Telling a story with photos takes more than just a skillful
photographer.
An impacting photo story can only be developed by skillful
photographers who understand the emotions and concepts behind ever-great story
The form of such a story is called
What is a Photo Essay?
A photo essay is very simply a
collection of images that are placed in a specific order to tell the
progression of events, emotions, and concepts.
The photo essay takes the same story telling techniques as a
normal essay, translated
5 Photo Essay Tips
Every human being is drawn to stories. The photo essay is a
brilliant way to bring your images to life and touch your family, friends, and
coworkers.
1. Find a topic: Photo essays are most dynamic when you as the photographer care
about the subject. Whether you choose to document the first month of a
newborn in the family, the process of a school drama production, or even a
birthday party, make your topic something in which you find interest.
2. Do your research: If you document a newborn’s first month, spend time with the
family. Discover who the parents are, what culture they are from, whether they
are upper or lower class. If you cover the process of a school’s drama
production, talk with the teachers, actors and stage hands; investigate the
general interest of the student body; find out how they are financing the
production and keeping costs down. If you photograph a birthday party, check
out the theme, the decorations they plan on using, what the birthday kid hopes
to get for his or her gifts. All of these factors will help you in planning out
the type of shots you set up for your story.
3. Find the “real
story”: After your research, you can determine
the angle you want to take your story. Is the newborn the first
4. Every dynamic
story is built on a set of core values and emotions that touch the heart of its
audience. Anger. Joy. Fear. Hurt. Excitement.
The best way you can connect your photo essay with its audience is to draw out
the emotions within the story and utilize them in your shots. This does not mean
that you manipulate your audience’s emotions. You merely use emotion as a connecting
point.
5.Plan your shots: Whether you decide to sit down and extensively visualize each
shot of the story, or simply walk through the venue in your mind, you will want
to think about the type of shots that will work best to tell your story. I
recommend beginners first start out by creating a “shot list” for the story. Each
shot will work like a sentence in a one-paragraph story.
Each shot must
emphasize a different concept or emotion that can be woven together with the
other images for the final draft of the story.
http://digital-photography-school.com/5-photo-essay-tips/
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