Narrative Photography Guide. Photos That Tell a Story.

My latest video – A Narrative Photography Guide: How to Create Photos That Tell a Story – just went live! I’d love to hear what you think of the ideas in it.

In this short look at narrative photography, I discuss how incorporating narrative photography techniques into your work can create compelling and meaningful photos that tell a story. By arranging elements in your photos, you can make your viewers see a character in a scene, not just a model posing.

#storytellingphotography #narrativephotography #compositionphotography

 

Narrative Photography Guide

Check out my narrative photography guide. I have been exploring the exciting world of storytelling photography for the past 7 years! It all started when I photographed a group of Mexica dancers and became fascinated with the stories and traditions that they were passing down. This guide is part of my storytelling photography series, where I share my experiences and insights on how to incorporate the art of storytelling in photography.

Compositional Techniques

So what’s the secret to great visual storytelling? It’s all about being coherent! Every element in your composition should fit together logically to create a narrative photo. Trust me, it’s like the glue that holds everything together! In my latest video, I show you some examples of how I’ve improved my photos by making sure the lighting and perspective are coherent with the other elements of the composition.

Visual Language

It’s not just about narrative, it’s also about creating aesthetically pleasing photos. In my storytelling photography series, I demonstrate how I’ve used hidden geometry and framing to draw attention to my subject. Who knew math could be so cool, am I right? This is all part of the art of storytelling in photography.

The Art of Storytelling in Photography

In short, creating a cohesive composition is the first step towards storytelling photography. So grab your camera and go out there to start telling stories with your photos! Who knows, maybe you’ll become as obsessed with it as I am! Don’t forget to check out this narrative photography guide and my storytelling photography series to learn more about incorporating the art of storytelling in photography into your work.

 

Takeways

Here are five action points you can take away from this video:

1. Use visual language to tell a story with your photos. Compose elements in your photo to communicate meaning.

2. Create visually coherent images by making sure every element in your composition fits together logically. Every aspect of your composition needs to work together to create narrative photos.

3. Consider the psychology of perspective when taking photos. High angles can make people feel inferior, while low angles can make people seem more powerful and confident.

4. Experiment with hidden geometry and framing to draw attention to your subject and create visually pleasing compositions.

5. Remember that culture, ethnicity, and other variables can affect how people interpret your photos.

Learn Narrative Photography with JP Stones

Join me on one of my award winning Photography Workshops in Mexico.

Watch my free online course: Storytelling for Photographers!

 

Transcript

I’ve spent the last 7 years trying to understand how visual language could help me tell better stories. It started when I was photographing a group of Mexica dancers, back in 2017.

The Mexica

The Mexica enjoy lives rich in mythology, tradition and folklore. They have this strong connection to their past, to ancient stories passed onto through the generations. I found all of this fascinating, and wanted to find a way to bring the stories into the images we were creating.

Fast forward 7 years, and this interest in visual storytelling has turned into a bit of an obsession. But there’s a good reason for that: it’s made me a better photographer. And I think I can sum up that change… with just two words.

Visual Language

A photo can be much more than just aesthetically pleasing. You can also compose elements in your photo to communicate meaning. This is visual language, I look at it in more detail in this video.

When I first started playing with visual language, I wasn’t very good. And that’s because my visual communication was all over the place. It got better when it became more coherent. Think of a great communicator: Winston Churchill maybe, Steve Jobs? Whoever popped into your head, they didn’t get that good by making stuff up on the spot. They carefully composed their speeches.

Visual Communication

Visual communication is no different. Every element in your composition should fit together logically. Coherently.A visually coherent image stands a better chance of luring the viewer into a narrative frame of mind. A state that happens when a viewer no longer sees a model in a photo, but instead they see a character in a scene. Get someone to that point… and they’re way more likely to engage with your photo. Let me show you I mean.

The Art of Storytelling in Photography

I took this photo of Linda about 7 years ago. It’s one of my first Mexica photos, and I was happy with it. I liked the geometry in the pose and the leading lines of the tree. But looking at it now, I see a giant issue with the visual language. The image was taken at sunset, but my strobe was set to 5000k. That’s a color temperature for the midday sun, not the setting sun.

In other words, the lighting is incoherent with the rest of the scene. It’s not logical. Photos like this can’t be narrative photos because you see a mode posing, not a character. Here is a more recent image, where I made sure to match color temperatures. That’s why it’s immersive, it’s a more believable narrative photo. This isn’t just about lighting though, it’s about every aspect of your composition. They all need to work together to create narrative photos.

Photograph with Intention

My intention with this image was for Linda to radiate confidence and power. But I messed up, I shot her from a high angle. The psychology of perspective tells us that when you literally look down on someone you also figuratively do that. You feel superior to them. Someone you are looking down on is not radiating confidence or power. It doesn’t matter how you set the lights or the pose up. It won’t work. The perspective isn’t coherent with the other elements of the composition like the pose.

A few months later, I had the chance to reshoot this. Notice how your perception of Linda shifts as I change to a lower perspective. That’s because the visual language becomes more coherent. The confident pose paired with a complimentary perspective.

These sound like totally different issues: color temperature and perspective. But both images were improved by thinking about coherent visual language.I’m not saying every photo should tell a story. Composition can be a purely aesthetic exercise. Most of the time I’m just trying to arrange elements into visually pleasing compositions. And not much else. But sometimes I want to add ANOTHER layer. To create compositions that have aesthetic value and narrative value. Photos that look pretty and transfer meaning.

Narrative Photography

Take this photo. We shot it a few weeks ago. It’s a dramatic take on the Mexica New Sun Ceremony. Every 52 years, the yearly calendar and the shorter Ritual Calendar end on the same day. On that day, the story goes, the Aztec God of Fire Xiuhtecuhtli, binds these two calendars together to create a new sun.

Cohesive Compositions

It’s a great story, and this photo is an attempt at communicating those ideas visually. The fire of course is because the subject is Xiuhtecuhtli the God of Fire. The two torches arc together to symbolize this binding of calendars. The semi-circle created is the shape of a rising sun, or a New Sun.

So, that’s the narrative side of the composition, but there is also an aesthetic side. That semi-circle is a strong geometric shape. Hidden geometry is a well established compositional technique. I love doing this.

It’s been going on for eons.

I also used the fire pots to help frame the model. Framing is another aesthetic trick that draws attention to your subject.

What you get from reading this image is going to depend on your culture, ethnicity and other variables.

I’m not claiming you can read an image like a book.

But if you work on creating cohesive compositions, you’re taking a solid first step towards narrative photography. To have people see characters, not just another model posing.