How to Tell Stories with Your Photos
When I first started out as a travel photographer, I was focused on recreating the epic photos other photographers were taking around the globe. Whether it was the famous white buildings in Santorini, the tall spires of the mountains in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, or the calm waters of Milford Sound, I had to have those photos in my portfolio just like all the other successful travel photographers out there. But that was exactly the problem - every other successful travel photographer had already taken those images. So, in essence, I wasn’t really saying anything new with my photos; I was more so just recreating photos that I thought were aesthetically pleasing. Over time, however, I started to learn that, if I wanted to truly stand out as a photographer, I needed to create photos that were not only different, but also told compelling stories.
With a background in writing, the idea of creating stories through my photos was very appealing. However, writing a story with words seemed very different than creating a story through imagery. What I did discover, though, is that the principles of storytelling resonate in every art form, and can be transferred directly to both photography and videography. So, I started to think of my photography more from the perspective of a storyteller, trying to find compelling angles (literally and figuratively) to help capture the true essence of my scene and subject. The more I created these photo stories, the more I felt connected to my photos, especially my travel photos, as I was more easily able to look back at them and remember the story behind every shot.
So, how exactly do you tell stories with your photos? As mentioned above, the principles of storytelling apply directly to photography. There are, however, a few specific ways to help you as a photographer unearth the stories within your frames, and create content that is both original and compelling to your audience. To get you started, here are five steps you can follow to start telling stories with your photos today:
Use the Environment
I’ve discussed environmental portraits on this blog before, but incorporating your surroundings into your frames is a great way to help tell stories in your photos. Whether you’re taking a simple photo of a landscape or snapping a quick portrait, the environment within your photos can really help build context for your audience and create a sense of place.
Firstly, you can take establishing shots. An establishing shot is essentially a photo that, quite literally, establishes where your story is taking place. This can be as simple as taking a photo of the epic landscape you’re exploring, the city you’re wandering around in, or the interior space you’re hanging out in. The role of the establishing shot is to really set the scene for the rest of your images, ensuring your audience knows exactly where the story is taking place before you dive into the details.
Secondly, you can take close up shots to showcase the details of the scene, such as the architectural details of a building, the greenery in a jungle, or elements within an interior space. The key here is to capture shots that further create that sense of place for the audience, transporting them into a world that they may already be familiar with, but from a completely different perspective.
To capture both establishing shots and close ups of your scene, a classic standard zoom lens, such as a 24-70mm f2.8 lens, can really help. Try snapping some establishing shots at a wider focal length, such as 24mm or 35mm, and then zoom into 50mm or 70mm to really isolate the details. The juxtaposition of both far and close shots of your scene will, again, start to provide that more holistic perspective of your surroundings.
Add Subjects
To really help tell stories with your photos utilizing the environment, you need to incorporate the main characters of your story into some of the frames. This can be your partner, friends or even yourself. The key here is to start showcasing what, exactly, your characters are doing in the environment you’re photographing.
Environmental portraits have always been used in journalism to help enhance the written story. Why? Because a subject placed within a specific scene can immediately create a feeling or emotion, whether that is immediacy, happiness or, in the case of travel photography, wanderlust.
When taking portraits of people, it can be tempting to utilize an 85mm lens (the classic portrait focal length), set the ISO to f1.8 to achieve a really blurry background and crop the frame really tight around your subject. I’ll admit it, those portraits look great. But, as mentioned previously, the environment can go a long way towards telling your story, so it’s essential to take some portraits that actually show your subject in the scene.
To achieve this, try taking some photos of your subject(s) using a narrower aperture, such as F8. This won’t create much (if any) background blur, but your audience will be able to see where exactly your subject is. You may also want to try snapping some portraits using a wider focal length, such as a 35mm. This will make it easier for you to capture both your subject and their surroundings within the frame.
Focus on the Details
As noted above, capturing close ups of your environment can be a great way to truly transport your audience into the scene. This section takes that idea a step further. When capturing environmental portraits of your subjects, make sure to capture the details of what they’re doing too. This can be as simple as snapping a photo of them sipping their morning coffee, or as epic as them cliff jumping into the Mediterranean Sea. If it works for the story you’re trying to tell, it can also be both.
As opposed to thinking about how to take the most aesthetic photo you can, I think the key here is to really focus on what you and your subjects are doing, and how the resulting images will truly portray that. Sometimes, to tell the full story, you need to capture images that aren’t necessarily scroll-stopping and stunning, but are simply necessary details that your audience needs to know. Think of it like writing a book. Most books present a problem that leads towards the ultimate climax / solution. To get there, however, books contain a number of pages that provide context, create a sense of place, and drive the plot forward. These are all of the necessary details required to bring the reader to the ultimate conclusion.
The same is true for photographs. The details of your scenes and what your subjects are doing is what’s driving the overall story along, leading your viewer to the photo that encapsulates the dramatic conclusion.
Create a Photo Series
This has already been implied throughout this article, but creating a series of photos can really help tell stories through your imagery. Sure, there are lots of great single images out there that portray powerful stories. And you can tell fantastic stories with one image using some of the principles outlined in this article. But creating a photo series can, of course, provide more of those details outlined above, really bringing your audience on a journey.
The nice thing about creating a photo series is that it’s actually super easy these days. If you have an Instagram account, you can create a carousel post with up to 10 images to help tell your story. I find carousel posts especially useful for travel photography, as I can easily show our daily adventures in a series of photographs.
Of course there are other, more traditional ways of creating photo series, but they certainly take more work to get going. For instance, you could create an entire photo book that tells a lengthier story through imagery. Or you could create a photo series for a gallery. Both of these are great ways to tell stories through your photography, but, again, they will require quite a bit of legwork to bring to life.
Use Captions / Writing
Whether you’re creating an Instagram carousel or putting together a full-on photo book, writing can be a very powerful tool for telling stories with your photos. I’m not saying you need to write a novel to go along with your photos, but short captions that help provide even more context around the environment, your subject and what exactly is happening can go a long way.
The next time you go to post a photo or carousel on Instagram, try sharing a bit of background information on the place, providing a story arc for the adventure you went on, or even just simply outlining a brief introduction of what’s about to happen in your photo series. By piquing your audiences’ interest through writing, they may feel more inclined to actually flip through all of your photos to see how the story unfolds through your visuals.
Conclusion
Creating photographs isn’t all about taking the most aesthetically pleasing shot; it’s also about capturing stories through your imagery. To help tell stories through your photos, try utilizing the environment to truly create a sense of place for your audience, focusing on both establishing shots and close ups. Next, capture photos of your subject in the environment, depicting the details of how they’re interacting with it to help push your visual story along. Lastly, utilize a bit of writing to help add another element to your story and provide even more context for your audience. After a bit of practise, your photos and carousels will help transport your audience into the environment your depicting, and truly bring them along for the journey that you experienced.