ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on form, and in particular on how the form(s) and styles of image making can allow generating stories. It begins with camera operation and also focuses on to exposure and finally to composition. The chapter describes the work for both still photography and video, because working with image forms is essentially identical in most cases. Images—as creative signifiers of a corresponding signified social reality—are very much like words: semiotic resources that allow storytellers to enliven or animate the subjects, contexts, and happenings of their narrative. Composition refers to the geometrical relations among the subjects present within an image and their relations with the frame within which they are contained. Ethnographers have a practical rapport with composition; their reason for creating images is to give their viewers a feel for naturally unfolding action and social interaction, and this task requires that they shoot whatever will help them answer a research question.
