Key photographic devices tied the construal of news values
Evaluative elements We can evaluate image participants as important or
having high status by photographing them in the middle
of a media scrum with microphones and cameras
pointing at them, or surrounded by bodyguards,
military or a police escort, thus construing the news
value of Prominence.
Technical elements that could also contribute to the
positive or negative evaluation of image participants
include camera angle. When a photograph is taken
from a very low angle (looking up towards the image
participants), unequal power relations are said to be
enacted between the image participants and the
viewer, with the image participants said to be in the
more powerful position. This technique is commonly
used to photograph politicians or military officials and
may construe the news value of Prominence in the
image participants.
The opposite is true when the camera angle is very
high, photographing the image participants from above,
and putting the viewer in a dominant position. Such an
angle may construe the news value of Negativity, as it
is commonly used in photographs of young offenders or
prisoners of war.
Intensification An image that serializes/repeats information in the
image frame is a device for intensification and as such
can construe Superlativeness. Similarly, photographs
depicting the aftermath of natural disasters can be
intensified by including many, repeated participants.
Such images not only construe Impact, but also
Superlativeness.
Comparison Comparisons are also easily depicted in images by
placing elements of differing sizes next to each other,
again construing Superlativeness and possibly Novelty.
The effect of such comparisons can be further
intensified and even exaggerated by manipulating
technical elements in the camera.
References to emotion Showing news actors’ emotional responses in an image
can construe a variety of news values, ranging from
Negativity (depicting negative emotions) to
Personalization (an individual’s emotional response
especially when combined with the use of a close-up
shot), Novelty (depictions of surprise/shock in facial
expressions/gestures), Impact (in terms of caused
emotions) and Superlativeness (depicting strong
emotional responses)
