Date: Alan MASSÉ

Learning to learn…
Describing a picture
A. Layout of the document:

11 12 6 8

1
3

4
2

9 5 10
1: at the top 5: on the left 9: in the bottom left-hand corner
2: at the bottom 6: on the right 10: in the foreground
3: at the top half 7: in the middle 11: in the background
4: at the bottom half
 8: in the top right-hand corner
 12: in the distance


B. A few useful expressions:

Presenting a picture: This … is taken from…; It was published in…; It was drawn / painted /
made by…
Type of picture: a painting, a fresco, a watercolour, a sketch, a portrait, a poster, an ad /
advert, a cartoon, a feature shot (photo de reportage), a fashion photograph, a caricature…
Size: tiny, small, large, big, tall, huge, gigantic, enormous…
Colour and light: bright, dark, black and white, colour, pale,
Position: on either side, close to / near, behind, in front of, inside, outside, under / below /
beneath, on top of / above, half-hidden, partially hidden…
Technical terms: the setting (le cadre), the backdrop (l’arrière plan), the atmosphere, an
impression, the structure…
Sentence starters: The scene takes place…; It shows / represents / illustrates / focuses on /
advertises; We are shown…; We can see…; It’s composed of; It’s made up of…
Describing a picture