Storytelling for Photographers – Telling a Story in 1 Photo!

Storytelling for Photographers

Welcome to the first episode of Storytelling for Photographers. Storytelling is powerful. It’s also confusing. How can one photo tell a whole story? In Episode 1, we look at how to adapt a story for photography. We then discuss how that story can help you pose your models and create an engaging composition that will draw a viewer into your photo.

Highlights

– How can you tell a story in one photo
– How can you imply a narrative in your photo
– Creating a story
– Choosing the hero
– Creating the composition
– Removing non-story elements
– Adding the lighting

Episode 1: How can you tell a story in 1 photo?
Episode 2: Narrative Composition.
Episode 3: How lighting can influence mood.
Episode 4: How color can influence mood.
Episode 5: Creating a Storytelling Photoshoot from scratch.

You can also watch the whole ‘Storytelling for Photographers’ series on YouTube.

Storytelling for Photographers – Episode Transcript

“Photographers are Visual Storytellers”

The term ‘storytelling’ has become a buzzword. And not just for photography. Interior Designers are storytellers, Ad Agencies are storytellers. Everyone seems to be a storyteller.

Normally I am not one for buzzwords. But here’s the thing about this one. It’s true. We ARE all storytellers. We’ve been telling stories for tens of thousands of years. It’s human nature. It’s how we make sense of the world around us.

But not every photo tells a story. To tell a story, you need to correctly apply a set of guidelines. Just like you do when correctly exposing a photo with shutter speed with aperture. Or when you create an aesthetically pleasing photo by applying compositional theory. Storytelling is no different, you have to learn it.

And that’s why I’m so excited about this Storytelling for Photographers series. Because once you learn these guidelines, it will change the way you think about photography – from composition to posing – because every decision will revolve around the story.

Can you really tell a story with just one photo?

A story unfolds over time. Let’s say it’s a film – you start it – at the beginning, and finish at the end. That film will use around 150,000 frames to tell its story. All this might lead us to assume that stories can only be told in this linear fashion. And, if that’s the case, where does that leave the photographer with his one frame?

It’s pretty simple really. The photo you take – that one frame – it isn’t a story. Not in the traditional sense anyway. One photo can’t tell a layered, structured story. One with a beginning, middle, and an end.

But… that doesn’t mean that your photo can’t be a powerful storytelling tool. In photography, you’re not so much telling a story, as hinting at one. Leaving clues that are compelling enough to draw your viewer in.

Your role is to imply a narrative, through deliberate composition. The viewer will do the rest. Think of them as a co-author.

And that’s why it can be so powerful. Because unlike a movie, where the viewer is passively consuming the story, in photography, they have to actively engage with your photo to close the story loop. And engagement, as you already know, is the Holy Grail.

OK, so hopefully I’ve sold you on WHY you should do this. Now let’s have a look at HOW can you create a narrative?

But first, a disclaimer. I tend to plan out my concepts. So this series is focussed on storytelling for staged photoshoots. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell a story with a candid photo. Of course, you can, just look at someone like Steve McCurry or Alex Soth. The reason I plan my photos is because I don’t like leaving anything to chance.

OK, let’s get back to it

Step 1: Creating the story

I’ve already discussed why you can’t tell a traditional story with just one frame, but you still need to start your planning process with one. And I’m using the term ‘story’ very loosely here. You don’t need to pen a sequel to War And Peace or anything – just the basic premise. Remember, you only have to give enough context so your viewer can close the story loop.

There are 3 components you need to think through when sketching out your story: the conflict, the characters, and the location.

This is going to be way easier if I use an easy example. I’m using a photo from an Aztec shoot we did last year. It was shot out in the jungle about an hour north of Sayulita.

Conflict: In a story, the conflict is the main problem facing your characters. Here is the idea I had and, euh, it’s a bit cheesy.

A Mexica warrior and a princess have been chased and cornered by some hostiles. They are backed into a corner and preparing to fight for their lives.

So that’s it, that’s all I had. As I said: not War and Peace.

Characters: There are 3 characters here, the Mexica warrior, the princess, and our hostiles.

Location: Most of the time, all your location has to do is not get in the way of your story. This idea would not have worked if I was in the middle of Times Square, but out in the jungle was fine.

Step 2: Pick a hero

You need a principal character, just like a normal story. The character you choose as the hero will carry your photo. They will occupy a lot of your frame because that way they will draw the viewer’s eye. Everything else in your photo plays a supporting role.

I chose the Mexica warrior as my hero.

Step 3: Find the emotional core

Once you have chosen your hero. You have to find the emotional core of the story.

In my example, we had a lot of possible emotions to choose from: scared, angry, proud, resilient. Now it’s best to choose an emotion that can be easily visually represented. And then work out how to make it visible in the entire body, not just the face.

I used to just say things like “look serious” or “act angry”, but I quickly realized that doesn’t work. Instead, I find role-playing is the best way to do this. It only takes a few minutes, but it puts the model in a position to empathize with their character. The result is that they move and express themselves in a manner that is way more natural. I can then study this role-playing and pick what I like.

What’s great here is that using a story just solved two big questions: how should I pose my models and what facial expressions should they have?

Step 4: Add the compositional symmetry

Now you can move onto the composition. Storytelling requires you to do more than follow compositional guidelines, it requires you to understand WHY they work. When I opt for a certain composition, I am doing so because it looks great AND because it moves my narrative forwards.

Let me explain. The hero in our example, the Mexica Warrior, is the most important character, so it follows that he should be big in the frame. The princess is slightly less important, so placing her behind and out of focus makes narrative sense.

The next thing I did was establish the relationship between these two characters. I asked the male model to place a protective hand on the female model. This makes it clear they are connected somehow.

Lastly, we introduced the 3rd character: the hostile. There is a lot going in my head when I choose a composition. What perspective suits the story? Should I shoot from above or below? In this instance, I opted for straight on POV. This worked because if the camera was ‘the hostile’ they would be face to face.

In this section, we used our story to plan the composition in or photo.

Step 5: Minimise non-storytelling elements

You’ve only got a few seconds to engage your viewer, so it’s important to be clear and concise with your composition.

So, it makes sense to minimize any visual elements that do not further your story. If you look at our example photo you’ll see there are no extraneous elements. We shot this against a plane rock face so give some nice texture, but not distract the viewer.

Step 6: Add the lighting

The last step is lighting. And lighting is a great – and often underused – method to convey emotion and mood. When used properly it can really help further your narrative. In fact, because it’s so important, I’ll be covering it in one of the upcoming videos in this series.

In this example, I referred to the story to select my lighting setup. And ended up placing dramatic light on the warrior, but a slightly softer, broader light on the princess.

That’s it for the first episode of Storytelling for Photographers. Hopefully, you’re starting to see how having a story makes every other decision way easier. Posing, facial expressions, composition, perspective. Next week we’re going to look at how you can you compositional theory to guide your viewer’s gaze through your visual story.