Photo Essay
Also called as Photo Story or Photo Features is about capturing everyday activity
or shooting a slice of everyday life. Features are timeless and unlike news pictures
do not get stale. For example, pictures of former President APJ Abdul Kalam
talking to school students is a timeless feature. Photo features evoke a reaction
from the audience as they convey emotions to the viewers. Candid shots of
celebrities, sports persons,politicians can qualify for features. A person with a
creative bent of mind can plan and execute good features. One should have a keen
eye for details and should observe the surroundings to identify subjects for
features. Every big hard story may have some side stories, these side stories may
offer some good features.
Animals, children, artists, actors, elderly people are great subjects for a feature. A
photo story is based on a theme. The individual pictures in the photo story are on
one subject or on one issue. Different pictures support one central idea. There can
be a photo story on the life of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. These
pictures can be about his political career, family, education etc. The style of
lighting is generally the same and the background can be different in different
pictures of a photo story. Photo stories on political leaders and their achievements
often come in news magazines.
There are two types of photo essays: the Narrative and the Thematic.
● The narrative essay tells a story through a sequence of events or actions.
They may follow an individual or activity over a period of time and present
this story in chronological order.
● A thematic photo essay focuses on a central theme (e.g. homelessness, the
environment, etc.) and presents photos relevant to that theme.
Essential elements of a Photo Essay
● The story: Your essay should be able to stand alone, without a written article,
and make logical sense to the viewer.
● A range of photos: A variety of photos wide angle, detailed, portraits etc.)
should be included.
● The order of the photos: It is important that the order of your photos
effectively tell a story, in an interesting and logical sequence.
● 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.
Find the heart, find the story
● 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.
● 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.
● Start out by creating a “shot list” for the story. Each shot will work like a
sentence in a one-paragraph story. Typically, you can start with 10 shots.
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.
Tips for Creating a Photo Essay
Creative photography can be fun, sentimental, eye-opening, or gut-wrenching. It
can expose a truth or instill a sense of hope. With so many possibilities to share a
good photo essay, it’s important to keep the following tips in mind:
1. Do your research. There may be many types of photo essay topics available,
but that doesn’t mean your specific idea hasn’t already been tackled by a
professional photographer. Look up the best photo essays that have already
been done on your topic to make sure the narrative can be executed in a new
and interesting way.
2. Follow your instincts. Take photos of everything. Overshooting can be
helpful for photojournalism. You never know what you’ll need, so the more
coverage you have, the better.
3. Only use the best images. From your lead photo to the final photo, you’re
creating a visually vivid story. However, if you use too many images, you
risk diluting the impact of your message. Only include the key photos
necessary.
3. Be open-minded. Your project may evolve past its initial concept, and that’s
okay. Sometimes a photo essay evolves organically, and your job as a
photojournalist is to extract the right narrative from the images you’ve
captured even if it wasn’t the original idea.
How to Create a Photo Essay
● Tell a diverse, confident story. Know what you’re shooting and why. It’s
important to figure out what your message is and shoot with a purpose.
● Make sure you have a wide variety of images. Getting a multitude of shots
during your photoshoot can ensure you’ve covered your bases. You may
need a wider angle, a close-up detail shot, or different lighting; you may
even decide to steer your photo essay in another direction altogether. With a
large collection of images to choose from, photographing everything can
give you a wide pool to choose from when compiling your photo series.
● Be a ruthless photo editor. Your editing process should be blunt. If a shot is
beautiful but won’t work in your essay, don’t use it. However, don’t edit any
images on the same day you shoot; it’ll be easier to be objective if you let a
little time pass between shooting and editing.
● Choose your top 10 images. Once a few days have passed, pick the best 100
photos from your shoot to start with. Then, a day or more later, look at those
100 images and narrow them down to the top 25. Finally, narrow the 25
down to the top 10 images, making sure each photo serves your original
concept for the story.
● Ask for outside input. Get a trusted, visually sophisticated friend to help
you: Give them the top 100 photos and a written description of the overall
story, and let them select what they think are the top 10 photos. Compare
how their choices align with the 10 photos you selected. Where did they
differ? Ask your friend why they chose photos that were different from
yours, making sure you listen to what they say without arguing about any of
their choices; your job is to listen and understand what they saw in the
images, and why they made the choices they did.
● Make your final selections. Keeping in mind your discussion with your
trusted friend, make your final selections for the 10 best images that tell your
story.
● Write captions. Your final 10 images can be captioned to help enhance your
visual narrative, but it isn’t necessary. If you feel like your images could use
some text, add it. However, if you think the images can stand on their own,
then you can present them as they are.
