Photography Reading And Interpretation Questions And Answers

Photography Reading And Interpretation Questions And Answers

Photograph interpretation is a process of reading, measuring and interpreting photographs for obtaining reliable information about natural or human features and their environment.

In other words, photograph interpretation can be defined as analysis and examination of photographs so as to be able to identify natural or artificial features.

1. Explain the meaning of the following terms

i. Photograph

ii. Photography

iii. Camera

iv. Horizon

v. Dead ground

ANSWERS:

i. Photograph; is an image or picture of people or objects recorded by a camera and then printed on a special paper.

ii. Photography; is an art or profession of taking, developing and printing photograph.

iii. Camera; is a device or equipment used for taking photograph and develop it on a special paper known film.

iv. Horizon; is an area behind the background where the sky or clouds seems to intersect with the ground. It is taken as a part of background

v. Dead ground; is an area of ground hidden from an observer due to undulation on the land.

2. Oliva is a good photographer, one day when she was spending a holiday at her home place she decided to take a photograph of the area around their houses while standing on the roof of the tallest house

i. Which type of photograph was taken? Give reason

ii. Give the meaning of the type of photograph taken in (a) above

iii. Mention four characteristics of the type of photograph taken in (a) above

iv. Is the type of photograph taken in (a) above used for map making? Give reason.

ANSWERS:

a. Type of photograph taken was low oblique photograph. Because firstly, a photographer was at low elevated angle toward the ground

b. Low oblique photograph; is a type of photograph taken at low angle less than 60o. It can be taken on the cliff, hills, mountains, plateau and house roof.

c. Characteristics of low oblique photograph includes

i. It covers small area

ii. It is taken on hills, house roof, stones, low elevated aircraft at an angle less than 60o

iii. It show hidden features like car’s tyres

iv. It does not show horizon

v. It shows more than one side view of the object

d. The type of photograph in (a) above is not used for map making because low oblique photograph has no uniform scale also it covers small area.

3. Mwl chigange is a geography teacher at Kassa charity secondary school; he gave form three students a photograph showing cotton plantation taken at an elevated angle of 650 toward the plantation. Then students were required to answer the following question related to the topic.

i. Which type of photograph was given to students?

ii. Is the type of photograph provided used for map making? Give reason

iii. Give three characteristics of type of photograph provided

iv. Mention four differences between the type of photograph provided by Mwl Chigange and vertical photograph

ANSWERS:

i. The type of photograph provided was high oblique photograph. Because this type of photograph is taken at an elevated angle more than 60o and less than 90o.

ii. The type of photograph is not used for map making because it covers small area and lack constant scale.

iii. Characteristics of high oblique photograph include

• It is taken at elevated angle less than 90o but above 60o

• It covers larger area

• Features seem to be small in size

• It is taken by high flying aircraft

• It shows horizon

iv. Difference between high oblique photograph and vertical photograph

• High oblique photograph is taken at an elevated angle less than 90 while vertical photograph is taken vertically at 90

• High oblique photograph is not used for map making while vertical photograph is used for map making

• High oblique photographs lack constant scale while vertical photographs have constant scale

• High oblique photographs are less expensive while vertical photograph is more expensive.

4. Photographs taken horizontally are better than those taken vertically. Justify this statement with five points

ANSWER:

Horizontal photographs are better than vertical photographs as follow:

i. They are less expensive than vertical photographs

ii. They do not consume much time when taking it but vertical photograph need much time because it is taken by an aircraft.

iii. It is easy to interpret ground photographs while it I not easy to interpret vertical photograph because they show small features sometime are not seen well

5.  Describe the uses of aerial photographs over ground level photograph

ANSWER:

The uses of aerial photographs over ground level photograph include:

• Aerial photograph is used for map making but ground level photograph is not used for map making

• Aerial photograph is used for military purpose while ground level photograph is not used for military purposes

• Aerial photograph is used by tourist on mountain climbing to identify features like peaks and crater while ground level photograph is not used by tourists on mountain climbing

• Aerial photograph covers large area while ground level photograph covers small area

5. Before starting any task we always prepare ourselves. Suppose you are a photographer residing in Mwanza and you need to take photographs of different parts of Dar es Salaam for different uses. Briefly elaborate five (5) things to be considered by a photographer before starting his/her work.

ANSWER:

Five (5) things to be considered by a photographer before starting his/her work include:

a. Money; he/she should prepare enough money for fare transport, food and for printing the pictures

b. A good camera; a camera of high quality should be prepared for taking the picture as the quality of a camera determines the quality of photograph.

c. Targeted area; a photographer should understand the area where pictures are to be taken.

d. Time; a photographer should identify the time that will be used for taking the photographs

e. A permission letter from the government authority; photographer should have a letter from the ward executive officer or any other leader from a given area where the event will take place to prove that he/ she is allowed to take the photographs in the area.

6. The quality of photographs varies and this is caused by different factors. With six points describe the reasons for this variation.

ANSWER:

The quality of photograph is affected by the following factors

a. Shaking of the camera

b. Experience of photographer; experienced photographers always take good and quality photographs than inexperienced photographers

c. Weather condition; presence of heavy rain or strong winds may affect the quality of photograph

d. Distance of subjects from the face of camera lens, the closer the objects the higher the quality of the photographs

e. Quality of the camera; camera with high quality produce good and quality photographs than camera with low quality

f. Nature of materials; light tone represents the areas with high reflectance while dark tone represents the areas with low reflectance

g. Missed focus; when a camera miss the targeted features due to shaking or instability of tripod stand cause low quality of a photograph

h. Subject movement; attempting to photograph moving subjects require a suitably faster shooter speed without it you will end up with a blurred image

i. Image resolution

7. Photograph reading and interpretation is one of the topics which is most interested by many students. Anisia is a form three student at Kagu secondary school who is interested more with this topic, one day Anisia was talking to her mother on the importance of this topic, her mother rejected that the topic is useless in our daily life and it is wastage of time and money. With five (5) points argue against Anisia’s mother view.

ANSWER:

Photograph reading and interpretation is not useless in our daily life because:

a. Photographs are used for field studies

b. Photographs are used for storing information for the future uses

c. They are cheap (less expensive)

d. They give quick information about an area than map

e. Photographs work instead of maps

f. They do not need trained eyes to interpret as all features are shown the way they are

g. They show different human activities carried out on the earth’s surface. Example agriculture and fishing

8. Describe five differences between photographs and maps

ANSWER:

Five differences between photographs and maps are:

a. Maps have uniform scale while photographs have no uniform scale except vertical photograph

b. Maps have title while photographs have no title hence it is difficult to know where the photograph was taken

c. Maps are very expensive while photographs are less expensive except vertical photographs

d. Maps have key that gives out the meaning of symbols and signs used while photographs have no key

e. Maps have north direction while photographs have no north direction

f. Maps are too selective while photographs are not selective they show everything found on the area.

9. Describe five differences between photographs and maps

ANSWER:

Five differences between photographs and maps are:

a. Maps have uniform scale while photographs have no uniform scale except vertical photograph

b. Maps have title while photographs have no title hence it is difficult to know where the photograph was taken

c. Maps are very expensive while photographs are less expensive except vertical photographs

d. Maps have key that gives out the meaning of symbols and signs used while photographs have no key

e. Maps have north direction while photographs have no north direction

f. Maps are too selective while photographs are not selective they show everything found on the area.

10. Vertical photograph are more useful than other types of photograph. With example describe worthiness of vertical photographs

ANSWER:

Worthiness of vertical photographs include

a. Vertical photographs are used for map making because have constant or uniform scale

b. They show large area

c. They store information for the future uses

d. They depict various economic activities taking place on the photographed area

e. They are used for military purposes

11. Briefly explain five disadvantages of photograph taken at 90o

ANSWER: 

Five disadvantages of photograph taken at 90o include

a. They need a lot of money to accomplish all processes

b. They consume much time

c. It is difficult to make interpretation because the features are small in size and not seen clearly like those in ground level photograph

d. They are mostly affected by weather condition like rainfall, strong wind and fog

12. Suppose you are invited to elaborate the concept of photograph to form three students at Lwemo Secondary School. Briefly describe three indicators that can enable students when interpreting climate on the photograph.

ANSWER:

Three indicators that can enable students when interpreting climate on the photograph are:

1. Vegetation

• Presence of dense forests indicate that the area receive heavy rain throughout the year hence EQUATORIAL CLIMATE

• Presence of baobab trees and cactus indicates arid or semi-arid region hence DESERT OR SEMI-DESERT CLIMATE

• Presence of crops like tea, banana, coffee, rice and palm trees implies

2. Water bodies

• Presence of large water bodies like ocean, lakes and big rivers indicate Equatorial climate because water bodies lead the formation of frequent rainfall

• Presence of seasonal swamps implies that the area receives seasonal rainfall.

3. Crops grown

• Presence of crops like millet, cotton and maize indicates Tropical climate. Because these crops need moderate rainfall hence they grow well in tropical region

• Presence of crops like tea, banana, coffee, rice and palm trees implies equatorial climate. Because these crops need heavy rainfall throughout the year hence they are grown in equatorial climate.

13. Suppose you are a geography teacher at Nyawilimilwa Secondary School and you are preparing lesson notes that will be used for teaching students on interpretation of economic activities like Lumbering, fishing, trade, agriculture and tourism. Briefly give evidences from each activity to support its presence when shown on a photograph.

ANSWER:

Evidences from each activity to support its presence when shown on a photograph include

a. Lumbering, this can be evidenced due to the presence of forest, timber center or people producing timbers by using traditional or local instruments

b. Fishing; this can be evidenced due to the presence of water bodies like ocean, lake, rivers or dam on the area shown on a photograph. Also the presence of people fishing by using boats, ships or canoes.

c. Agriculture; this is evidenced to the presence of large plantations, harvesting by using modern or local tools, presence of people cultivating or planting and weeding

d. Tourism; this can be evidenced due to the presence of attractive features like mountains, water fall, caves, wild animals like elephants, zebra, giraffe and lion. Also presence of tourists with their special vehicle in the national parks implies that tourism is taking place on the area.

14. Briefly explain three types of photograph

ANSWER:

The meaning of three types of photograph

a. Horizontal or Ground photograph; is a type of photograph taken when a camera and objects are at the same level. When ground photograph is taken, the axis of the camera is placed horizontally towards the object.

b. Oblique Photograph; is a type of photograph taken from elevated angle less than 90o. If they are taken when a photographer is at a tall tree, hill, house roof and mountain they are known as ground oblique photographs and when taken at a flying plane they are known as aerial oblique photograph

c. Vertical or Aerial Photograph; is a photograph taken vertically at right angle (90o) towards the objects on the ground. The camera focus on specific features but also surrounding scenery is seen or shown. Vertical photograph is taken at right angle by moving aircraft.

15. Photographs and maps resemble. With six points justify this statement.

ANSWER: 

It is true that photographs and maps resemble in the following because

i. Both are used in learning geography

ii. Both have scales, although photographs have no constant scale

iii. Both are used in military techniques

iv. Both show physical and relief features on the earth’s surface

v. Both are used by planners in planning projects

vi. Both present three dimensional world on the flat surface like front, left and right

vii. both store geographical data for the future uses

16. The government under the ministry of home affair and ministry of defense and national service proposed and agreed to take a photograph of the whole country so that they can use it for different purposes.

a. Which type of photograph will be taken? Give reason

b. Mention three features of the type of photograph in (a) above

c. Mention four limitations of using type of photograph in (a) above.

d. Mention four purposes of using the photograph in (a) above

ANSWER:

a. A type of photograph that will be taken is vertical photograph. Because it is the only type of photograph that covers large area. Example area of the whole country

b. The features of the type of photograph in (a) above are

• It is taken vertically at 90o

• It covers large area than other types of photograph

• It shows top sides of objects

• They do not show horizon

• It has constant or uniform scale

c. four limitations of using type of photograph in (a) above include

• It consumes much time

• It is difficult to interpret as features appear small in size

• It is not selective, it shows everything present in the area

• It is difficult to identify ground features like type of soil

• It is very expensive because it needs aircraft for taking a picture

d. four purposes of using the photograph in (a) above are

• It is used for map making

• It is used for military purpose

• It is used by tourist on mountain climbing to identify features like peaks and crater

• It is used to identify and record different features both natural and man made