The Higher Education Institutional Culture Equity and Transformation (HEICET) group recently had a successful thesis proposal seminar with Prof Louise Vincent followed by a photography session with Ms Mia van de Merwe.
The attendees were supplied with recent proposals from the Department of Political and International Studies in order to familiarize themselves with the Humanities Higher Degrees Committee guidelines for research proposals.
Photographs can be a powerful tool in qualitative research. Ms van de Merwe inducted the group into some basic principles of photography:
Thinking about light
- Light and the golden hour (usually an hour after sunrise and hour before sunset)
- Cloudy days are good for portraits
- Natural light is best
Using a phone or point-shoot
Framing and other hints for composition
More on portraiture
Visual variety
Manual photography (shutter speed, aperture and ISO)
Never zoom when using a cellphone – use your feet to zoom!