Photography
Introduction:
Visual Communication through Photography
Your photography in any OCR Art and Design unit should show creativity, curiosity and playful experimentation - not just pointing and clicking. Remember: it’s not about just doing the exercise, but about approaching it with unusual angles, fresh perspectives and a spark of wit and intelligence that makes your work stand out.
You don’t need a DSLR camera to create powerful, memorable images. All of these photos can be taken on your mobile phone — what matters most is your eye for detail, your ability to notice the unexpected, and your willingness to take creative risks, explore, enjoy and have fun!
Exercise: Create X2 double-page spreads
1. For each unit, aim to produce two double-page spreads that showcase your experimentation and fulfil the requirements of AO1 and A02 assessment objectives. Read through the techniques and decide which ones you would like to try for the project you are working on - explore different techniques in different projects to avoid repetition. Use this opportunity to explore techniques that excite you, challenge you, and push your creative boundaries. Let your photographs speak not only of technical skill, but also of your unique artistic voice.
2. Now write a list of the different subjects, landscapes, and experiences you could photograph to make your project book unique. Create an experience — get dressed up, go on a photography ramble! Whatever your theme, take your idea for a meandering walk and discover a whole new world of unexpected visual possibilities.
Text and Image
It’s important for graphic designers and architects to understand the marriage between text and image because, like ingredients in a recipe, they work together to communicate mood, identity and meaning. Just as a chef blends flavours to create a unique dish, designers and architects combine words, visuals, textures and space to tell a story, shape how people feel, and bring ideas to life in a way that feels memorable and authentic.
Black and White:
The earliest photographs were all black and white, and even today, many photographers choose to work without colour. Black and white photography offers distinctive visual effects that differ greatly from colour images.
Monochrome images emphasise pattern, texture, shape and form, allowing these elements to stand out more clearly. They also highlight the play of light and shadow, encouraging photographers to concentrate on composition, contrast and tonal range.
By removing the distraction of colour, black and white photography draws attention to light, tone, texture and structure, making it an excellent way to study and refine photographic technique.
As Edgar Degas once said:
“If I could have had my own way, I would have confined myself to black and white.”
This quote underlines just how important tone is in the creation of an image. Working in black and white emphasises the fundamental elements of a subject without the distraction of vibrant colours, helping artists and photographers to see and capture the essence of their subjects more clearly.
How to Create Black and White Images
- Film photography: Use black and white film in a traditional film camera.
- Post-processing: Convert colour digital photographs to black and white using editing software such as Photoshop.
- Experimenting: Exploring with black and white can deepen your understanding of visual design and help you see the world from a new and striking atmospheric perspective.
David Hockney's Joiners:
Inspired by David Hockney’s iconic Joiners, this creative technique involves taking multiple photographs of the same subject from slightly different angles, heights, and distances, then assembling them into a single, fragmented composition. The result is a dynamic, Cubist-style artwork that feels lively, textured, and unexpected.
This technique encourages you to look beyond a single viewpoint, capturing the subject as a sequence of overlapping moments and perspectives.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Choose your subject: Think about what will look interesting when fragmented — something detailed, complex, or layered.
- Capture from different viewpoints: Move around your subject, take shots from above, below, up close, and further away. Slight shifts between shots will help create a lively, layered effect.
- Print your photos: (or arrange them digitally) so you can physically piece them together.
- Assemble your montage: Overlap, rotate, and crop the photos to recreate the scene with a collage effect. Don’t worry about perfect alignment — the slight mismatches add energy and character.
London Riverside Skyline Joiner:
A city skyline with different duotone colour variations in sections to create a graphic, contemporary look
To create this London skyline, I took a trip on the Thames Clipper. As the boat headed west from Battersea Power Station, I took a series of photographs — some in portrait and some in landscape. I wanted the final image to be a collage with interesting shapes, so this method helped me create a quirky, jaunty composition.
Later on, in Photoshop, I converted the photos into different duotone colours to add visual interest. Then, using a similar technique to David Hockney’s photo collages, I arranged them back together to form a unique interpretation of the London skyline.
Period Drama in Monochrome:
Exploring cinematic lighting and dramatic styling to recreate the tension and mystery of film noir
This student created a wonderful black and white photoshoot inspired by the atmospheric style of Hitchcock’s classic films. Fully embracing the concept, she involved both herself and a friend as models, dressing in period costumes to evoke the era authentically. The poses and expressions were deliberately theatrical, adding a sense of narrative tension and mystery to the work.
A key part of the process was the use of carefully designed chiaroscuro lighting, creating striking contrasts of light and shadow. This technique added drama and depth to the photographs, resulting in a haunting and cinematic set of images that successfully captures the essence of Hitchcock’s film noir aesthetic.
Be Quirky & Funny:
Being quirky and funny can be very valuable because it helps your work stand out as creative, original and personal—qualities that examiners look for when marking against the assessment objectives. Humour and quirkiness can make your photographs more engaging and memorable, showing that you can communicate ideas freshly and imaginatively.
Developing witty or unexpected concepts also demonstrates thoughtful planning and a deeper understanding of artistic context.
Single Colour:
The student used Photoshop to cut out Little Red Riding Hood and place her on a separate layer. They then turned the background black and white by lowering its saturation, leaving only her skin and red cape in colour. This created a striking contrast that made her stand out dramatically against the monochrome background.
City Signals:
A collage of New York’s street signs
A student went on a trip to New York City, where they photographed an array of street signs, traffic lights, and road traffic directions scattered across the bustling urban landscape.
Back home, they reimagined these everyday objects by carefully collaging them into a single, dynamic image that layered stop signs, pedestrian signals, painted arrows, and flashing lights into a bold composition. The result was an artwork that transformed mundane images into an expressive piece reflecting the city’s energy, movement, and vibrant chaos.
Still Life:
Arrange, light and photograph objects to produce thoughtful and engaging compositions
First, gather objects that visually or symbolically connect, then arrange them thoughtfully, experimenting with composition.
Use natural light from a window or controlled lighting from lamps, and explore different angles and depths of field when photographing.
Capturing a Wide View:
Creating panoramic landscapes with your phone and Photoshop
To take a panoramic landscape photo on your mobile, open the camera app, select Panorama mode, and slowly move your phone in the direction shown on-screen while keeping the guide arrow aligned for a smooth, wide capture. Once saved, you can enhance or create a panorama in Photoshop by importing several overlapping landscape shots, then going to File > Automate > Photomerge, selecting your images, and letting Photoshop stitch them together into one seamless image. Finally, use the Crop Tool to trim rough edges and adjust brightness or contrast to perfect your panoramic scene.
Nature Walk
Capture the intricate details of nature on a riverside ramble
Take a walk along the River Thames towpath and bring your camera to capture macro photographs of nature’s details. Focus on close-up abstract shots of textures like moss, tree bark, leaves, and insects. Look carefully for interesting patterns, colours, and teeny-tiny subjects that people might normally miss.
Freeze the Moment:
Capturing Movement in Nature
Using a fast shutter speed lets you freeze motion sharply, whether it’s a human caught mid-dance move or a bird captured in mid-flight, revealing crisp details and dynamic shapes that would otherwise blur.
The student photographed a friend who is a contemporary dancer, capturing them dancing barefoot in the woods. By placing the dancer in a natural setting, the student highlighted the contrast between graceful human movement and the organic textures of the forest, creating expressive, atmospheric images that feel both raw and poetic.