Lesson #4: What makes an image powerful?

Part of the unit: Creating a Public Service Announcement |
Download PDF of Lesson
Download PDF of Lesson

Goals

Students will be able to:
use the Internet to research images for their selected topics.
Resources
Examples of simple and complex images relating to a specific topic.

Motivation & Demonstration

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Motivation: 
Discuss "A picture is worth a thousand words." Show the class a variety of images for a specific theme (both simple and complex images) and ask them to select the most powerful ones and explain the message related by that image.. Ask questions such as:
  • What do the most powerful pictures have in common?
  • How do the visual elements contribute to a picture's power?
  • How do the principles of design contribute to a picture's power?
  • What should be considered when combining images with text?
Demonstration: 
Assume you wanted to create an ad with the theme of __________:
  • What type of images do you think you could use for this subject?
  • How do these images relate to our current culture?
  • How could you use the internet to help locate these images?
  • How can you use the computer to crop your image to simplify it?
  • How can you save it to a file?
Students should be assigned to work in pairs. Hand out the list of topics suggested by the class in Lesson 1. Give students ten minutes to discuss the topics and select the one they want to work on.
Worktime
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Students will work in pairs to brainstorm the kind of images they need for their topic. They will search for the images they want and will learn to save them to a file. Where appropriate, and as an alternative, students can use a digital camera to photograph the images they need and load them onto the computer.