Students taking photography at GCSE or A level need to make reference to photographers many times. Below is a list of tips for making notes that show you have a brain and know how to use it.
It’s not an exhaustive list, and not all the points here will apply to all images you use. Include other considerations of your own that are relevant to the photo.
Why did you choose this image? What attracted you to it?
Why did the photographer / artist make the image?
Is the image constructed or documented from a real event?
Is the photographer trying to say something? Is there a message to the photograph?
What function did the photograph serve within the time it was made?
Is the subject matter symbolic in any way?
Does the image tell a story, were there events that lead up to and followed the single moment of the picture?
Discuss the use of composition, light and shade, texture form etc within the picture (refer to my post, ‘A list of artistic things…”).
Are there any particular techniques used in the photograph?
Describe the image, as though to someone who cannot see it.
How does the photographer’s work relate to that of others? Who were their influences and whom did they influence (it is worth doing research on the photographer to determine these)?
Can you tell if there are any specific parts of the photograph that link or define the image to specific dates, eras, or cultural, historical, social, religious, gender, political or other references?
What can you take and use from the image? Ideas, techniques, composition, etc?
NB:
Don’t use this list in a question/answer format; introduce these and any other notes and considerations in full sentences and paragraphs as relevant methods of analysing the image.
Important: when analysing and commenting on any image that is not your own work, be sure to you credit the name of the photographer and include the date of each image.
When using work copied from books or articles or downloaded from the internet, be sure to give full reference (including web addresses) to where the image was taken from.
©James Bartholomew
Photography Made Simple 
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