Photo Essay: How to Craft a Meaningful Story Through Lens

Stories, especially the visual ones, have the power to change the world. Eugene Smith, who’s known as the master of photo essay craft, earned huge fame from his landmark photograph titled ‘Country Doctor’. This image revolutionised the way our world looks towards the art of taking photos, and it has become a trendsetter in the world of photography.

A research paper titled The Photo Essay: A Visual Research Method tells us that the real objective of a photographic essay is to spark responses inside the viewers. The reactions of the readers and viewers of such essays are infinite and limitless. You can rely on the professional expertise of an experienced essay writer when you feel lost in writing flawless essays on photos.

If you want to experience it on your own, even then, we have got you covered. This article covers in detail the effective tips to craft a meaningful visual story through the lens of a camera. Let’s start our exploration of ideas with the photo essay definition.

What Is a Photo Essay?

According to Boston University’s definition, a photographic essay is a collection of images that work in collaboration to tell readers a story. Such essays depict reality as it is, and they do not change anything. Pictures, in isolation, do all the magic and re-create an alive context in which photos come to life.

What Are the 5 Steps in Creating a Photo Essay?

It is no secret that photography has a storytelling nature that has been used for almost a century to tell stories effectively. Several famous photo essays in the history of photography, such as the ‘great depression photo essay’, prove our stance. These essays invite the readers to a new level of research.

An essay can be short, mid or long depending on multiple factors but the basic steps in crafting all these essays are the same. The 5 basic steps that you need to follow for a top-class photographic essay are mentioned below:

1. Pick a Theme

Obvious indeed, but picking a theme can be quite difficult without prior research. It is normally the hardest part of generating a photographic essay. The best way to tackle the problem of theme selection is to choose a topic that is not too hard to access. If you pick a theme which cannot be accessed easily, you are bound to feel frustrated later in the process.

Keep in mind that your essay does not have to be dense or dramatic. You can always include fun elements and make it about everyday life, such as a ‘Day in the Life’ photo essay.

2. Choose the Right Subject Matter

When working on your photographic essay, choose the subjects correctly to keep yourself in a certain scope. We are over the age of using camera obscura for our images; so, you should use varying modern ways to illustrate your perspective in a photo.

For example, you can try to convey the message of solitude without including any human figure in the picture. However, you must include the subjects that indicate human footprints. The ability to choose the right perspective and right subject matter for your work comes with practice. If you need assistance in this regard, you can get support from a UK-based essay writing service online.

3. Decide the Number of Images

It is really important to decide the total number of photos that you are willing to present in your essay. There are a couple of reasons why you should define the number. The top one is that it increases the scope of your work. The second big reason is the impact that you want to have on your viewers. If you just stuff your essay with a lot of filler photos, your project will ultimately lose its charm.

4. Execute the Idea

This is the part where you execute the idea and actually capture images on the theme you have chosen for your work. Don’t be afraid to go all into the process and explore various aspects of your work. If you have new ideas and perspectives about some photographs in your mind, you should put them into practice. It’s a good idea to watch some of the Getty images on your selected theme and know what you can do with your camera and photographic skills.

5. Edit the Images and Write Captions

That’s the last fun part, where you refine and polish the images you have taken with your camera. You should not confuse the editing with the post-processing which is also an essential element of the work. In the context of photographic essays, editing refers to the precise choice of images that you will include in your work. Needless to say, you must adopt an objective approach when it comes to the selection of the final photos. It takes effort to create a perfect mix that narrates the story in the way you want it to be told.

What Are the Elements of a Photo Essay?

The main elements of a photo series are the pictures that are placed together to form a narrative or communicate ideas or information. Generally, the narrative is not necessarily linear in such essays. However, they have a clear and well-defined start, middle and end. Often, a photo series describes a good story via the lens of a camera.

Here is a photo essay template from Photo Books that can help you understand how you have to position images:

What Are the 2 Types of Photo Essays?

Per the guidelines of Shorthand.com, the two basic types of photographic essays are the following:

1. Narrative Photo Essay

In such kinds of essays, a specific story is told to the readers via images. Usually, one has to add supplementary text along with the photos in such essays. The Dust Bowl by Dorothea Lange is an example.

2. Thematic Photo Essay

Usually, these kinds of photographic essays tell a topical story. It might be a great natural disaster or an Olympic event. It can also cover the elements from street photography events.

How Do You Make a Photo Essay?

The 9 simple steps to bring your photo essay ideas to life are mentioned below:

1. Choose a topic and clarify the theme or the concept that you want to explore.
2. Get your magnum photos for the visual stories. Capture images per the theme.
3. Pull together all the images that you think might make a difference.
4. Edit the images for further polishing. Post-processing makes powerful photos.
5. Finalise the images you will use in your essay on photos.
6. Generate a visual flow with the images you have selected.
7. Try to get feedback on your images.
8. Refine, edit and improve your photo stories.
9. Add captions with the images, and lo! Your photo essay is ready.

Photo Essay Examples

Looking for good photo essays for inspiration? Here are 3 best photographic essays that have made it to the news for their perfection in the craft. You can take inspiration from these to perfect your photo essay format.

1. Nature Conservancy’s ‘How the Water Shapes Us’
2. New York Times ‘Vermont, Dressed in Snow’

The third one is a sample of a photo essay by Examples.com that you can use as a reference for your work.

Conclusion

One of the best ways to reach the right audience for your work is to publish it. Find a good publication house that is a great fit for the style of your photo essay, and you will be good to go. Ensure that you have added the right supplementary text to your photos and have included adequate information that relates to the photo series that you have worked on.

If you struggle with writing appropriate descriptions of photos on your own, you can hire online essay helpers to do the job for you. This way, you work in collaboration with a writer who has the required writing skills. They write the best-suited supplementary text on your photos and enhance the value of your project.