How to Do Storytelling With Your Images: 8 Useful Tips

You need wide-angle shots showing the ‘big picture’, portraits depicting the main characters. Shots from high up, low down & every viewpoint in between. Action shots, detailed images… combined, all these tell the whole story.

Most newspaper photography fits into this category of story telling – one image that attempts to capture the essence of an accompanying written story.

The most meaningful portraits tell a story; they not only memorialize a person at a specific time and place, they give us insight into that person as well. Their productions look more like a movie set than a portrait shoot. Their images can have a polished, produced look. They can make someone look any way they choose.

A photography series is a collection of images that are linked and showcased together. A series of photos will often have the same theme and have a conceptual bond or are shot at the same location. Photo series are often edited with the same method and in the same style focusing on coherence.

1. Include small details to tell a story in a single frame.
2. Aim for variety in a series of shots.
3. Take control of the entire frame.
4. Plan ahead with a shot list.
5. Learn to narrow down, trim, and exclude.
6. Emotions are an important part of storytelling.

What the light focuses on draws attention, like an important character in a scene. Intensity in lighting can provide scenic context. Choosing where to hang fixtures — as well as what fixtures, gel colors, gobo patterns, and angles of light to use — matters in telling a story with lighting.

A photographic essay is a form of visual storytelling, a way to present a narrative through a series of images. A great photo essay is powerful, able to evoke emotion and understanding without using words. A photo essay delivers a story using a series of photographs and brings the viewer along your narrative journey.

A photograph has the ability to convey emotion, mood, narrative, ideas and messages – all of which are important elements of story telling. Of course the gift of story telling is something that doesn’t just happen – good story tellers are intentional about learning how to tell stories and practice their craft.

8 Tips – How to do Storytelling With Your Images Include small details to tell a story in a single frame. Imagine your task is to tell the visual story of a person. Aim for variety in a series of shots. Related to the last point is you that you need to remember to take a variety of different images styles of Take control of the entire frame. Plan ahead with a shot list.

Terrific photos can compliment, enhance, and even tell a story that your audience will enjoy. Telling a story with photos is very flexible and a creative process. Use one photo that is dynamic or several images depends upon the story and your goal. Perhaps the most powerful images that linger through history are those that tell a strong story.

There are lots of ways to tell a story with pictures. Simply taking a photo of a person in a particular context can be enough to tell a story. Well-chosen portraits can also tell a powerful story. This portrait of a Maori performer was taken at dusk with a telephoto lens.