact and inform the understanding of each other, as well as the relations between the two. The categorization in this approach differs from that of earlier approaches (see Collier & Collier, 1986 ) in that photos might be grouped in several ways. For example, they could be grouped according to the content, symbolic meaning, or origins of the photographers. The sequential order in which the photographs are taken is not necessarily important for the analysis because the photographers’ or participants’ thinking might not be linear. Rather, the way participants think about the way the photographs connect to themselves and their worlds might be more important.

At times, text and photographs might produce different but connected stories. Harper ( 2004 ) described, with regard to Agee and Evan’s ( 1941 ) work on sharecroppers during the Depression, how the text and photos are juxtaposed and where “neither form repeats or replaces each other. Rather they develop in tandem” (p. 232). In my research on the schooling of teenage mothers, the photos, on the one hand, told the story of happy, playful girls posing alone or with other girls, but always without children. This was the story they wanted to show outsiders. The text, on the other hand, told the story of the girls’ more private thoughts about their unhappy childhoods of abuse and abandonment, as well as their worries about being young mothers, often without any support network. Together, the two stories give a much fuller view of the girls than either one does separately (Holm, 1995 ).

Issues in Interpretation

The context of the production of the photos can be important. In our study of minority-language teenagers’ perceptions of their own identifications, the geographical region in which they lived and produced their photos was closely tied to their identifications. Likewise, the larger societal context with regard to the general standing of the language minority group influenced how worried the teenagers were about the future of the entire group. The academic context in which the photos are interpreted produces interpretations different from the interpretations produced in the field.

The interpretation of the photos will always vary somewhat from person to person depending on previous experience. An interesting question concerns how much the researcher needs to know about and understand the context in which the photo is taken. How much of the historical context do we need to understand to interpret archival photos? On one level, we can make some sense of photos of people living in difficult circumstances (as, for instance, during the Depression), but without the knowledge of this historical context, our interpretation will be superficial. Likewise, how much of the context do we need to know and understand of the participants who took the photographs?

As researchers, we found in our study of the Swedish-speaking students’ photographs (see the earlier description of the study; Holm et al., 2014 ) that having a habitus similar to that of the participating photographers facilitated understanding of their photographs. Metaphorical photographs were especially easier to interpret. For example, photographs of the feeling of being harassed or that the future is somewhat insecure for the minority group immediately rang a bell for us. We had all had that feeling or experience at one point, although in different settings. Figure 20.16 shows the sun disappearing like the Swedish language is doing, according to the student; this feeling of doom is familiar to all Finland-Swedes, like the participants and the researchers in this case, who live in areas where the Finnish language is dominant. Without the text (or without an interview about the photos), this photo would simply be a photo of a beautiful sunset. Outsiders would get some sense of the situation from the text, but for the researchers living in the same societal context, the photo immediately brings to mind the larger debates about abolishing compulsory Swedish-language instruction from schools, hostile comments by members of an anti-Swedish (and anti-immigration) party, personal comments that Swedish speakers should emigrate to Sweden, and the like. Hence, knowing the societal context helps the researchers to more fully understand the deep thinking of the student taking the photo.

Swedish is disappearing from Finland (photo taken by Eva, a student participant).

In analyzing and interpreting photographs taken by participants, it is important to pay attention to photographs not taken as well, since they can be important (Drew & Guillemin, 2014 ). They can be missing because it is too difficult or painful to find ways of showing one’s thoughts, as Frith ( 2011 ) found in her study of women in chemotherapy who did not have enough energy to take photographs when they were feeling most ill. Other issues might be too intimate or sensitive. Missing photos can also be a result of restrictions placed on the participating photographers by gatekeepers (Holm, 1997 ).

There are numerous books about different kinds of analyses of photographs and visual data in general. However, most researchers do not recount in their articles what kind of analysis has been used. In the methods section of articles, researchers discuss what kinds of data were collected and how they were collected, but few proceed to discuss what was done with the data after collection. Most indicate that the data were “analyzed.” Some use phrases such as photographs “can be read,” “in line with the social constructionist paradigm,” “we looked for salient patterns/images/issues,” and the like. The reason for this lack of discussion about the actual analysis might be that there is not one specific approach and that the field is relatively new for many researchers. Many researchers treat photos in the same way as verbal texts, but often do not provide even basic information about the method used. Some researchers mention that photographs were categorized, but usually there is nothing more explicitly said about the analysis or interpretation. However, more recently some researchers have provided closer accounts of the process of analysis and interpretation (e.g., Holm, 2018 ; Velasco, Beckmans, O’Driscoll, & Loots, 2014 ).

Presentation of Research Using Photography as a Research Method

In social science studies, the most common way to present research using photography is still to translate most of the photographs into text, although more journals are willing to publish a few photographs as part of an article. However, only journals like Visual Studies, Critique of Anthropology , and Visual Communication will publish photo essays in which most of the article consists of photos accompanied by short texts or captions and the participants’ story (Banks, 2007 ). There also tend to be more photos in books and book chapters than in journals. One reason for this might be, as Miller ( 2015 ) pointed out, that reviewers for refereed journals tend to give unreasonable or nonrelevant critique by asking, for example, about the frequency of photographs or if they are staged. E-journals are ideal venues because some of them, like Forum: Qualitative Social Research , are open-access journals and publish photography-based articles. Hypermedia online journal articles, like a special issue of Sociological Research Online , go a step further than regular online publishing by including, for example, live video clips. Online journals could also link directly to interactive websites where data sets of photographs and interview transcripts as well as the results, including the photographs, could be available. Rose, in her book Visual Methodologies (2016), provided examples of such websites. Although some researchers publish their work using photographs on websites, this is not a realistic option—at least not as the only venue—because most academic researchers still work in institutions requiring publishing in refereed journals.

Ethical Issues in Photography as a Method

Ethical issues have emerged throughout the chapter with regard to gaining access, securing informed consent, and promising confidentiality. Of foremost concern in photographic research is whether participants understand what informed consent means and for what purposes the photographs can be used. Institutional review boards are especially strict with regard to protecting participants from harmful or compromising photographs. However, many argue that it is not possible to foresee all possible situations in advance, and hence giving consent should be ongoing throughout the study (Pauwels, 2008 ; Wiles, Coffey, Robison, & Prosser, 2012 ). It is possible to produce consent forms in which participants specify what kind of uses they consent to. For example, some participants may allow their photographs to be used for analysis but not for publication. Other participants might not want anonymity; rather, they want viewers to know who they are and/or that they have taken a particular photograph (Grinyer, 2002 ; Wiles et al., 2008 ), although this is not always possible if others are involved in the study. Conversely, there can be difficulties with photo release forms if someone is suspicious of signing forms (Banks, 2007 ) or does not understand the language or meaning of the form.

Ultimately, the researcher must make judgments about ethical issues surfacing over the course of the study. Participants’ rights to refuse to be photographed or to photograph certain things must be respected at all times. Likewise, it must be possible to withdraw from the study at any time. In describing the difficulties of taking photos of very poor consumers in four different countries, Lindeman et al. ( 2010 ) described how the fieldworkers were torn between doing what the study required with just a couple of weeks of fieldwork and respecting people’s right to not to want to be photographed or have their poor homes photographed. They noted,

The issue of interfering in peoples’ lives was also present when we wanted to take photos and videos. In principle we always asked for permission before filming or taking pictures, but in some instances we also had to take sneak picture of things of high importance to the research. (Lindeman et al. 2010 , p. 9)

In the pressure to collect data quickly, the researchers made poor ethical decisions.

Researchers using previously taken photos as well as researchers working with new photos face questions of ownership and copyright (Rose, 2016 ). With regard to new photos, some researchers try to prevent potential problems by clarifying photo ownership on the forms used for permission to conduct research. This might be a good idea, especially if the participants take the photos and think of them as their own.

Overall, collaborative research in which the photographs are more of a coproduction might be a more ethical approach to visual research. Giving copies to and discussing photos with the participants whenever possible is also a way to give participants a better sense of which photos will be used and how they will be used. In using photography as a research method, the one aspect present in all studies and throughout all studies, from beginning to end, is the responsibility of the researcher to make good ethical judgments to produce research that does not harm participants in any way.

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Photography as an Art-Based Research Method

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The aim of this chapter is to examine the potential of photography as a means of art and to introduce the different genres of photo-narratives, documentary photography and portraiture that researchers can employ to collect data. While the chapter helps to inform social researchers about the choices they make when doing photographic research, it is also a reminder that when researchers use photographs to collect data, they simultaneously engage in acts of producing art.

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Photography as a Research Method with Learners in Compulsory Education: A Research Review

This article offers a review of thirty-one research articles from 2001–2019 on the use of photography as a research method with learners in compulsory education. Understood within the scope of ‘visual’, ‘participatory’ and ‘arts-based’ research methods, many scholars have linked the increased use of the photographic method to greater awareness of the rights of the child and changing understandings of children as full ‘human beings’ with agency rather than simply vulnerable ‘human becomings’. Nevertheless, photography is still a relatively under-utilised approach in research with learners in school-based compulsory education and its use is not widespread globally. Against the background of the history of visual and photographic methods in general and in education in particular, this article highlights two key themes in the empirical research literature: why the photographic method is used (dealing with representation, participation and emancipation); and how the photographic method and the photos themselves are used (pre-generated and participant-generated photographs). It closes with a reflection on what may be holding back its expansion, including key ethical concerns, and a proposal for encouraging its use in education.

• 1 Introduction

It has been argued that the research methods that social researchers use should be applied creatively so that they can be made ‘fit for purpose’ ( Kara, 2015 ). With this responsibility in mind, a plethora of visual ( Banks, 2001 ; Pink, 2001 ; Rose, 2001 ), arts-based ( Leavy, 2008 ; Knowles & Cole, 2008 ) and participatory ( Reason & Bradbury, 2008 ; Chevalier & Buckles, 2013 ) methods have been evolving, particularly over the last four decades. Scholars have linked this development to a number of shifts, two of which can be related to children and young people and school-based research. The first shift is in understandings of children and young people that came around the time of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and particularly the legal obligation for the ‘best interests’ of children to be taken into consideration, and the views of children to be taken into account on anything that affects them ( Lundy, 2007 ; Lansdowne, 2011 ; Hanna, 2019 ). The second shift relates to the movement within the sociology of childhood that began to more vocally advocate the appreciation of different childhoods where children were increasingly seen not as a vulnerable collective who needed protection, but as individuals holding agency to act on their world and the capacity for independent thought: as fully-fledged ‘human beings’ rather than simply ‘human becomings’ ( James & James, 2004 ). These two shifts, it may be argued, lead to the conclusion that children and young people should be allowed to ‘represent’ themselves to the world ( Prout, 2001 ). Therefore, it is sometimes argued that these, more creative methods hold the potential to offer a more holistic, inclusive and flexible approach to exploring social realities – and a more enjoyable and engaging research experience – particularly with children and young people as research participants ( Thomson, 2008 ; Stirling & Yamada-Rice, 2015).

One method that may be included within this shifting methodological landscape is photography. Used widely within anthropology from the late 19th century, it now holds a firm place in 21st century research methods literature ( Banks, 2001 ). However, while photography has been used fairly frequently as a method in some other fields, as will become clear from the limited number of research articles that were available for this review, it is still a relatively under-utilised approach in school-based compulsory education. This is despite the enduring and perhaps growing salience of visual culture due to the widespread use of social media among younger people in particular ( Woodfield, 2014 ), a conundrum that this Special Issue seeks to take some steps towards addressing.

Against such a background, this article offers a review of thirty-one empirical research articles from the past eighteen years (2001–2019) on the use of photography as a research method with learners in compulsory education. It considers the development of visual and photographic methods in research in general and within educational research in particular. Then it presents the scope of this research review and the search strategy employed to find the articles included within it. Following this, it moves on to the two main themes that emerged from reviewing the research papers, namely: why the photographic method is used (dealing with the key motivations of representation, participation and emancipation); and how the photographic method and the photographs themselves are used (distinguishing between pre-generated and participant-generated photographs). It closes with a reflection on what may be holding back its expansion, including key ethical concerns, and a proposal for encouraging its use in education.

• 2 Visual and Photographic Methods in Social Research

Photography has variously been described as a ‘visual’, ‘visual ethnographic’, ‘participatory’ and ‘arts-based’ method, depending on how and with whom it is used. Photography first began to be used as a research method within anthropology and ethnography in the early 20th century, when photographic equipment became accessible to researchers ( Banks, 2001 ). In this sense the camera was usually used by the researcher-photographer as a way of capturing an aspect of a community: as ‘photo-documentation’ ( Rose, 2001 ). Since then, the method has seen various evolutions, and particularly a significant movement towards being used as a way of involving participants in the research process itself, either through using ‘found’, researcher-produced or pre-existing photographs, or through participants producing photographs themselves.

Key scholars who have been active in the field of visual ethnography over the past two decades include Sarah Pink (2001) , Gillian Rose (2001) , and Marcus Banks (2001) , who have explored the various debates and dilemmas that have arisen as the method has evolved. For example, in her monograph, Pink (2001) proposes that images are everywhere, ‘inextricably interwoven with our personal identities, narratives, lifestyle, cultures and societies, as well as with definitions of history, space and truth.’ (p. 17) She therefore concludes that visual ethnographic researchers must appreciate the interlinkage between the oral/aural and the visual, for ‘[j]ust as images inspire conversations, conversations may invoke images…images are as inevitable as sounds, words or any other aspect of culture or society.’ (p. 17) Rose (2001) highlights issues of representation in terms of the extent to which an image can represent an object, person, place, time or concept; related to this is the issue of ‘audiencing’ which can influence how a particular image is understood and interpreted, a huge challenge for researchers in any qualitative research but perhaps particularly in visual research. Banks (2001) proposes that visual research is a ‘collaborative project between image maker and image subjects’ and so, social researchers ‘[can]not pretend that they can somehow transcend their humanity and stand outside, merely observing’. (p. 112) There have also been notable contributions from Claudia Mitchell (2011) in her monograph Doing Visual Research and Pat Thomson’s (2008) edited collection Doing Visual Research with Children and Young People . Many of the key debates explored in these monographs and volumes emerge also from the articles selected for this research review and will be returned to later.

In terms of photography in particular, it may be said that its use as a research method has expanded significantly, being used in very different ways to cover different topics and work with different groups of people, to serve different ends and to address or challenge some ethical issues. There have been notable edited collections published from the 1960s onward, such as John Collier’s collaboration with Malcolm Collier in their book Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research Method . ( Collier & Collier, 1967 ) One of the best-known pioneers in this area has been Caroline Wang (along with Burris in the early days) who from 1997 began to publish on ‘photo-voice’ or ‘participatory photography’ in health and community contexts (see, for example, Wang, 1999 ). ‘Photo-voice’ is a method that involves participants documenting their experiences through photography and then discussing them, with a view to bringing about criticality, empowerment and change, all within a participant-led environment. ( Wang, 1999 ) It is an approach that has been used quite extensively within community settings, where a research participant will often have the use of a disposable camera and will therefore be able to take photographs within their daily lives. In this way, Wang has inspired a whole generation of researchers who wish to use a participatory approach to research, where participant-researchers are fully informed and leading and moulding the research in some way. It is also strongly associated with ‘photo-elicitation’ (Collier & Collier, 1986; Harper, 2002 ) whereby participants describe the photographs and sometimes write short inscriptions for them, that may or may not be shared publicly. However, ‘found’ or researcher-generated photographs have also been used as a way of sparking discussion or debate or tapping into a memory. Both of these approaches will feature in the themes of this research review below.

What may be apparent so far is that the best-known scholars in photography as a research method appear to be located outside of the field of education. While its use within social science research in general may be traced to the 1960s, as Kaplan, Lewis and Mumba (2007) noted, it is very difficult to trace the origin of the photographic method within compulsory education; in 1998 Wetton and McWhirter wrote on health education, in the same year, Prosser (1998) discussed the fact that text is normally more highly valued than images in educational research, and the earliest research paper that could be found for inclusion in this review was from 2001, which investigated sociability and cooperation among 4–5 year olds in England, using researcher-generated photographs ( Broadhead, 2001 ). There are some notable, more recent contributions specific to education that will interest the reader. There is extensive treatment of photographic methods in Miles and Howes’ (2015) edited collection Photography in Educational Research: Critical Reflections from Diverse Contexts . There is also the Wylie Handbook of Ethnography in Education from 2018 which includes a chapter on visual ethnography in education that refers to photography and covers such aspects as ‘participatory photography’ and ‘photo-elicitation’ interviews as well as the challenges of getting access to research sites due to institutional review boards ( Holm, 2018 ). However, while compiling this research review, what became clear was that, although photography as a research method is quite common within the early years of education, as well as in community (non-school) settings and other anthropological or sociological research ( Barker and Smith, 2012 ), it appears to be used less often with learners within compulsory education. Returning to Kaplan et al., they noted this in their work over a decade ago (2007) but it could be argued that the field has not expanded significantly since then. This is despite the fact that the method is clearly and continually being developed in other fields, while appreciation and understanding of visual culture grows. This is a curious point that will be explored more fully in the concluding section of this article, where ethical concerns and understandings of children will feature.

• 3 Scope of this Review and Search Strategy

This research review is a qualitative, narrative review (Efrat et al., 2019) focused solely on the use of photography as a research method with learners in compulsory education. This type of review aims to ‘survey the state of knowledge in a particular subject area and offers a comprehensive background for understanding that topic.’ (p. 21) It is based on articles in English language journals that report empirical research as this is the only language in which I am fluent. Therefore, it is unsurprising that many of the articles have been written by English native speakers in English-speaking countries.

In terms of search strategy, I followed Reed’s stages (2017). I did an initial general search based on Google and Google Scholar, looking for ‘photography as research method’ to check on terminology. After reading generally about visual and photographic methods, I then turned to academic databases, beginning with Scopus. I did a Boolean search of titles, key words and abstracts, with my search terms refined to ‘photography’, ‘education’/’school’/’learning’ and ‘research’ and ‘method’. I limited the disciplines to ‘arts and humanities’ and ‘social sciences.’ I also limited the search to research articles and excluded books and book chapters. I did not limit the time period at this stage, although I was aware from my initial reading that very little was available from before the early 2000s. I also did not limit the country focus. This brought up 135 research articles. I also used the references in the selected relevant papers that were more broadly on ‘children’ and ‘photography’ to plug gaps, particularly of papers that did not appear on Scopus. Some of these used the term ‘participant photography’ or ‘photovoice’ or ‘visual’ or ‘arts-based’. Finally, I searched the Taylor and Francis journal website to fill in any remaining gaps. After a brief review of titles and abstracts, I excluded papers that did not relate to compulsory education (a significant number). Once I had briefly scanned these articles, I also excluded those that did not focus on the use of the method with learners specifically.

In total the review is based on 31 articles that report empirical research studies. The findings focus on key themes that emerge from this research review. The list of papers included in this review can be found in Table 1 and in list form at the end of this article.

• 4.1 Why Photography is Used: Representation, Participation and Emancipation
• 4.2 How Photography and Photographs are Used: Pre-generated, Researcher-generated and Participant-generated Photographs
• 5 Summary and Reflecting on the Prospects for Photography as a Research Method in Education
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• 28 March 2024

How papers with doctored images can affect scientific reviews

• Sumeet Kulkarni

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An unpleasant surprise awaited scientists who surveyed 1,035 journal articles to prepare a review about a test commonly carried out on rats. Credit: Oleksandr Bushko/Alamy

It was in just the second article of more than 1,000 that Otto Kalliokoski was screening that he spotted what he calls a “Photoshop masterpiece”.

The paper showed images from western blots — a technique used to analyse protein composition — for two samples. But Kalliokoski, an animal behaviourist at the University of Copenhagen, found that the images were identical down to the pixel, which he says is clearly not supposed to happen.

Image manipulation in scientific studies is a known and widespread problem. All the same, Kalliokoski and his colleagues were startled to come across more than 100 studies with questionable images while compiling a systematic review about a widely used test of laboratory rats’ moods. After publishing the review 1 in January, the researchers released a preprint 2 documenting the troubling studies that they uncovered and how these affected the results of their review. The preprint, posted on bioRxiv in February, has not yet been peer reviewed.

Their work “clearly highlights [that falsified images] are impacting our consolidated knowledge base”, says Alexandra Bannach-Brown, a systematic-review methodologist at the Berlin Institute of Health who was not involved with either the review or the preprint. Systematic reviews , which summarize and interpret the literature on a particular topic, are a key component of that base. With an explosion of scientific literature, “it’s impossible for a single person to keep up with reading every new paper that comes out in their field”, Bannach-Brown says. And that means that upholding the quality of systematic reviews is ever more important.

Pile-up of problems

Kalliokoski’s systematic review examined the reliability of a test designed to assess reward-seeking in rats under stress. A reduced interest in a reward is assumed to be a proxy symptom of depression, and the test is widely used during the development of antidepressant drugs . The team identified an initial pool of 1,035 eligible papers; 588 contained images.

By the time he’d skimmed five papers, Kalliokoski had already found a second one with troubling images. Not sure what to do, he bookmarked the suspicious studies and went ahead with collating papers for the review. As the questionable papers kept piling up, he and his colleagues decided to deploy Imagetwin , an AI-based software tool that flags problems such as duplicated images and ones that have been stretched or rotated. Either Imagetwin or the authors’ visual scrutiny flagged 112 — almost 20% — of the 588 image-containing papers.

“That is actually a lot,” says Elizabeth Bik , a microbiologist in San Francisco, California, who has investigated image-related misconduct and is now an independent scientific-integrity consultant. Whether image manipulation is the result of honest error or an intention to mislead, “it could undermine the findings of a study”, she says.

Small but detectable effect

For their final analysis, the authors examined all the papers that met their criteria for inclusion in their review. This batch, consisting of 132 studies, included 10 of the 112 that the team had flagged as having potentially doctored images.

Journals adopt AI to spot duplicated images in manuscripts

Analysis of these 10 studies alone assessed the test as 50% more effective at identifying depression-related symptoms than did a calculation based on the 122 studies without questionable images. These suspicious studies “do actually skew the results”, Kalliokoski says — although “not massively”, because overall variations in the data set mask the contribution from this small subset.

Examples from this study “cover pretty much all types of image problems”, Bik says, ranging from simple duplication to images that showed evidence of deliberate alteration. Using a scale that Bik developed to categorize the degree of image manipulation, the researchers found that most of the problematic images showed signs of tampering.

The researchers published their review in January in Translational Psychiatry without telling the journal that it was based in part on papers that included suspicious images. The journal’s publisher, Springer Nature, told Nature that it is investigating. (The Nature news team is editorially independent of its publisher, Springer Nature).

When they published their preprint the following month, the researchers included details of all the papers with suspicious images. They also flagged each study on Pubpeer, a website where scientists comment anonymously on papers . “My first allegiance is towards the [scientific] community,” Kalliokoski says, adding that putting the data out is the first step.

Bring reviews to life

The process of challenging a study’s integrity, giving its authors a chance to respond and seeking retraction for fraudulent studies can take years . One way to clear these muddied waters, says Bannach-Brown, is to publish ‘living’ systematic reviews , which are designed to be updated whenever papers get retracted or new research is added. She has helped to develop one such method of creating living reviews, called Systematic Online Living Evidence Summaries.

Systematic-review writers are also keen to see publishers integrate standardized ways to screen out dubious studies — rather than waiting until a study gets retracted .

Authors, publishers and editorial boards need to work together, Bannach-Brown says, to “catch some of these questionable research practices before they even make it to publication.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00875-2

Berrio, J. P., Hestevhave, S. & Kalliokoski, O. Transl. Psychiatry 14 , 39 (2024).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Berrio, J. P. & Kalliokoski, O. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.13.580196 (2024).

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194 Photography Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best photography topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on photography, 🎓 simple & easy photography essay titles, 💡 most interesting photography topics to write about, 🔍 interesting topics to write about photography, ❓ photography essay questions.

• Photograph Description: Nature The photograph reflects a marvelous landscape combining the elements of human interference in the form of buildings; it is necessary to underline the fact that the picture is to be referred to as representational […]
• Personal Interest in Photography Most of Cotton’s photographs were devoted to the exploration of the serenity and beauty in the natural world, as can be seen in the photographs below. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Is Photography an Art and Why? In brief, photography is an art since it uses a variety of human actions to create aural, visual, or performative artifacts that show the author’s creativity or technical proficiency and are intended to be admired […]
• Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in Photography The audience’s personal experiences affects its interpretation of what the picture depicts, it might be close to the communication the photographer had wished to convey or a totally different perspective.
• Photography as a Mass Medium To demonstrate this fact, the study explores the works of Sontag in her article titled, On Photography, and shows how digital photography changes her analysis about the “photographic way of seeing” life.
• Eastman Kodak and Photographic Film Industry Major Changes This kind of study enables the marketer to evaluate the performance of the company in the market. Therefore, the application of the model is inevitable in case the market is to understand the performance of […]
• Sports Photography and Its Evolution The death of Niepce was announced in 1833, but the experiment was still been performed by Daguerre and he succeeded in the development of the daguerreotype finally in 1837.
• Steve McCurry’s Photographs This approach has revealed the impacts of war on the lives of many people across the globe. McCurry had the opportunity to capture the portrait of a monk in Tibet.
• Impacts of Photography on Advertising So as to discuss this topic, this paper shall: trace the development of photography on advertising; discuss the positive impacts of photography on advertising; and discuss the negative impacts of photography on advertising.
• Invention of Photography and Its Social Impact Although photography was invented in its full form only in 1835, an understanding of the social impact that was a result of the invention of photography is rightly portrayed by Azoulay in his article “The […]
• Photography as a Career It is of essence to note that a number of variations exist in the field of photography, for example, self-employment and commercial photographing are just some of the ways one can successfully earn a living […]
• Reflection of Photographic Arts The knowledge influences the choice of image and the position of the subject in the photograph. The knowledge of the fundamentals of photographic arts creates a world of possibilities.
• Photography in the E-Business: Marketing Strategy Business owners or those in the photography business are now thinking of possible and probably the best way to reach a wider market in the most fashionable and quickest way.
• Photographs Depicting Sufferings of Real People Recording reality may run counter to the goals and ideals of the person making the recording. The dilemma of reaction to shocking photographs is often limited by the viewer’s psychological predisposition and internal values.
• Gordon Parks, an American Photographer After the death of his mother in 1926, Parks was forced to move to Minneapolis, where he made a living by affiliating himself with a number of odd jobs, such as the job of a […]
• Note-Taking and Crime Scene Photography Concerning the effectiveness of notes, generally, they should contain a high level of detail, and straightforwardness and cover all areas of the crime scene.
• Photography: Critical Analysis The vertical, restive position of the pencil in each of the slides is indicative of a resort to have finished a particular task, presumably that of writing on the foolscap, with the pencil resting in […]
• Dharker’s Postcards From God Book and Carter’s Family Photograph Human poverty might have many colors, and the worth of the chosen non-literary work is in the possibility of conveying the struggle in the face of inevitability.
• Photography Comparison and Contrast The focus on the naked parts of the body, like dirty and scratched hands, necks, and faces, allows for learning about the terror and horror of that period. In my photo, the style differs due […]
• “Film und Foto” Exhibition and Surrealism in Photography Surrealism is considered to be a cultural movement of the early twentieth century and is commonly reflected in the works of art and writings.
• Melancholy Objects in Photography The purpose of this paper is to develop a critical evaluation of Sontag’s claim of melancholy and Photography, with reference to a photograph taken for a tombstone in a cemetery. In fact, the grave looks […]
• Privacy and Photography in Public Places According to the protectors of privacy, it is inappropriate to take photographs and circulate them without the consent of the individuals.
• The Connection of History and Photography Overall, photography falls under the visual sources of chronological data that historians can use to understand and write about recorded events.
• Jeff Wall, a Contemporary Photographer and His Works Most of the photographer’s works are staged, depicting everyday scenes related to the problems of representation and the history of art.
• Photography: An Artist Statement In the first image, I arranged the details in the composition to guide the observer through the place I captured by the camera. With the help of the play of the light and shadow, I […]
• Photography Exhibition: Examples of the Works This is an outstanding piece of art which made me, for instance, think of our world and humanity: first of all I thought about the perfection of the both, and then I passed to contemplations […]
• Yosemite National Park and Connecting With the History of Photography By the time the Yosemite series was started, Carleton Watkins was a famous master of the so called wet-collodion technique that made use of the “mammoth” plates made of glass to allow for the better […]
• Visual Art and Photography Ice Sculpting is truly an art of its own, and even though this style of art is not permanent, unless a person were to place the item into the freezer, this would still be categorized […]
• The Development of Lithography and Photography in the Nineteenth Century For this reason, when the reproduction techniques of lithography and photography came up, most of the artists at the time viewed this as a gold mine. As to whether lithography and photography resulted in a […]
• Photographer Diane Arbus’ Creativity Analysis Therefore, Arbus showed consistency with the portrayed ugliness of the subjects in the photographs. This enabled Arbus to capture moments that genuinely depicted the feelings of the people in their environment.
• Concept of Documentary Photography The purpose of composition in this case is to bring out a distinction between the different elements of a work that is being portrayed in such a manner that the elements of the work that […]
• Nikki S. Lee and Photography Considered to be one of a kind, the unique nature of this exhibition placed her in the limelight. In ‘The Seniors Project’, Lee managed to transform herself to fit the image of an old woman […]
• Imogen Cunningham, an American Female Photographer The high contrast and neutral tones of the image bring to the viewer’s attention a variety of details, including the woman’s hair, her wrinkles, and the unevenness of her skin.
• Lighting in Painting, Film, and Photography Due to the lack of detail and the unobstructed silhouette lighting, the viewer can witness the anguish of the photography’s subject. Finally, “The Entombment of Christ” is a famous example of chiaroscuro lighting in art.
• The “Close Enough” Exhibition of Photographs Each of the authors presents their vision of connections and relations in global moments, communities, and individual subjects.”Close Enough” deserves a lot of attention in the context of its importance and significance to the world […]
• The Photograph “Melissa Shook in a Lonely Home” by Elizabeth Hammer Munemura The presentation of the idea of malnourished flowers in the room depicts the state of homelessness in the series. The photograph was taken behind the scenes to familiarize the actors and actresses involved in the […]
• Matthew Brandt’s Approach to Photography The artist labors over the production of his images, turning the creation of his work into grueling physical labor by utilizing long-forgotten techniques acquired from the earliest photographers in the tradition of photography, making his […]
• Walter Benjamin’s Article: The Invention of Photography In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Walter Benjamin discusses how the invention of photography and other mechanical reproduction forms has changed how people perceive works of art.
• Canadian Regional Geography in Photographs Because of the combination of two types of climate and the terrain, there is a wide difference of ecosystems. The second image is likely Atlantic Canada, as there are fishermen on it, while the most […]
• Photography as Quick-Paced Creative Medium Photography is interesting since it helps keeps memories alive and prosperous because it freezes a scene that lasts forever. In capturing moments of importance and beauty, photography helps one revisit memories in a way otherwise […]
• The Background of Photography and the History of Racial Strife Overall, Ardizonne argues that Day’s work was destructive to the political discourse, based on an assessment of the pictures and the content of the anthropological section.
• The Visual Argument in the Photograph The photograph and the remark appeal to pathos, striving to first show the emotions of the child in the picture and then accentuating how the words shown through the hand around the boy’s neck can […]
• The Ellen Terry Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron The value of the artwork is that it reminds the world that people are all the same. An interesting fact about the artwork is that the picture was taken during the honeymoon of the actress.
• The Search for Truth: Early Photography, Realism, and Impressionism European colonialism led to the popularity of ethnography and the emergence of Orientalism the Western representation of the Middle East visually or literary.
• Photography of Global Disasters: Violence or Not? There is a moral dilemma in people’s urge to respond to suffering photographs of others by either just looking at the pictures or doing something to stop the disaster.
• Special Features of the Photography by Luc Delahaye and Ansel Adams The above photograph is one of the works by Ansel Adams, who is recognized as a pioneer in the evolutionary field of expertise.
• Significance of the Photographs Created by T. Simon and J. Riis In turn, Riis presents a unique perspective on the immorality of the Victorian neighborhoods serving as evidence of erroneous people’s attitudes towards appropriateness.
• Photographer Lene and The Heart Project Lene has had an opportunity to work in a large variety of creative mediums, utilizing the skills acquired in a number of projects. The use of paint, charcoal, and mosaic in her art creates a […]
• “Tom Torlino Student File” Photograph Analysis The before and after photo of a native American student is vivid evidence of American influence on the disappearing cultural heritage. What was the impact of such boarding schools on the identity and values of […]
• Photography: Art Creation & Reflection The thematic connection between the two pieces is based on the illusionary vision of the simple scenes and experimental approach to the art of photography.
• An Analysis of a Photograph By Mike Wells This spread of technology-enabled many people to document the environment around them and allowed millions of people to relate to stories of others told through photographs.”A Starving Boy and a Missionary” is one of the […]
• The History of Photography of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century They assured the recognition of photography as a kind of art. Alfred Stieglitz created a series of clouds photographs that combined the technical and aesthetic principles of his work.
• Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography by Long In his article, ‘Ethics in the age of digital photography,’ Long expresses his concern over the problem of “the public…losing faith” in photojournalists.
• Composing With Light or Color in Photography Light, shadow and color are the components of an image. The balance between each element affects the quality of the image.
• Photography, Impression and Alfred Stieglitz A striking example of this is the emergence of photography as a category of art after the invention of the camera.
• Macro Photography: Features, Techniques, and Common Mistakes It is customary to call macro photography the shooting of objects comparable in size to the size of a film frame or much smaller than it.
• Town Photography Studio Online Branding In order to convince our potential customers about the quality of our new product, we need to use attractive images of the new product which can easily capture the attention of our potential customers.
• Dream Deferred: Timeless Relevance. Poem and Photograph Review The relevance of showcasing social inequality through voices and faces of the Afro-Americans in the United States draws the parallel between the historical and contemporary context.
• The Beauty of Photography: An Opinion However, ultimately, I leaned toward the DSLR cameras and still photography rather than the motion of the film. As a result, good photos make one look at the situation from a different angle, capturing a […]
• Chris Hondros: War Photographer This leads the author of the current paper to discovering the key three topics that have to be covered in order to evaluate Hondros’ contribution to war photography during the first decade of the 21st […]
• Jack Dykinga’s Photography In addition, this use of light adds to the beauty of color harmony and color saturation in the picture. Because of the duly chosen perspective and the angle of shooting along with the time of […]
• Margaret Bourke-White: A Historically Significant Photographer Among Bourke-White’s exclusive works are the photos of the First Five-Year Plan in the Soviet Union, the daily struggle of the Allied infantrymen in the Italian campaign, the siege of Moscow, and the conflict between […]
• Julia Margaret Cameron: A British Photographer As the photographer later wrote in her unfinished memoir “Annals of my glass house”, from the moment of the first shot, the camera had become a link to the world of artists, scientists, and writers.
• History in Abbass Studios Ltd. Fonds’ Photographs The approximate creation date of the collection is mentioned as 1940 the year when the eldest of the Abbass brothers became interested in photography. George was in charge of the office and the studio.
• HDRI and Tonal Mapping in Photography The science of High dynamic range imaging has developed the dynamic range of processing, transmission, and representation of imaging photography beyond the traditional forms.
• Photography: Robin Fox’s Proof of Concept The subject and concept of the exhibition is as unique as it can be and the gallery is the best place where the photos can be exhibited.
• Horst Wackerbath and His Great Photography This mystic twist in Wackerbath’s work keeps people looking out for more of his works in a bid to try to understand not only how he manages to pull such a delicate feat, but also […]
• Knowing Andy Warhol’s Life and Photography The Post-Modernist Movement of pop art and culture in the latter half of the twentieth century was a revolutionary movement and it was started by the American artist Andy Warhol’s very amundane’ looking paintings of […]
• Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography The photographs in Without Sanctuary provide a record of the intolerance and racism that was standard in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.
• Ansel Adams and John Sexton: World Photography The first assumption that we can make about these works is that both of them achieve an effect of optical illusion and this is one of the most difficult tasks for a photographer to carry […]
• Has Digital Technology Improved the Quality of Photographs? In the case of our apple, most of the wavelengths are absorbed with the exception of those that lie on the red end of the spectrum.
• Photograph Works by Laura McPhee This particular feature in the works of Laura McPhee impresses the viewer owing to the mastership of the photographer in playing with the background and foreground.
• Evaluating Evidence: Paperwork and Photographs The paperwork evidence is one of the main evidence, as it is the prejudicial evidence of the witness, who walked the cemetery and saw the act of vandalism of the tomb.
• Photography Exhibition “Threads” in Melbourne The subject matter of the photograph under consideration is the nature of identity or, to be more exact, the exploration of it.
• Pia Johnson’s Photography Exhibition The main aim of the photographer is to stop the time and to make people to be delighted by the beauty of the picture, as the time is the substance which flows fast and the […]
• Three Questions About Photography If they do, it is through the main webpage where it is displayed and the user is not allowed to copy the image.
• Photo Art: Photographic Exhibition This is the photo produced by Samantha Everton in 2009 as a part of her Vintage Dolls series: The photo is installed in a frame during the exhibition to ensure the considerable attention the viewers […]
• Photographic Exhibition in Melbourne Australia The concept of space in the exhibit depicts that of loose and un-articulated. But nowhere in the exhibit were photos shown of men or women building gabions baskets, or showing the river.
• The Exhibition “The Arlen Ness Photographic Exhibition” Watching the landscape in reality and the same view on the photo, the viewer may not notice the difference as the professional photographer, the artist tries to make his/her photos so realistic and inconceivable that […]
• “China and Its People in Early Photographs” by John Thompson In spite of the fact the majority of his works are believed to be documentaries, Johnson is often referred to a photojournalist, because he often focused attention on the social aspect of human relationships, it […]
• Atta Kim: Presentation of a Photographer While many techniques Atta uses are not new, in some context the works of Atta can be considered as a philosophical opinion that was visualized using photography.
• Photography: Brief History of Invention At that time all images produced were in black and white and eventually all masters of the art came to believe that the only artistic way to record photographic images was in black and white. […]
• Photographic Pioneer: Paul Strand One of her eyes is a stone eye and with the other eye she is trying to view something on her left side.
• Edward Steichen in History of Photography Edward Steichen is one of the central figures in the history of photos. The astonishing sale charge of the print is, in part, featured to its one-of-a-kind personality and to its curiosity.
• Contribution of Modernity to Photography and Film Movements Modernity in visual arts and cinema is part of the ever-changing world, wherein the establishment of ideas, different people in the world of art participates in experimenting with the forms and styles of art, thus […]
• History of Photography: Brief Overview of the Most Exciting and Impressive Ways of Cultural Representation Photography is one of the most interesting and impressive ways and techniques of culture representation. For instance, photography documented the culture of the 1920s and world wars, the Great Depression-era, and the liberation movement.
• History of Photography: Road and Poplar Trees Analysis The picture artistically depicts the distance between the poplar trees making the trees on the right side to be smaller than the left side.
• Snapshot vs. Fine-Art Photography in Digital Age The scale of distribution of everyday photography is associated with the improvement of photographic technology and the spread of electronic and digital technologies, making exploring snapshot photography particularly relevant. To analyse the functions of snapshot […]
• Publishing Controversial Photographs: To Be or Not To Be? Harte took some pictures of the rescue operation, including an image capturing the moment when the rescuers found the body of a drowned boy and showed it to the family.
• Edward Weston’s Modernist Photographs More attention should be paid to the analysis of Weston’s photographs and the comparison of their style to my photographs. The object in my black-and-white photograph looks like a kind of tubes, which texture is […]
• Photography & Folk Art: America in the 1930s Exhibition The exhibition “Photography + Folk Art: Looking for America in the 1930s” is a remarkable venue where visitors can see and even feel the atmosphere of the years of the Great Depression in the United […]
• ”Preferences for Photographic Art Among Hospitalized Patients With Cancer” by Hanson ET Al. The opinions of stakeholders, who are patients and nursing staff, as well as the outcomes of treatment, are factors that influence the response to the research question.
• Philosophy of Photography as an Art In conclusion, it is necessary to stress that photography is a specific form of art that involves the use of technology.
• Photographs and Danto’s View on Art This argument comes from the idea of the philosophic meaning of art and its ability to impact viewers by representing some objects of reality in unusual ways.
• Robinson, Emerson, and Photography as an Art Both of them viewed the newly created form of image capture as a medium for the expression of art, but their views on the nature of the movement were radically different.
• “The Valley of the Shadow of Death” the Photography by Roger Fenton Finally, from the standpoint of war, such a large number of cannonballs on the road testifies to the scale of the hostilities, which also makes one wonder about the alarming consequences of attacks. Therefore, the […]
• Photography Changes Who We Think We Might Be This essay is interesting and was chosen because Bergen is famous for her acting and not for photography, yet she clearly has a passion for this trade.
• A Distinct Camera Vision in Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s Photograph Also, there is no focus on the man’s feet because the camera concentrated on the leap in water, and the feet remain out of the water.
• Moholy Nagy’s “Laci and Lucia” Photography In order to make it fit the life in the 21st century, the famous quote by Laszlo Moholy Nagy can be rewritten in the following way: “The illiterate of the future will be the one […]
• Andreas Gursky’s “The Rhine II” Photography In The Rhine II, the photographer attempts to deliver “an accurate image of a modern river” and invites viewers to see the river enclosed in the deep-colored stripes of grass, concrete, and the clouded sky.
• Nature and Animals in Photographs In the picture, a viewer sees the glassy and smooth water surface, the banks and fir trees covered with snow, and a high dome of the mountain in the center of the photograph.
• Photography: Is It Possible to Recapture the Past? The problem of photography is twofold: the problem of representation, and the presumption of reality that the photographic images elicits in the viewer the pervasive belief that a photograph depicts a referent, a real “how […]
• Photography: A Cultural History In the middle of the 1850s, there were many photographers, whose projects caused people’s admiration, and the works of Edouard Baldus, Imperial Library of the Louvre, and Roger Fenton, Rievaulx Abbey, may be considered as […]
• A Critique of a Photographer’s Works: Matthew Abbott Matthew Abbott underlines one simple fact that Istanbul is the only place where East has all chances to meet West, this is why it is hard to predict the traditions and interests of Turkish people, […]
• Richard Drew’s Photography: Visualizing September 11 This would have ensured that I had accommodated the rights of media, clients, society, and other stakeholders while still adhering to media ethics.
• Hector Mediavilla Photographic Series “The Congolese Sape” The photographer’s decision to organize the order of photographs influences the viewer’s interpretation of the image. The photographer captures an image from a focal position; the decision to capture the image is influenced by the […]
• “Memorial Day” by Anthony Suau: Photography Analysis The background of the image is blurry, indicating that when Suau took the photograph, he had one central area of focus and opted to indiscriminately isolate the other items in the shot.
• Photography and Society Through History: Political and Ideological Functions Another example of a thoroughly politicized photo, which during the course of the thirties was meant to promote the cause of Communism, is Alexander Rodchenko’s Pioneer with Trumpet:
• Photography and Its History This is termed as documentary photography in which a value of a photograph is measured by its worth of objectivity, which depends on the subject matter, the perception of why it is taken, and the […]
• Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip: Photograph Analysis As highlighted by the focus of the light and the enlargement of the image, this makes the ribs of the horse to be the photo’s point of focus.
• Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography Duchamp and his work have a connection through the refusal to accept the views of the majority of artists and art lovers.
• Photographs in a Written Society Visual literature requires one to have the ability to analyze, interpret, and understand images with the aim of acquiring meaning through the cultural context in which the image exists.
• Perspectives on Photography In his essay, John Berger states that the war in Vietnam was one of the most influential transformations of the world.
• The History of War Photography The purpose of this report is to identify basic trends in the development of war photography and determine the conceptual, stylistic, and technical changes observed in the course of its formation.
• Fascination With Crime Through the Art of Photography The image is not for the faint of heart; however, it is fascinating in a way it is shot. It is evident that the robber fired a bullet into the camera to hide his identity.
• Photography: The Art of Seeing The images that she deals with are associated with saucer magnolia blossoms and she aims to capture the exquisiteness of trees hence bringing-forth that magnificence to the attention of her audience.
• Timothy Hogan’s Photography Taking into consideration the infinite backing from the greatest producers, retouchers, and workshops in the professional photography niche, it is quite reasonable that Hogan and his team managed to furnace the lifelong contacts that provide […]
• Photography Ethics, Reliability, and Principles As a result, it is often possible to guarantee that the photo provided in the news is not a product of Photoshop.
• The “We Are All Equal” Photography by Haley Bell In spite of the fact that the photograph is rather straightforward in its message, it is important to focus on this image of a young white woman’s hand with words saying that we are all […]
• The Photograph Description and Criticism In this picture, the foreground is where the woman is seated and the background depicts transparent window of the apartment The photograph was likely taken in a broad daylight since outside the apartment to be […]
• Photography Company’s Public Relations Campaign The accomplishment of each aim will be performed following the specificity of the targeted audience that is supposed to be composed of the middle-class population of the Seattle Area. In the meantime, they expect that […]
• Child Labor, Great Depression and World War II in Photographs The impression is of isolation and yearning for daylight, freedom, and a childhood foregone, in the midst of a machine-dominated world.
• Social Documentary Photography Then and Now In the first place, he tried to inform people about the diversity of life in the city, which was a common trend for the beginning of the twentieth century.
• Hine’s Indianapolis and Kruger’s Help! Photography Nevertheless, unlike Lewis Hine, Barbara Kruger chooses to combine different media, and in this way, she departs from the canons of the modernist art. Overall, this comparison indicates that the works of Lewis Hine and […]
• The Photography Gallery in Melbourne The photos are mounted on glass and owing to the fact that the setting is indoor, a lot of lighting is applied to prevent any darkness.
• Melbourne’ Keith Gallery: Photography Analysis However, at the entrance of the gallery, I took a picture that shows the entry of the gallery that has photos on it.
• The Basic Critical Theory for Photography According to Berger, images depend on the way of seeing of the person who has taken them. Berger insists that ‘publicity images’ and ‘advertising images’ have the same meanings.
• Andy Goldsworthy: Sculptor and Photographer Besides, the vast majority of artworks of this sculptor are installed in nature in the woods, fields, plains, at the ponds, or rivers.
• Lewis Hine’s Photography Art Being born at the age of great changes and stresses, Lewis since his childhood was interested in the imprinting of some great moments of the history of American society.
• Technologies: Amateur Film vs. Cell Phone Photography An analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the two forms of photography concludes the paper. Cellphone and film cameras have apertures that regulate the quantity of light passing to the sensor and film, respectively.
• Photographic Representation of War Photography captures the moments that are gone, portrays the reality of the past, and preserves the images that used to be real at the second when the photo was taken.
• Photography in Arabic Countries New and new tendencies and fashion took over the generations of European and American photographers, while for the photographers of Arabic and Middle Eastern countries the art of taking pictures was still new.
• The Pool’ Pictures Balance in Photography Because of the unique combination of urban background and the green elements, as well as the presence of such details as the cast iron, the change in the pictures of the pool not only shows […]
• The Photography of the Arctic Ice Panoramic View The vivid play of light and color in the picture brings out the striking separation of the detached mass from the main iceberg.
• Photograph Discussion: Physical Elements and Content Telling from the photograph, the three boys were part of the group playing games in the background and were called to attention by the photographer.
• Photography: Finding Beauty in the Ordinary Therefore, the beauty that the photo represents is largely derived from the actual object. While Sontang acknowledges that the close-up is a reflection of truth, it is still subject to the photographer’s viewpoint.
• The Photographic Approaches Towards American Culture of Robert Frank and Gary Winogrand Frank practiced many forms of photography and he did photography both for the commercial and fashion purposes and was considered an influential American photographer who was also a mentor to many young American artists.
• Photographic Approaches for Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Ann Parker In this review, a comparison is made of the photographic approaches of Ann Parker and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, looking for similarities and differences in their art.
• Surrealist Photography and Experimental Photography These two techniques showcase objects in an in-depth manner, concentrating specifically on the surroundings of the image and creation of an abstract form of art that shaped the history of photography.
• Photography and Beauty Perception His resistance stemmed from the fact that in the early decades of photography, photographs were meant to idealize images and for a picture to be considered beautiful, its subject had to be something beautiful.
• Araki Nobuyoshi and Photography He promoted a new genre of art which is up to date cherished in Japan and other parts of the world.
• Photographic Approaches Towards Landscapes: Peter Henry Emerson He insisted that science was a core part of art and photography and thus, he endeavored to prove how the two were completely dependent. He was able to capture the economical effects of the depression […]
• A Comparison of Photographic Approaches Towards American Culture Siskind, on the other hand, used photography as a skylight into the subconscious minds of Americans and a technique to react to the dirty happenings experienced in World War II.
• Photography of High-End Art However, in order to capture the beauty and uniqueness of the original artwork, as well as incorporate a range of innuendoes concerning the artist, the era that the art was created in, etc, very specific […]
• The Description of Nature in Jack Dykinga’ Photographs There are several aspects of these photographs that I would like to discuss, namely the interplay of light and shadow and structured space. This is the main lesson that I learned from the works of […]
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• Exhibitions at the International Center of Photography Focusing on the photographs by Chim, it is possible to feel as the part of the European society between the 1930s and 1950s.
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• Photographer – Robert Frank This element is evidenced by Rodeo which was taken in 1954 in New York city because one can not identify the face of the guy who is leaning on the dustbin but since Robert’s photos […]
• Social Uses of Photography: Post-Mortem Photographs The art of photography was invented by Louis Daguerre in the 18th century; this invention promoted the representatives of the middle class family with an opportunity to memorize the events and people and not to […]
• The Exhibit Twilight Visions at the International Center of Photography The medium of photography in the post World War I period was almost too deliciously convenient a vehicle for certain proponents of the Dadaists and the Surrealists.
• Evolution of Photography: Trying to Seize the Moment In his book A Concise History of Photography, Helmut Gernsheim takes the reader onto a time travel, explaining the origins of photography and telling about the opportunities that photography offers.
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image processing —

Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from ieee computer journals, use of "lenna" image in computer image processing research stretches back to the 1970s..

Benj Edwards - Mar 29, 2024 9:16 pm UTC

On Wednesday, the IEEE Computer Society announced to members that, after April 1, it would no longer accept papers that include a frequently used image of a 1972 Playboy model named Lena Forsén. The so-called " Lenna image ," (Forsén added an extra "n" to her name in her Playboy appearance to aid pronunciation) has been used in image processing research since 1973 and has attracted criticism for making some women feel unwelcome in the field.

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In an email from the IEEE Computer Society sent to members on Wednesday, Technical & Conference Activities Vice President Terry Benzel wrote , "IEEE's diversity statement and supporting policies such as the IEEE Code of Ethics speak to IEEE's commitment to promoting an including and equitable culture that welcomes all. In alignment with this culture and with respect to the wishes of the subject of the image, Lena Forsén, IEEE will no longer accept submitted papers which include the 'Lena image.'"

An uncropped version of the 512×512-pixel test image originally appeared as the centerfold picture for the December 1972 issue of Playboy Magazine. Usage of the Lenna image in image processing began in June or July 1973 when an assistant professor named Alexander Sawchuck and a graduate student at the University of Southern California Signal and Image Processing Institute scanned a square portion of the centerfold image with a primitive drum scanner, omitting nudity present in the original image. They scanned it for a colleague's conference paper, and after that, others began to use the image as well.

The image's use spread in other papers throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s , and it caught Playboy's attention, but the company decided to overlook the copyright violations. In 1997, Playboy helped track down Forsén, who appeared at the 50th Annual Conference of the Society for Imaging Science in Technology, signing autographs for fans. "They must be so tired of me... looking at the same picture for all these years!" she said at the time. VP of new media at Playboy Eileen Kent told Wired , "We decided we should exploit this, because it is a phenomenon."

The image, which features Forsén's face and bare shoulder as she wears a hat with a purple feather, was reportedly ideal for testing image processing systems in the early years of digital image technology due to its high contrast and varied detail. It is also a sexually suggestive photo of an attractive woman, and its use by men in the computer field has garnered criticism over the decades, especially from female scientists and engineers who felt that the image (especially related to its association with the Playboy brand) objectified women and created an academic climate where they did not feel entirely welcome.

Due to some of this criticism, which dates back to at least 1996 , the journal Nature banned the use of the Lena image in paper submissions in 2018.

The comp.compression Usenet newsgroup FAQ document claims that in 1988, a Swedish publication asked Forsén if she minded her image being used in computer science, and she was reportedly pleasantly amused. In a 2019 Wired article , Linda Kinstler wrote that Forsén did not harbor resentment about the image, but she regretted that she wasn't paid better for it originally. "I’m really proud of that picture," she told Kinstler at the time.

Since then, Forsén has apparently changed her mind. In 2019, Creatable and Code Like a Girl created an advertising documentary titled Losing Lena , which was part of a promotional campaign aimed at removing the Lena image from use in tech and the image processing field. In a press release for the campaign and film, Forsén is quoted as saying, "I retired from modelling a long time ago. It’s time I retired from tech, too. We can make a simple change today that creates a lasting change for tomorrow. Let’s commit to losing me."

It seems like that commitment is now being granted. The ban in IEEE publications, which have been historically important journals for computer imaging development, will likely further set a precedent toward removing the Lenna image from common use. In the email, IEEE's Benzel recommended wider sensitivity about the issue, writing, "In order to raise awareness of and increase author compliance with this new policy, program committee members and reviewers should look for inclusion of this image, and if present, should ask authors to replace the Lena image with an alternative."

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