How to create a photo story that moves people

A photo story, often called a photo essay, is a set of photographs arranged so that together they tell one story. A single picture can capture a moment. A sequence can show a process, a change over time or a day in someone's life in a way that no single frame can. That is what makes it such a strong format for organisations that want to show change rather than describe it.

Photojournalism offers a useful benchmark. In the World Press Photo Contest, a story contains between 4 and 10 photographs, while a long-term project contains between 24 and 30.¹ For most organisational uses, such as a web feature, a report spread or a social media carousel, the shorter range is right. A photo story for NGOs is not a gallery of event pictures. It needs a subject, a point of view and a reason for every image to be there.

Before anyone picks up a camera, write the story in two sentences: who it is about, what is changing, and why it matters to your audience. If you cannot do that, the pictures will not do it for you. Share those two sentences with the photographer as part of the brief.

Choose one main character or one place rather than a whole programme. A single midwife's working day says more about a maternal health project than twenty pictures of different clinics. Then choose a structure. Common options are a process, showing how something is done from beginning to end; a chronology, such as a day in the life; or highlights, the most important visual elements of a story.² Finally, give the photographer time. Good photo stories come from hours spent with people, not minutes, so that they relax and real moments happen.

Teaching material from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism describes a set of picture types that help a photographer cover a story fully.² Use them as a shot list in your brief, not as a rigid formula. A strong story rarely needs every type, but checking the list before the shoot ends prevents the most common gap: plenty of portraits and no sense of place.

• Signature image: one photograph that sums up the whole issue.
• Establishing shot: a wide view, sometimes from above, that shows where the story happens.
• Portrait: a tight head shot or an environmental portrait in a setting that matters to the story.
• Detail: a close-up of one telling element, such as hands, tools or a document.
• Interaction: the subject with other people during an activity.
• How-to sequence: a short series showing how something is done.
• Clincher: a closing image that tells the viewer the story has ended.

The first few images are especially important.² Many readers will not scroll past them, so open with your strongest picture, then quickly give the viewer a place and a face. The CUNY material suggests combining an establishing shot, a portrait and a close-up early in the sequence, and stresses that variety is key.² Mix wide, medium and close views so the eye keeps moving.

Then edit hard. Lay out all your selects, remove near-duplicates and keep only images that add something new. Where a few pictures form a series, keep the angle of view, focal length and framing consistent, and avoid mixing flash with natural light.² End on an image that resolves the story or leaves the viewer with a question, never on the weakest leftover.

Photographs show; captions explain. Each caption should say who, what, where and when, and add the one fact the picture cannot show. The World Press Photo code of ethics asks that captions and any other text are accurate, and that the content and edit of a story give an accurate and comprehensive representation of its subject.³

The Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages asks organisations to represent any image or situation truthfully, in both its immediate and its wider context.⁴ It also asks that people whose situation is shown have the opportunity to communicate their stories themselves.⁴ In practice, a short quote from the person in the picture, in their own words, often does more than a paragraph of explanation written by the organisation.

A photo story only moves people if they believe it. World Press Photo's code says photographers must not intend to mislead by staging or recreating events, and that any direct influence over a scene, such as a re-enactment or a posed portrait, must be stated in the caption.³ It also asks photographers to avoid reinforcing stereotypes and to be aware of the influence their own presence can have on a scene.³

Dóchas bases its code on three principles: respect for the dignity of the people concerned, belief in the equality of all people, and the need to promote fairness, solidarity and justice.⁴ It asks organisations to avoid images that stereotype, sensationalise or discriminate, and to establish and record whether people wish to be named or identifiable.⁴ Our guide to informed consent covers that process in detail.

Real photographs of real people are an asset online. Nielsen Norman Group's eyetracking research found that users pay close attention to photos that contain relevant information, while they ignore purely decorative images and generic stock photos of models, which it calls pure filler.⁵ That is a strong argument for commissioning original pictures rather than buying stock.

Give the pictures room. On a web page, run them large, one after another, with each caption close to its image. In a report, a spread with one dominant photograph and two or three smaller ones works well. On social media, a carousel keeps the sequence intact. Whatever the format, adapt the captions rather than deleting them, and write alt text for every image.

• The story written in two sentences before the shoot
• One main character or place
• Shot list: signature, establishing, portrait, detail, interaction, clincher
• Consent recorded, with naming wishes noted
• Four to ten final images, with no near-duplicates
• Strongest image first, a clear ending last
• Accurate captions, with any posed scene declared
• Alt text and a short quote from the person pictured