The Secrets of a Story-telling Photo
Part 2: The 5 Elements of a Story-telling Photo
I. Mood
The mood can be achieved using correct background (objects or effects like blurring). The background should have “relationship” with the subject in order to bring the mood. Even the objects can be inter-linked to build up the thought process of the viewer in a particular guided path.
Rainy Day
Unwind
II. Emotion
The emotion can be demonstrated through facial expressions of a person as well as activity being performed by the subject(s).
Beach at Sunset
Evening Walk
III. Narration
The narrative property in a photo comes to life when the viewer can easily visualize what happened “before” the shot was taken from what is happening in the photograph (similar to narrating a story to demonstrate the flow of events). This can be successfully demonstrated by “including” or “excluding” certain elements into or from your photograph. For example, a person talking to someone not in the frame. Thus it is very important to decide on what you should include in the frame and what should be excluded in order to leave the viewer’s mind figure out the rest of the story that preceeded the current moment of the photograph.. Generally the more detailed the photo is (i.e. more exclusion) the more narrative quality the photograph possesses.
Where rubber meets the road
IV. Idea
The idea is kind of difficult to illustrate but if you have something in your mind that you want to show the viewers through a photograph, it shouldn’t be too tough. The key is to already have in your mind what you are looking for. This is more demonstrated through abstract photography which is nothing but a completely different way of looking at something very common.
Window
Slinky
V. Message
Finally the message is the “future” of what the viewer is currently seeing and conceiving in the photograph. This is often dictated by the theme of the photograph. The theme can be visual (color/pattern), style (macro/zoom/panorama), relation (objects in the photo) and location (room, market, open space) or combination of the above. In most famous photographs, the photographer intentionally leaves a lot of things unsettled so that the viewer’s have an open idea of what is going to happen next.
Escalator
The key to grab the attention of the viewer with a subject (I have covered this in more detailed in my Composition Techniques ) and then instantly pass on the idea/message/narration to the viewer so that he/she can feel the same emotion and mood as the photographer felt when present in the actual scene taking the photograph. The work of a photographer then is successful, fulfilling and truly complete.
References
I would highly recommend to read the book “Within the Frame” by David duChemin
In conclusion, I would like to say that the creativity of building up a story in a photograph can be a difficult task but with practice and keeping the above specific structures in mind, you will be able to generate more interesting photos that will be appreciated by the viewers. Someone told it right: