Storytelling

PHOTO CHALLENGE |

Storytelling is

What makes a strong storytelling image?

What are those elusive elements that combine to produce narrative? I'm not sure there are any hard and fast rules (after all, photography is subjective) but I do believe there are some basic tenets that define good storytelling across all media.

1. Be Universally Relatable 

A powerful story will resonate because we can either identify with the subject or empathize with the situation. When you're planning your shot, think about which elements within it are universal. Is it a feeling you've portrayed that will resonate? Or is it the setting and environmental details?

Focusing on everyday human moments is a great way to ensure your image translates because these scenes are often peppered with familiar details.

But what if you have a more specific and personal story to tell? That's ok too! Your story can be deeply personal and absent of environmental cues so long as the emotional cues are still universally recognised. 

What elements can you use to convey emotion? It could be gaze or facial expression, but it could just as easily be body language, composition, use of negative space or colour theory. All of those things can provoke a sense of mood and emotion.

2. Make the viewer care

Stories are about how you feel. To a degree the plot is irrelevant. A great story appeals to our deepest human emotions and makes us care.

Capture and share what you feel at your core. What is your "why" as an artist? If you're not sure, there are plenty of exercises and tutorials on CM to help you discover your why.

Your goal is to move your viewer. You know that old adage "don't shoot what it looks like, shoot how it feels"? Tune in to your authentic voice and capture how it feels. If you capture what genuinely moves you it will move your viewer too.

3. Be Intentional

Be singular and focused in telling your story. Deliberately select what is in your frame and what is not. Think about whether each aspect adds to the story or detracts from it.

Intentionally look for the best light, angle and opportunities to include pattern and repetition. Even if you don't have time to plan because your moment is unfolding spontaneously you can still take a quick second to assess the best angle.

Make sure you include useful details that flesh out the story. This is like exposition scenes at the start of a movie. Except a filmmaker tells their story over 90 minutes and thousands of frames. You only get one. Make it count.

4. Have a clear structure

In a film or a novel structure refers to the beginning, middle and end. In photography structure is the use of the visual language that helps you to read a frame.

Think about where the viewer enters your frame (typically top left) and how they move around  or through it (most often a Z shape or a diagonal from top left to bottom right). 

Plan your composition accordingly. What elements invite your viewer in? Have you used lines to direct their eye? Is there a spiral to draw them around the frame?

Think about the placement of details that show the viewer where to take pauses. These are like the beats in a novel or film. They give your viewer a chance to breathe, inspire thought and evoke a response.