TYPES AND FORMS OF PICTURES IN MASS MEDIA

TYPES AND FORMS OF PICTURES IN MASS MEDIA

PICTURES AND THE MASS MEDIA
The mass media, particularly the print cannot be complete without photographs or
pictures. It is pictures that add colour, embellishment and illustrative outlook to the
written words presented in newspaper and magazine news stories, features and
articles. They, therefore, not only demonstrate, but also clarify, describe, illuminate,
expand, brighten and authenticate the claims of the presented write-ups of the story.
This lays credence to the popular Chinese adage that a picture tells a thousand stories.
It is, therefore, no wonder the popular and significant roles pictures play today in the
mass media. All these: television, cinema, social media, books, journals, newspapers
and magazines, especially the last two, massively use photographs as tools for
achieving their communicative goals. They contribute to the news. Indeed, one would
marvel sighting a newspaper or magazine without pictures. This takes the mind back
to when that was the case. In fact, some readers today would just go through the
pictures accompanying stories to get the gist and move on, hence journalism is today
not complete without photographs.
3. 2 FUNCTIONS OF PICTURES IN PHOTO-JOURNALISM

Pictures today arouse readers’ interest and attention a great deal because they give the
readers a sense of participation or at least witnessing it personally which makes it
easier to identify with people and situations and become emotionally involved. Also,
pictures make it easier to retrieve stored information from memory, this happens
because pictures are encoded in terms of both their graphics and written content. The
presence of an additional memory code for picture items would enhance their
probability of being recalled because if one was forgotten or simply unavailable for
retrieval, the other could be used instead. So also to say that pictures present more
details than words do and provide a better grasp of relationship. This clarification
allows readers to form accurate visual memories of unfamiliar people and event and to
remember events done in the past.
In Journalism today, picture serves some useful purposes in newspapers. Thus
pictures can be identified majorly as follows:
I Credibility: a photograph makes whatever is pictured seem more real and true.lt
lends credibility to the story as people are more inclined to what they see than what
they read.

Photography and how it relates to the Law

2 Visual appeals: pictures are visual magnets, drawing readers into a page or a story.
For this reason, pictures often serve as entry points. Part of a picture's visual appeal is
the variety it adds to a layout. The contrast between a picture and copy is exciting and
eye catching. This is why pictures are usually the dominant element on a page or
spread.

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3 Vitality: a picture adds life-vitality-to a story in a way no illustration can match.
Even a mug shot do wonders as it makes readers feel as though the person in the story
is real. Sometimes a
Story has vitality, but it needs a picture to highlight that vitality. Pictures are
especially suited to bringing out the action on human interest in a story.
4 Aesthetics: aesthetics has to do with the beauty which is being portrayed in the
picture. Pictures add so much beauty to the story and also the newspaper as reader
may be attracted to the newspaper just because of the beauty of the picture.
1. Photographs add colour and illustration to stories.
2. Pictures present the essence and gist of stories.
3. They lay emphasis on salient aspects of stories.
4. They are used to dramatize the story of an event.
5. They authenticate the facts presented in stories.
6. They add variety and embellishment to stories.
7. They present the entertainment angle to a story.
8. The fascinating colours attract attention of the audience
9. They assist to fill what could have been empty pages.
10. They present facts to illiterate who cannot read the written words.
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11. They demonstrate the claims of the story.
12. They create jobs for specialists in this aspect of journalism